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.
Amid the final days of classes and the stress over approaching final exams, Temple Student Government held their final General Assembly meeting on Monday.
The meeting provided a summation of the work TSG had accomplished during the fall semester and a small preview into spring semester.
Student Body President David Lopez first thanked his administration and all students who served on TSG committees and then provided a summary by the numbers of the work accomplished this semester.
Lopez said that TSG registered over 3,500 students to vote, 1,500 students for Temple Advocates Legislative Outreach Network, completed 990 hours of community service through TSG sponsored events, and started the Adopt-a-block initiative.
Lopez said that he did not want to register more than 2,000 students for TALON, because he wanted to make a push for registration next semester.
“Our goal is 4,500 [students], so according to our timeline we are exactly where we need to be. We didn’t want to register more than 2,000 this semester because it is more important to register them second semester closer to Cherry and White day,” Lopez said.
TSG takes students to the state capital in Harrisburg on Cherry and White Day to both advocate for higher education funding and thank legislators that fight for funding for Temple. Cherry and White Day is scheduled for March 5.
Lopez and TSG also plan to organize a large volunteer initiative on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. On Thursday, Dec. 6, TSG has a meeting with student activities, community relations, and alumni relations.
“[We will] talk about a coordinated effort towards something to do on MLK day. We want to make one coordinated effort to promote locations that are available and then assign student orgs and assign alumni groups to places and do community service on that day,” Lopez said.
The TSG administration is also in the preliminary phases in conjunction with university officials to create a class wait list in the self-service banner.
“We had a meeting with one of the vice-provosts and we talked to them about implanting the class wait list system into banner, so that students rather than registering for a class and trying to green card and finding out it is not available will [instead] be put on a waitlist and be notified when it becomes available, so that they can register,” Lopez said.
Lopez approximated that the wait-list will be implemented during the summer semesters, according to his discussions with university officials.
The TSG general assembly will reconvene in late January to begin work for the Spring 2013 semester.
Laura Detter can be reached at laura.detter@temple.edu.
In the midst of a presidential election that drew many students outside of the classroom and into the voting booths today, Nov. 6th, many local politicians are running on the same ballot as Mitt Romney and Barack Obama for a chance to represent those in the North Philadelphia community.
For those registered to vote in and around Main Campus, there are several other offices up for election.
For U.S. Senate, Democratic incumbent Senator Bob Casey Jr. is running against Republican Tom Smith and Libertarian Rayburn Douglas Smith.
For U.S. Congress, two districts split Main Campus, the 1st Congressional District lies East of Broad Street, where Democratic incumbent Congressman Robert Brady is battling Republican John Featherman. In the 2nd Congressional District west of Broad Street, Democratic incumbent Chaka Fattah is running against Republican Robert Mansfield Jr. and James Foster, an independent.
On the state level, the position of Auditor General is up for grabs between Democrat Eugene A. DePasquale, Republican John Maher and Libertarian Betsy Elizabeth Summers. For State Treasurer, Democrat Robert M. McCord is up for re-election against Republican Diana Irey Vaughan and Libertarian Patricia M. Fryman. For Pennsylvania Attorney General, Democrat Kathleen G. Kane is running against Republican David J. Freed and Libertarian Marakay J. Rogers.
In the 3rd Senate District in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, which encompasses Main Campus and the surrounding North Philadelphia community, Democratic State Senator Shirley Kitchen is running unopposed. Most of Main Campus and the surrounding student community west of Broad Street find themselves within the General Assembly’s 181st Congressional District, where Democratic Representative W. Curtis Thomas is also running unopposed. Some students living north of Susquehanna Avenue between 17th and North Broad streets will find themselves in the Assembly’s 197th District, where Democrat Jose Miranda is running against Republican Steve Crum.
All voters have the option of voting for one, all, or some of the elected positions on the ballot. There is also an option to vote a straight party line, or to vote for no candidate for any office.
“I’ll be honest, I’m not very informed on that subject, I should be, but I’m not,” Charles Brown, a junior journalism major, said. “I voted among party lines.”
Fiona Allen, a sophomore communications studies major, said that while she voted for all local candidate positions, she knew less about them than she did the presidential race.
“I’m not extremely informed on local candidates at all, I was extremely concerned about with presidential election,” Allen said. “I did do a little bit of research, but it is hard because everyone is so hyped about the presidential elections.”
For information about how to find your voting place, visit votespa.com.
John Moritz can be reached at john.moritz@temple.edu or on Twitter @JCMoritzTU.
