Updated: Nov. 19 at 3:38 p.m.
Despite the pathways to the completion of some initiatives remaining unclear, Temple Student Government is still pushing for changes in key areas across the university as the fall semester nears an end.
“We’ve been able to form so many strong committees and represent so many students that haven’t necessarily always been involved in student government,” said TSG President Ray Epstein.
In Epstein’s first semester as president, TSG has focused on improving community relations and public safety at Temple. While some initiatives, like their community service coalition, have been successful, others have not yet come to fruition.
Lourdes Cardamone, TSG’s chief of external affairs, said she believes one of the major successes so far this semester is the introduction of the new community service coalition.
“It’s essentially just a big group of people with different initiatives and goals in mind to better serve our community,” said Cardamone, a junior political science major.
The coalition, led by TSG’s Director of Community Engagement Wesley Greer, has hosted multiple community clean-ups in collaboration with student organizations, including the Society of Caribbean Awareness.
Greer emphasized the importance of the coalition as a way to foster a sense of community between Temple students and community members.
“We’re only here for four years or more and the people that we’re interacting with every single day have been living here for years,” said Greer, a junior biophysics major. “So the best way to do that is to ask them first and figure out what exactly they need.”
The community service coalition also organized a hygiene kit drive for the Philadelphia community. They have worked with different student organizations, like Temple Rowing, Temple’s chapter of National Alliance on Mental Illness and Temple of Brotherly Love to put together the hygiene kits.
Epstein said TSG has also been working toward fixing the FLIGHT shuttle system on campus after hearing complaints from students. TSG was made aware that sometimes FLIGHT drivers mistake students as SEPTA riders.
“The FLIGHT stops often overlap with SEPTA stops and so sometimes drivers just assume that people are there waiting for SEPTA and students should be waving flashlights around,” said Epstein, a senior English and communication and social influences major. “So that’s something we are trying to fix because we don’t think students should have to do that.”
Epstein also said representatives from TSG met with new Temple President John Fry on Nov. 1, Fry’s first day. TSG’s meeting with Fry mainly consisted of introducing themselves to the new president and discussing FLIGHT reform.
TSG has since made plans to add a help number outside of all FLIGHT stops to report issues. They are also aiming to release their first podcast episode later this month, which will engage with different student organizations and community leaders.
Another goal Epstein’s team is hoping to accomplish is to set up automatic subscriptions to the Department of Public Safety’s newsletter for students, but she described it as a “long-term goal.” Currently, students have to opt in to receive these alerts.
The newsletter contains information about the university’s police force and security on campus as well as insight on crime prevention at Temple.
“We feel it would be helpful for people to have updates on how things were dealt with, what happened over the course of the month and to automatically have access to that information,” Epstein said.
Additionally, TSG is working on a Title IX feedback survey after reading a Letter to the Editor published by The Temple News on Oct. 8 regarding a student’s experience reporting a sexual assault to the university.
“We obviously read the Letter to the Editor in The Temple News,” Epstein said. “So we wanted to gather some feedback from other students who have experiences with Title IX.”
Epstein shared that the goal of these surveys would not only be to hear from students with experiences with Title IX but to find out information like whether students know where the Title IX office is or that it even exists. TSG would give this feedback back to the Title IX office in an effort to ensure they are working to better advertise their services.
In addition to the Title IX surveys, TSG is working to put QR codes above automatic doors to ensure they are working.
“In general, we are letting people know that we’re not some big scary institution, but we do represent the student body,” Cardamone said.
Be the first to comment