Author Archives: Marcus McCarthy

Police suspect identified in shooting of 11-year-old boy

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Philadelphia police have identified who they said was involved with the shooting of an 11-year-old boy on the corner of Gratz and Oxford streets. Police wrote in a press release that Marcelus Temple, a 25-year-old male whose home address is unknown, is a suspect in the incident.

On April 6 around 4 p.m., the 11-year-old male was playing basketball with friends when they were hit as a bystander in a drive-by shooting, according to the police press release. The 11-year-old was found by police bleeding from a single shot to the side and ducking in a doorway. Police said they found 15 bullets on the scene.

The 11-year-old was taken to Temple University Hospital for surgery and was in critical condition. The boy was later stabilized and transported to Saint Christopher’s Hospital for Children for additional treatment.

Police are asking for anyone with information of the incident to call the Central Detectives Unit.

Marcus McCarthy can be reached at marcus.mccarthy@temple.edu or on Twitter @marcusmccarthy6.

Owls on the Hill Day changes to email only

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Administrators announced on Wednesday that Owls on the Hill Day would be cancelled and instead students, parents, alumni, faculty and staff are being asked to electronically submit personal letters to lawmakers advocating for Temple’s state appropriations.

Andrew McGinley, public affairs and policy manager, said that many of the students who wanted to go were unable to because of the event’s proximity to final exams. The annual Cherry and White Week events were planned for a later date than is typical in the past due to scheduling conflicts at the State Capitol building, McGinley said.

The previous two years’ Cherry and White weeks were held in late March.

“The scheduling is beyond our control,” McGinley said. “It’s based on space availability in the Capitol Building. We use a lot of space during that week and there’s lots of other unions and charities and other groups that also want space in the capitol building. So it got pushed back.”

Other Cherry and White Week events include an academic presentation in Harrisburg by the Institute for Public Affairs, followed by art and music students as well as researchers presenting to lawmakers. These events will still be held on April 28 and 30, respectively. Owls on the Hill Day was originally planned to have students personally meet with lawmakers on April 29 to lobby for state appropriations.

McGinley said the letters don’t need to be long or formal, just personal.

“Elected officials want to hear from constituents,” McGinely said. “This year we’re asking people to just write a note…[It will be] via email. It will go through our system so they [those writing to legislators] don’t have to look up emails. Its very quick and simple.”

McGinley said the switch is not expected to be a permanent decision.

Marcus McCarthy can be reached at marcus.mccarthy@temple.edu or on Twitter at @marcusmccarthy6.

Paley Library evacuated due to bomb scare

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The Paley Library and Tuttleman Learning Center were evacuated by police for close to a half hour Tuesday afternoon due to a suspicious package. The buildings, near the corner of 13th Street and Polett Walk, were evacuated around 2:20 p.m. and the all clear was issued at 2:45 p.m.

Police and bomb squad units responded to the scene where they closed 13th street from automobile traffic and had K-9 units as well as a bomb disposal robot on the scene.

The suspicious package was found on top of a urinal in the first floor men’s bathroom of Paley. The package was found to be a student’s electronics project that consisted of a tissue box with wires found on top, said Charlie Leone, acting executive director of campus safety services.

On Sunday at 5:38 p.m. the Conwell Inn on Main Campus was evacuated due to a prop grenade. The all-clear was issued 25 minutes later.

Corbett proposes zero percent increase in Temple funding

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Today, Gov. Corbett proposed the same funding for Temple as last year’s budget. Speaking at the State Capitol building in Harrisburg this morning, Corbett announced his 2014-15 annual budget proposal that included Temple’s appropriations level.

Corbett’s proposal would see Temple receiving a little over $139.9 million, the same funding that the university has received for the last two fiscal years. All of the other state-related universities – Pennsylvania State University, the University of Pittsburgh and Lincoln University – had a zero percent increase in appropriations proposed as well.

The budget must still go through the General Assembly, which includes a series of subcommittee meetings and votes, then signed by Corbett. The new fiscal year begins on July 1, a deadline that has been narrowly met for every budget since Corbett has entered office.

Police look for armed robber near campus

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Police responded to a robbery report near the intersection of 18th Street and Montgomery Avenue around 2:20 a.m. on Dec. 10, according to a police statement released earlier today.

The complainant, a 37-year-old male, said he was on the 1000 block of North Columbus Boulevard when he entered a burgundy vehicle with another man that drove to the North Philadelphia location.

A third man then entered the back of the vehicle and placed what he felt to be a gun to the back of the complainant’s head demanding the complainant’s wallet, phone, and sun glasses, the complainant said.

He complied with the man then fled the scene. The Philadelphia Police are still looking for the driver and third man as suspects. They ask for anyone with knowledge of the incident to call at 215-686-8477 or submit an anonymous tip at online.

Student government meeting of Nov. 18

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New dining hours on-campus and a new student committee were the main announcements at the Temple Student Government general assembly meeting Nov. 18 in room 200c of the Student Center.

Temple’s Student Body President Darin Bartholomew announced that hours at Così, a Sodexo-run dining location in Pearson-McGonigle Hall, would be extended. Bartholomew said there are more dining hour changes to come in the future as part of efforts by TSG.

Andrew Salciunas introducing himself as the newly appointed director of the Committee of Recruitment and Retention. Salciunas encouraged students interested in joining the committee to contact him at andrew.salciunas@temple.edu.

Starting the director announcements, Director of Campus Life and Diversity Evan Raines asked the audience of roughly 200 if they would be interested in a new living learning community. After a sizable show of hands of those interested in the idea and lack of opposition, Raines said he concluded he would go ahead with planning the implementation of the idea.

Afterwards, Director of Local and Community Affairs Morgan Jenkins discussed the Temple Annual Christmas Party, a celebration held with CSS for the general public in the Liacouras Center on Dec. 8 at 9 p.m.

Jenkins said she is interested in bringing in student groups to the event, particularly performance groups. She asked that interested groups contact her at morgan.jenkins@temple.edu.

Thomas Montalbano, co-chairman of allocations, announced that of the $117,000 in allocation money for student organizations at the beginning of the year, roughly $58,000 is left.

The meeting came to a close after the open forum and organization announcements.

 

Marcus McCarthy is the TSG beat writer for The Temple News. He can be reached at marcus.mccarthy@temple.edu or follow on Twitter @Marcus.McCarthy6

 

Student Government meeting of Nov. 12

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A series of proposals to the university regarding campus safety were announced Monday at the Temple Student Government general assembly meeting in room 200c of the student center.

Temple Student Body President Darin Bartholomew read through the five recommendations which aimed at improving the TU alert system and addressing building safety.

The first part called for a website which records the messages sent out by CSS. Bartholomew gave the example of the University of Cincinnati’s public safety website as a model for Temple. The tool, a list that can be scrolled up and down, is a record of all messages organized by severity reported and is free to use.

The other two suggestions of the first part called for the use of the categorization “alert” in all cases to avoid dictating severity of a situation as well as asking that TU alerts be sent out via all contact points including email and text message.

The second part of TSG’s suggestions called for improved ways to check IDs in all campus buildings and a review of the security in the student center.

After explaining the proposals, Bartholomew asked for student opinion in an open forum session. Students showed skepticism whether the proposals would do enough to deter threats in campus buildings, with several people telling personal stories calling in question the ability of security personnel.

Bartholomew finished with a vocal general vote from the audience by asking one at a time for “yea” or “nay.” Although there were voices of opposition earlier, no “nay” was heard and the proposal passed to be sent to university administration.

The next TSG meeting will be held Nov. 18 in room 200c of the student center at 4 p.m.

Panel held on sexual assault reporting

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Four panelists led a discussion on reporting sexual assaults in the news Thursday night, Nov. 7, at Temple’s Center City Campus. The focus of the discussion was to shift the focus off the victim in covering sexual assault cases and towards the perpetrator, according to the panel moderator Tara Murtha.

Murtha began the event by quickly chronicling the lack of coverage of sexual assault by the media. One of the panelists, Carol Tracy, explained how this has changed.

A few years ago, the Inquirer exposed the Philadelphia Police Department for decades of burying sexual assault cases through loopholes and technicalities. Tracy said that discoveries like this are what have started a wave of action in the country.

Another of the panelists, Allison Hraba, was a prime example of this. Hraba explained how she was part of a student protest at Swarthmore College that demanded the school do more to protect its students.

However, Tracy warned about the limitations for universities.

“I’ll just say it up front, it’s a very difficult situation for schools to deal with,” Tracy said. “It’s important to know how much universities can do. They can only expel at the most.”

The fourth panelist, Elana Newman, argued that journalists should be careful in what they promise and how they handle what they can control. Headlines, and accompanying media, and how people will interpret the information is all out of the hands of a journalist, Newman argued.

The discussion proceeded toward explaining how the panelists believed journalists should report sexual assaults, including word choice.

The event ended with a series of questions and answers.

Student Government meeting of Monday, Nov. 4

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Senior Vice Provost Peter Jones spoke on a slew of topics for the majority of the Temple Student Government general assembly meeting on Nov. 4 in room 200c of the student center.

Speaking to an audience of roughly 200 people, Jones mostly explained the e-SFF data which is now available on TUportal. This is a database which is in its first semester of full activation, containing student reviews of all Temple teachers.

Jones argued that this new system is more reliable than the popular ratemyprofessor.com since the e-SFF data was collected from students guaranteed to have taken that teacher.

Of all the multiple-answer and open-ended questions filled out by students on the s-SFF forms, only four of the multiple choice questions go into the grading of the teachers on the viewable reviews.

The system caught a lot of student flak for its policy which requires students to have participated in the review process in the spring semester in order to access the grading reviews this semester.

After answering questions and concerns, Jones quickly wrapped up speaking by finishing with discussing other initiatives. The university is looking into a more advanced alternative to SafeAssign, an anti-plagiarism program that filters through its database of work to ensure original ideas. A required gen-ed class may also be instituted next school year which focuses on ethics along with an honor code put in place for all students on a similar time frame.

After Jones was finished speaking, a noticeable amount of various students left the meeting.

Afterwards Dylan Morpurgo, TSG director of government affairs, urged students to vote on Tuesday, Nov. 5 in the general election.

Tom Montalbano, TSG co-chairman of allocations, announced that there are $76,000 left in allocations for student clubs.

The next TSG meeting will be held Nov. 11 in room 200c of the student center at 4 p.m.

 

Marcus McCarthy is the TSG beat writer for The Temple News. He can be reached at marcus.mccarthy@temple.edu or follow on Twitter @Marcus.McCarthy6

Professor assaulted, robbed at Anderson Hall

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Temple Police responded to Anderson Hall today around 11:55 a.m. to a claim from a professor that he was assaulted and robbed on the building’s second floor.

The professor told police that he was sitting at a computer in a side hallway when a man came up from behind him and punched him once. The man then took his wallet and left.

The suspect is described as an African-American male, 6 feet tall, in his early 20s, wearing tan pants and a tan shirt. A TU alert was sent out at 12:27 p.m. discussing the incident. Temple police did a sweep of the entire building, but did not find someone who matched the professor’s description. A suspect has not been taken into custody.

Acting Executive Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone said the professor is at the Temple Hospital with possible cuts to his head.

Leone said there were no witnesses to the incident but they were interviewing people who were near the scene at the time of the alleged assault and robbery. They have also searched the video from the security cameras. Police presence will be bolstered in Anderson and nearby Gladfelter Hall.

Temple Police were waiting for detectives from the Philadelphia Police to arrive as of 12:50 p.m.