Category Archives: News

Res. Life warns before storm

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Univeristy Housing and Residential Life sent out a mass email to students living in Main Campus residence halls Wednesday night, warning of impending thunderstorms and heavy rain.

The email advised students living in those residence halls to close all windows to help seal out the wind and rain, minimizing water damage.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch and wind advisory for Philadelphia County for the night of Jan. 30, extending into early Thursday morning, with heavy rains and gusts of up to 50 mph.

Students in need of help are encouraged to call Campus Safety Services at 215-204-1234 or the Temple Weather Hotline at 215-204-1975.

Theobald to speak at next TSG meeting

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Next Monday’s Temple Student Government General Assembly meeting will feature Temple’s new chief in the second meeting of the semester.

As reported by TTN’s Laura Detter, TSG Student Body President David Lopez said Monday, Jan. 28, that President Neil Theobald will be speaking to the General Assembly during the Feb. 4, meeting. Lopez said Theobald should be at the meeting for about 30 to 45 minutes.

Check back with The Temple News next week for complete coverage of Theobald’s first stop to TSG.

Mock trial teams take top spots at Drexel Invitational

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Temple two mock trial teams amassed quite a trophy case collection at the first annual Drexel Invitational on Jan. 20. At the conclusion of the two-day tournament, the teams were awarded first and second place out of the eight teams competing.

Team Cherry, which is co-captained by Grace Osa-Edoh and Emily Kustina, finished first overall with an unblemished record of 8-0-0 after facing Drexel C, LaSalle, Rutgers and Philadelphia University. Team “White,” whose captains are Nicholas Santalucia and Christina Farrell, was awarded second place with a record of 5-2-1 after competing with Rutgers, Philadelphia University, St. Johns University and Drexel B.

Besides for the team accolades, several members brought home individual awards.

For Team Cherry, lawyer Adella Hillebrecht won both top plaintiff and defense awards, while lawyer and co-captain of the team Emily Kustina also won a top attorney award for the defense. Witness Paarth Malkan received awards for both the plaintiff and defense and was joined by witness Kristin Antario, who won an award for her defense testimony.

Team White had three members recognized in the individual award ceremony. Lawyer and captain Nicholas Santalucia took home a top attorney plaque, while defense witnesses Rebekah Mills and Taddeo von Gleichen each were recognized.

The team’s next competition will be a regional tournament hosted by the American Mock Trial Association, the team’s parent organization, which will run from Feb. 16 to Feb. 17 in Lancaster, Pa.

Budget and Finance Committee holds first meeting of 2013

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In its first meeting of the year, the Budget and Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees recommended that an authorized signer be added for the William C. Dunkelberg Owl Fund.

Cynthia Axelrod, a faculty adviser to the Temple University Investment Association and director of the Owl Fund, was recommended as a signer for accounts on behalf of the fund.

The Owl Fund, a student-run investment organization run through TUIA, was founded in 2006 and has more than 150 members, according to TUIA’s website.

Axelrod joins Jonathan Scott, managing director of the fund, Anthony Wagner, executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer and Ken Kaiser, senior associate vice president for finance and human resources, as signers for the fund.

Leon Moulder, Jr., who called into the meeting, participated in his first meeting as a trustee. Moulder was appointed as a trustee at the December meeting.

Preliminary hearing pushed back for accused killer of Temple student

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The preliminary hearing for the 22-year-old man charged in connection with the New Year’s Day murder of student Stephen Johnson has been rescheduled for March 12.

Lawrence Jeffries of Glenside, Pa., is charged with murder and related offenses in the triple shooting that left Johnson dead and injured three others. At 3:40 a.m. on Jan. 1, Johnson, 23, was shot in the chest on the 1700 block of West Venango Street in Tioga after an apparent argument and pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital at 4:04 a.m., according to police.

Two other 22-year-old men were shot, one in the foot and the other in the chest and foot. A fourth victim sustained fractures to both of her feet after jumping from the second floor window to avoid the gunfire, police said.

Johnson was a senior marketing major and MIS minor and was set to graduate this spring.

Parks and Recreation holds hearing over Temple’s proposed boathouse

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The Commission of Parks and Recreation held a public hearing on Boathouse Row Wednesday night discussing Temple’s proposal to build its own boathouse.

At Lloyd Hall gymnasium in a hearing that lasted more than two hours, dozens of members of the public spoke to the 14-person commission arguing for and against the proposal.

Temple is trying to acquire a half-acre plot of land to build a new boathouse on Kelly Drive, south of the Strawberry Mansion Bridge and north of the East Park Canoe House, Temple’s rowing home until it was condemned in 2008.

ABI REIMOLD TTN FILE PHOTO | Tents have been utilized for Temple crew teams in lieu of a boathouse.

The university submitted an analysis to the city in October 2012 arguing for the public good of the boathouse that had to undergo a period of 30 days of public comment before Wednesday’s meeting reviewing the proposal.

Proponents of the new boathouse argued in favor of giving the student-athletes, who have been forced to share space in a tent, a home to call their own, as well as the public interest in beautifying an otherwise unused piece of land.

Opponents of the proposal say that Temple hasn’t fulfilled all the requirements of a city ordinance passed last year, requiring any entity seeking to transfer ownership of public parkland to give back an equal plot of land to the city.

Temple included in its proposal a pledge to donate $1.5 million to renovating the East Park Canoe House to fulfill that requirement.

Members of the public say that donating money to restoring a building cannot be translated to the prerequisite of substitute land.

Considering the arguments, the Commission will present its official recommendation to City Council, which has the power of approval, on March 9.

For a full story on the hearing, check back with temple-news.com.

ACLU takes on TTN Web Editor’s complaint against city

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The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a federal lawsuit today against the City of Philadelphia on behalf of photojournalism student Chris Montgomery, web editor of The Temple News.

The complaint asserts Montgomery was arrested in January 2011 while using his cell-phone to record an arrest near 15th and Chestnut streets and charged with disorderly conduct (he would initially be found guilty, but then cleared on appeal). His video was also deleted.

Law enforcement officers in Pennsylvania, and particularly in Philadelphia, often “misapply criminal statutes to punish citizens who observe, photograph, or otherwise record police activity,” the suit alleges.

Police officer David Killingsworth, the arresting officer, is also named in the suit.

Listed in the complaint are similar instances in which citizens were allegedly stripped of their rights while recording police officers on the street; including the case of Ian Van Kuyk, a film and media arts major who, in March 2012, was allegedly arrested for filming police action in South Philadelphia.

A spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Department declined comment to the Daily News.

Staff attorney at the ACLU Mary Catherine Roper told the paper: “Clearly there’s a pattern of Philadelphia police trying to discourage people from watching what they do by arresting them and charging them with crimes.”

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey in September 2011 issued a memorandum, reiterating police officers’ expectation to be “photographed, videotaped or audibly recorded” by members of the public and by individuals temporarily detained.

[Editor’s Note: Chris Montgomery, web editor of The Temple News and the plaintiff in this case, took no part in the reporting, editing or posting of this story.]

Reports: Former volleyball player files suit against Temple

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A former volleyball player has filed a federal lawsuit indicating that she was removed from the team and had her scholarship revoked after reporting to the school that her ex-boyfriend, a Temple football player, assaulted her, according to a report on Philly.com.

The article states that on Jan. 21, 2011, Emily Frazer was at a friend’s dormitory when her ex-boyfriend, Andrew Cerett, came into the dorm to speak with her. The suit states that Frazer ran to her room, where Cerett kicked the door in and threatened to kill her, according to Philly.com.

Temple suspended him until Aug. 29, 2011, but after Frazer pleaded for Cerett to be punished, she was taken off the volleyball team and had her scholarship revoked, according to the article. Philly.com states that Frazer was able to get 50 percent of the scholarship, but wasn’t allowed to return to the team.

Cerett, a punter according to the 2010 roster, was not listed on the football team’s roster in 2011.

Frazer was a sophomore middle blocker for the Owls in 2011, according to the 2011 women’s volleyball roster.

Assistant Vice President for University Communications Ray Betzner said the university has no comment on the litigation.

SMC interim dean is finalist for Oregon job

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The University of Oregon announced that Thomas Jacobson, the interim dean of the School of Media and Communication, has been chosen as a finalist for the dean of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication.

Jacobson joins Michael Evans, the interim dean of Indiana University’s School of Journalism, as the two finalists at Oregon, according to Oregon’s website. Jacobson has been the interim dean of SMC since 2009.

Vice President Unruh resigns

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David Unruh, the senior vice president for institutional advancement, resigned Friday in preparation for the shift of university presidency to Neil Theobald on Jan. 1, according to  an email sent by the Executive Office of the President.

Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement Tilghman Moyer will take over immediately for Unruh, who has been at the university for three years.

“It is not uncommon for a new president to put his own advancement team in place,” current President Richard Englert said in the email. “[Unruh] has been a terrific colleague and a great advocate for Temple and we wish him well as he pursues new opportunities.”

The university will begin the search for a new vice president in 2013.

John Moritz can be reached at john.moritz@temple.edu or on Twitter @JCMoritzTU.