Category Archives: Temple in the Press

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews to film Hardball on campus

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Temple University is getting some national TV love at 5 pm today when MSNBC political commentator Chris Matthews films a live episode of his nightly talk show, “Hardball with Chris Matthews” on Pollett Walk on Main Campus.

Matthews is set to interview congressman Joe Sestak (D), who is currently the democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate. Matthews has recently been on a college tour, where he has filmed episodes at various universities while he provides commentary on the upcoming Nov. 2 elections. Previous stops have included the University of Illinois-Chicago and Louisville.

In 2005, Matthews received the Law Klein Excellence in the Media Award from Temple’s School of Communications and Theater.

And the Yorktown debacle continues

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Today, the Philadelphia Daily News posted an article about a Q-and-A session hosted by Commissioner Fran Burns of the Department of Licenses & Inspections, which garnered about 50 residents of the Yorktown section of North Philadelphia to discuss an on-going conflict – Temple students disrupting the historically middle-class neighborhood.

The residents’ complaints aren’t new, and as the article suggests, they don’t seem to be going away.

Earlier this semester, Willie J. DeShields, president of the Yorktown Community Organization, told The Temple News that when students rent properties, sometimes owners do not properly maintain the upkeep of the homes if they are not residents.

The North Central Philadelphia Community Special District Controls prohibits private investors from renting homes to students in Yorktown and Jefferson Manor unless the owner is a resident of the home as well. In recent years, the rule led to eviction notices for many student residents, but no one was actually evicted.

To read more about The Temple News’ on-going coverage of the Yorktown conflict, click here.

Former TTN Editor recognized in City Paper’s Choice ’09 Awards

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In this week’s issue of City Paper, the weekly publication released their Choice ’09 award winners, recognizing some of Philadelphia’s unsung heroes in categories such as Music, Politics, Activism and Watchdogs, Food and Drink, Film and Screen, Visual Arts and Performing Arts.

Their choice in the category of Journalism and Media was last year’s Managing Editor, Shannon McDonald. Shannon received a great deal of attention after writing a story for her Media Urban Reporting Lab capstone class, which detailed a police officer’s racist comments she observed during a ride-along. Her story painted a vivid picture of the racial tension between the community and police and led to the eventual firing of the officer.

Photo courtesy citypaper.net

Photo courtesy citypaper.net

Also receiving honorable mention in the category were former TTN staff members Christopher Wink, Sean Blanda and Brian James Kirk, for their work on Technically Philly, their Web-based project that covers the Philly-area tech scene.

Temple gets a shout-out for its transparency

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Temple University got a shoutout from Ephblog, a blog devoted to Williams College in Massachusetts, for providing its Form 990 online. The form contains info such as salaries of officers and executives, expenses and revenue. It’s required by every nonprofit, including universities.

The blog post listed universities that posted their Form 990’s, those who told people where to find them, and called out some who provided little or no information about the forms on their Web sites.

For your information, Temple’s Form 990 is posted here.

Temple named No. 569 college in America by Forbes

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Each year, Forbes and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity release a list of the top 600 colleges in the country. Temple, which was lucky enough to make the list, fared at No. 569, a 23-place chart drop since 2008’s list.

But don’t let the low ranking discourage you. The Forbes rating system, which named the non-Ivy League United States Military Academy at West Point as No. 1, has taken much criticism by the likes of Vanity Fair and other publications. The methodology has been said to be unconventional and inaccurate, using sources such as RateMyProfessor.com as a means of judgment.

Institutions comparable to Temple ranked a bit higher on the list, with the University of Pittsburgh coming in at No. 285 and Penn State, University Park at No. 324. Drexel, on the other hand, also ranked low on the list, coming in at No. 594. Swarthmore College was the highest-ranked Pennsylvania college on the list at No. 12.

For the complete ranking list, click here.

Read the methodology and decide: fair or not? Was the No. 569 ranking deserved?

This weekend: Temple hosts Black Writers Festival

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Hanging out on campus this weekend? Check out the Black Writers Festival — it’s free, open to everyone and happening right here.

As the Inquirer reported today, the Black Writers Festival marks its 25th year this weekend, and Temple University is hosting the majority of its events, including a basketball tournament, literary discussions and an outdoor festival.

Check out Art Sanctuary’s Web site for a complete list of events, discussions and symposiums.

Wanamaker School at 11th & Cecil to become Temple housing?

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Boy, don’t the kids moving into Temple Towers and gaining roommates next semester hope so?

According to a recent post on Philly.com’s “PHILLYDEAL$” blog, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission met recently to discuss, among other things, the possible building of Temple housing in the old Wanamaker High School building at 11th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue by a company called Brighter Hope LLC. It’s just across the street from the famous “$5 lot,” on Cecil B. Moore, and if it happens, the building could house a reported 2,000 students.

According to Temple’s Office of News Communications, the housing will not be built by Temple, but will be marketed specifically to students by the developer.

TTN letter published in Inquirer

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In our final issue, the Editorial Board criticized the choice of President Ann Weaver Hart as the highlighted commencement speaker this year in the 125th anniversary.

In turn, Inquirer columnist Daniel Rubin criticized us saying “these speeches are not for [students].” He also implied many would be hungover for the ceremony itself.

Not ones to take such stereotypical criticisms lightly, TTN responded with a letter, which was published in Monday’s Inqurier. Take a look here (it’s the first one).