Since being sworn in, Student Body President Ray Epstein, Vice President Kiyah Hamilton and the rest of their administration are focusing on reorganizing Temple Student Government and emphasizing a relationship with student organizations.
Epstein’s administration plans to be more accessible to students via social media and their website. She believes many students do not know about TSG or its role on campus.
“[Our goal] is to be an accessible administration that is constantly online and reaching people, so people are reminded that we’re here and what we’re doing all the time, which is really difficult to put on one person,” Epstein said. “It was important for us to build out a very large comms team.”
The administration wants to provide its services as a one-stop hub for students. TSG is in the process of consolidating resources on mental health support, disability resources, sexual assault and other relevant issues to students on their website to make it a central spot for student support.
Epstein emphasized the importance of working to ensure that student organizations receive the funding they deserve in a timely and orderly fashion. TSG hopes to strengthen the influence and platform of organizations to bolster their ability to provide safe spaces for students on campus.
Advocacy is high up on the agenda, beginning with the relationship of students and TSG. Hamilton, a junior health professions major, said its focus is to make life more affordable, safer and accessible for students.
TSG worked alongside Temple’s chapter of Swipe Out Hunger, a nonprofit dedicated to addressing student hunger, and Aramark to bring back limited guest meal swipes for students this summer.
They are currently brainstorming ideas to improve resources for students, including beginning a textbook swap on campus, to cut out financial stress. The program would allow students to drop off books they no longer need. Students who need those books would be able to pick them up free of charge.
“The idea of it is to really tackle affordability of textbooks, especially because there are some that are super specific to classes,” Hamilton said.
Another one of Epstein and Hamilton’s goals is to update the FLIGHT system for easier utilization and to bring more awareness to the resource. FLIGHT is Temple’s shuttle service that circulates the main campus’ patrol zone. It operates seven days a week, from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. TSG plans to update the live tracking to see where the FlLIGHT is and when it will arrive at your stop.
TSG also plans to increase community engagement through their new Youth Community Engagement Director position, which Epstein created for Isabelle Bernard after hearing her plan for a mentorship program between Temple and the surrounding neighborhood.
“I noticed that there was a lot of tension last year with the kids coming onto campus, [Temple] students were uncomfortable, and the police were being pretty rough with the kids,” said Bernard, a senior psychology major. “It inspired me to make a mentoring program.”
The mentoring system, still in progress, aims to form a connection with students in surrounding organizations that support youth in need through educational programs, career resources and opportunities. Bernard wants to provide local kids a role model and give Temple students an opportunity to give back to their community.
“Temple students sometimes don’t have a ton of cultural awareness, and there’s a lot of bias, there’s a lot of fear,” Bernard said. “Being able to get to know these kids on a more personal level would help foster a more positive relationship on both sides.”
Wes Greer, a junior biophysics major and TSG’s Director of Community Engagement, began a similar project to Bernard to work on forming a coalition between the Temple and North Philadelphia communities.
Greer is focused on collaborating with student organizations on campus that have similar initiatives in community service.
“I want people in the student body to be involved because the people around our community are always looking for help,” Greer said. “We see the disparity in our surrounding community and the world at this current moment, and a lot of people are kind of tired of the constant stagnation, and people want action.”
Epstein and others want to prioritize interconnecting TSG with student organizations to enhance the student experience on campus.
“My goal is just to make sure that there’s a balance of what me and Kiyah wanted to get done when we first ran, and balance of what all of these people who are coming in see as their vision of what Temple improved looks like,” Epstein said.
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