A newly designed class registration interface will debut May 8 in time for the upcoming summer quarter, an email from Drexel University’s Division of Enrollment Management and Student Success announced April 25.

“This interface features a new design and additional functionality that improves the student experience,” the email read.

According to the email, the new interface will make it possible for students to see a visual display of their schedules as they build them. It will also give students the ability to email themselves their schedule, in calendar format, as a PDF file.

Another new feature is conditional add/drop options, which will only allow students to drop a course if they intend to add another in its place.

These improvements were made, the email said, to make class registration easier on students.

One freshman, Anthony Cresap, is looking forward to the new system.

“[The old system] just made registering for classes so much harder because by the time I figured out all the CRNs and the timeslots the classes had filled up,” Cresap, a freshman biomedical engineering major, said.

Video and PDFs to guide students through using the new interface will be available at http://drexel.edu/drexelcentral/about/news/2017/April/registration-update/ during the first week of May.

Students who have any questions regarding the new registration system should contact their academic advisors.

Photo Courtesy Philadelphia Police

James E. Harris, 58, the man sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 2015 rape and strangulation of 27-year-old Drexel graduate Jasmine Wright, was found unresponsive in his cell at the State Correctional Institution at Graterford April 13 around 10:40 p.m.

According to officials, prison staff attempted to revive the inmate until medical personnel arrived. Harris was later pronounced dead at 11:10 p.m. at Einstein Montgomery Hospital.

Montgomery County First Deputy Coroner Alexander Balacki later ruled Harris’s death a suicide, confirming that the prisoner hanged himself.

This suicide occurred roughly two weeks after Harris was found guilty of first-degree murder, rape and other charges March 29, after a nonjury trial surrounding the death of Wright.

Above intel courtesy of philly.com. For more details about the trial and Wright’s murder, click here.

Sodexo s.r.o. Wikimedia Commons

Drexel University President John A. Fry may be compelled to submit to a deposition in the legal case between the university and its former food service provider, SodexoMagic.

The vendor has accused Fry of purposely misrepresenting Drexel’s plans for student body growth and fraudulently inducing the food service company to sign a 10-year vendor commitment. On March 31 it requested the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to compel Fry to testify.

“President Fry was personally involved in the decision-making portion of the [request for proposal] process,” SodexoMagic argued. “SodexoMagic is entitled to take President Fry’s deposition because he clearly possesses information and knowledge unique to him. President Fry has personal and superior knowledge of this issue, and that knowledge cannot be obtained through alternative means.”

Drexel University terminated its contract with SodexoMagic in September 2016 and SodexoMagic filed suit days later. The vendor claimed that the contract, which had been signed a year prior, had encouraged it to invest $24 million into the university campus and provide $35 million over 10 years under false assurances about increasing student enrollment.

SodexoMagic’s complaint claims that the University disclosed a decline in student enrollment for the 2015-16 school year after the contract had been signed and the vendor had already invested $9.3 million upfront to build Urban Eatery, a new dining hall, on campus.

Although SodexoMagic claims that the drop in enrollment was part of a detailed plan approved by Fry months before they signed the contract, Stephen Cozen, an attorney representing the university, said that Fry’s deposition would not offer any relevant information to the case.

“John Fry was not involved in the discussions leading up to the August 2014 decision to enter into the food service contract with Sodexo,” Cozen wrote in an email to Law360, a legal news outlet. “We will leave it for [the judge] to decide.”

The parties agreed to extend the deadline for Drexel’s formal response to April 19.

Photo Courtesy Philadelphia Police

James E. Harris was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole March 30 for the rape and strangulation of 27-year-old Jasmine Wright, a Drexel University graduate.

Harris waived his right to a jury trial in exchange for an agreement with the District Attorney’s Office, which vowed, in turn, not to pursue a death sentence if Harris was found guilty of first-degree murder.

Prior to testimony, Harris also rejected a last-minute offer by prosecutors to plead guilty to third-degree murder in exchange for a sentence of 50 to 100 years in prison.

The testimony took place the last week of March before Judge Sandy Bird at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

During the two-and-a-half days it lasted, Harris denied that he was responsible for Wright’s death and contended that he and Wright had been in a consensual relationship. But the evidence told a different story.

One week before Wright’s murder on July 15, 2015, Harris, 58, served as a handyman for the small, three-unit apartment building at 226 N. 50th St. where Wright lived.

He was known around the West Philadelphia neighborhood where he worked as Jimmy Camp.

One of those who’d known him was Tanya Giebus, a neighbor who had lived on the same block as Harris for two months. She testified that she had talked with Jimmy daily since moving into the neighborhood and that he’d talked to her about his handyman work for two apartments.

Giebus said that while Harris was normally friendly and talkative, he’d acted out of character when she saw him on the porch of Wright’s building the day of the murder. Giebus said she called out his name to say hi, but he was silent.

“He gave me sort of a half-wave and then stepped back behind a pillar,” Giebus said.

Harold Murray, the apartment building’s property owner, testified that he hired Harris nine months before the killing to fix up the property at a rate of $20 a week.

“He came highly recommended by a neighbor,” Murray said.

According to Murray, Harris did “very good work” for nine months. But Harris was terminated the week before the killing because he had stopped working.

Despite being dismissed, Harris held keys to the property where Wright lived. Murray said Harris had promised to return them.

“But before I knew it, this thing happened,” Murray said.

Another neighbor, Wanda McCoy, testified that she had seen Harris entering the door leading up to the second- and third-floor apartments the day before Wright’s body was found by a Realty World Properties agent — July 16, 2015.

The property management company’s agent had received a call from Wright’s father that day. He was concerned because he could not get in contact with Wright by phone. When the agent let herself into Wright’s apartment, she found Wright’s body in the bedroom.

Authorities contended that after McCoy’s sighting, Harris entered Wright’s apartment where he brutally raped, beat and strangled her. Harris’ sperm was identified by DNA analysis inside Wright’s genitals, as well as on a towel and pillow in her apartment.

According to Assistant District Attorney Gail Fairman, the Medical Examiner’s Office determined Wright’s death to be the result of manual strangulation. The report also stated that Wright sustained blunt-force-trauma injuries to 12 parts of her body including her forehead, eye, lips and four hits over the top of her head.

Wright’s mother, Paulette Wright, had previously provided the authorities with a statement. She was the last known person to speak with Wright. Paulette said she was talking on the phone with her daughter at 5:29 p.m. July 15 when the line went dead. Although Paulette tried to call back repeatedly, her daughter did not pick up.

Two of Wright’s aunts gave statements about Wright’s education, interests and character. One said that Wright had just earned her master’s in public health, had been politically active and had been planning to study law with the goal of advocating for better public health services.

Harris maintained that he was innocent until his sentencing. He testified that his DNA was found inside of Wright because they had a consensual sexual relationship.

“I miss Jasmine as my friend as much as I miss my mother, who died 43 days before I lost Jasmine,” Harris told the judge.

“I know how they feel and I know they want justice, but it’s not me,” Harris continued, referring to Wright’s family.

Public defenders Geoffrey Kilroy, Thurgood M. Matthews and Stephanie Fennell represented Harris. They argued that Harris engaged in consensual sex with Wright and that the timeframe of Wright’s murder wasn’t clear. They asserted that someone else could have strangled Wright after Giebus’ account of him at the apartment building.

Harris’ defendants also ascertained that he had sustained multiple traumatic injuries — Harris was twice shot in the head and once shot in the left eye with an arrow as a child. It was also made known that Harris was beaten as a child by his father, James Washington, who had regularly abused Harris’ mother. Harris was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 1982 for murdering his father.

A lawsuit is currently pending against Realty World Properties, Murray and Harris. Wright’s parents filed it after her death and contend that Harris did not undergo a background check before he was hired.

Drexel University’s Department of Campus Services announced March 17 that Myers Hall, a traditional-style freshman residence hall, will be demolished and replaced with green space during the 2017-2018 academic year.

Preparation for the removal of the residence hall on 3301 Race St. will begin after the summer conference season ends Sept. 3. It is expected to take several months as the building and its contents are inventoried and infrastructure, furniture or materials that can be repurposed or recycled are salvaged. The building’s demolition is expected to take place in summer 2018.

Myers Hall was opened in 1977 as temporary housing; its demolition and replacement was determined in the public realm section of the 2012-2017 Drexel Master Plan.

A green space in which students can relax and spend time with friends will take its place. It will be designed by West 8, a landscape architecture and planning firm.

During the 2017-2018 academic year, freshman housing options will include Kelly, Millennium, North, Race, Towers and Van Rensselaer halls. The college learning communities currently housed in Myers Hall will be relocated in collaboration with individual schools and colleges.

Sophomore housing options for the 2017-2018 academic year will include Caneris, North and Stiles halls. They may also stay in Chestnut Square, The Summit and University Crossings, which are managed by American Campus Communities.

Miranda Schroyer The Triangle

Paul McGowan said it all began in New Haven, Connecticut around 2010.

Drexel University president, John A. Fry had been in New England for his kids’ squash tournaments and staying at The Study at Yale. One day he approached McGowan, the hotel’s owner and developer, and asked what it would take to bring a similar hotel to Drexel’s campus.

Seven years later, Drexel’s very own “Study” now sits complete at the corner of 33rd and Chestnut streets. It officially opened March 1.

Among its many features are 212 rooms, a floor dedicated to conferences and meetings, an open, first-floor lobby and CO-OP — the hotel’s in-house restaurant.

One of the biggest factors in The Study’s arrival to campus was its address.

“Location is key to us,” McGowan said. “Here, we have one of the most incredible locations you could ask for up and down the eastern seaboard.”

He noted that the hotel is at the hub of a variety of centers for academia and health — the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, the Science Center, the University of Pennsylvania and, of course, Drexel University.

The Study appeals to what McGowan called the upper-tier of the University market.

“Whether they’re touring prospective students or families of students that are currently enrolled in the schools, visiting professors, dignitaries or speakers,” McGowan said. “Anyone who’s coming to a college environment.”

According to John Wright, the hotel’s Group Sales Manager, The Study’s average room rate is $229 per night and up, depending on the time of year a guest visits and what is going on in the city. Nights at other nearby hotels, the Sheraton and the Inn at Penn, compare at averages of $156 and $239 per night.

McGowan said The Study attempts to set itself apart from its competition by providing a more intellectual, academic environment for guests to relax.

“Part of the reason we call it The Study and not a hotel is for that very reason,” he said, further explaining that a “study” is an older term that might refer to a place in someone’s house reserved for quiet reflection and relaxation — a place where one can think.

“We have an abundance of reading material. It’s about reading and reflecting and relaxing, you know. Put your feet up,” he said.

McGowan said the building itself took strong cues from local Philadelphia architecture and that  many local trade workers and artisans — from blacksmiths, to glassblowers, to plaster companies — were enlisted during its construction.

The ground floor of the hotel features bookshelves and reading seats, a table from which guests can borrow newspapers — The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Philadelphia Inquirer — and two rotating display cases featuring exhibits on loan from Philadelphia museums.

One centerpiece McGowan particularly likes in the hotel lobby is a large painting that hangs on the wall that separates The Study from CO-OP. It was done by Sam Messer, an assistant dean of Yale’s School of Art. It features a large typewriter; a snippet of a quote by President Fry describing Drexel as “…creative, diverse, entrepreneurial, impatient, unpretentious and a little fearless”; and the Philadelphia skyline behind the words.

CO-OP seats 105 people. Lunch and dinner dishes range from $14 to $16 and $16 to $38, respectively.

McGowan described its menu as “new American cuisine with a heavy emphasis on regional flavors.”

The name “CO-OP” was primarily inspired, McGowan said, by the neighborly spirit of Canadian agricultural and maritime cooperatives he remembered as a kid. Also Drexel was the first co-op University, so it fit.

The Study’s second floor is a banquet and conference space with outdoor terraces, and its third floor features a large gym where guests can exercise on their own time or sign up for exercise classes like yoga.

Within the hotel there are 121 king rooms, 63 double rooms, 19 king study rooms and nine suites. Each room has a bed, a desk, leather chairs and ottomans, reading window nooks and its own bookcase.

McGowan commissioned the work of artists for The Study’s interior design. Scattered across the hotel’s 10 floors are 230 custom-made paintings by the Surrealist-influenced, Italian painter Carlo Trevisan. Trevisan’s paintings go for anywhere from $97 to $539 per piece.

Neither The Study nor CO-OP has yet announced plans to bring in Drexel hospitality or food sciences students for co-op positions.

“Our human resources director is certainly reaching out,” McGowan said.

He added that the resources director at The Study also has an open dialogue going with the university concerning internships for Drexel students as well as long term employment.

Photo Courtesy Allison Liu

From Feb. 27 to March 10, the Bookmark Cafe hosted the traveling American Psychological Association exhibit “I am Psyched! Inspiring Histories, Inspiring Lives: Women of Color in Psychology.”

The exhibit was centered around women of color who worked in psychology when the field was still primarily occupied by white men. It was curated by a group of high school girls in Washington, D.C., under the direction of the APA.

Dorothy Charbonnier, an assistant teaching professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, coordinated the exhibit’s arrival at Drexel — the second stop on its U.S. tour.

She secured the exhibit’s arrival and got together a group of four students to physically assemble the exhibit when it arrived to the university in boxes.

Junior psychology major Gemmika Champion, was one of the students who put the exhibit together. She said she was part of a group of students who did initial research on the women the APA featured in the exhibit.

“I think it’s really important to emphasize the accomplishments of women of color and women in psychology in general,” Champion said.

At the entrance to the exhibit sat a kiosk with papers that allowed visitors to experience “self-guided tours” and interact with its three panels.

The panels tell the stories of black woman pioneers in psychology like Mamie Phipps Clark, whose research on the effects of racial segregation on black children was cited in the Supreme Court case that resulted in the desegregation of public schools, Brown v. Board of Education.

Charbonnier said she thought everyone could relate with the exhibit in some way. She spoke about another woman featured in the exhibit, Inez Prosser, who was the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate in psychology in the United States.

“Her story is very relatable,” Charbonier said. “Not in that I wasn’t allowed to get educated, I was allowed to get educated. But she had to take care of her family at the same time. She had younger brothers and sisters that she was in charge of and without her they wouldn’t have survived.”

Being a single mother herself, said she couldn’t imagine how difficult this must have been for Prosser. She continued saying that many women still have to juggle studying, working and parenting today.

But the stakes were higher for Prosser because in order to secure her younger siblings’ educations, she had to secure her own education first.

“I am Psyched” left Drexel March 10 for the third stop on its country-wide tour.

Photo courtesy Karly Souldner

At the base of the hill outside of Disque Hall, students will no longer see a tree, but a stump.

In the midst of the new Korman Quad design, the tree, an American Yellowwood, was removed last week.

Students held a small vigil for the tree Feb. 17. Karly Soldner, a fifth-year environmental science major, organized the event on Facebook, dubbing the tree Drexel’s “favorite” and “only.”

Soldner led a small ceremony at noon to mourn the tree’s removal. After the ceremony, students taped notes to the fence outside of the Korman construction at Market and 34th streets. Around 25 students came to pay their respects to the tree in the first hour, Soldner said. But as of Feb. 19, she was hopeful that more would stop to write well wishes and say goodbye throughout the week.

“You were my first meeting place on campus and my favorite classroom. I already miss you. Goodbye fair tree, rest well,” a note taped to the fence read.

In other notes, students reminisced about eating ice cream and cake in the tree’s shade and enjoying outside classes in its company. One student fondly remembered spending afternoons sitting beneath it, plotting to ruin an enemy’s life.

Soldner said she was inspired to hold this event because she felt like a lot of students had a chance to connect with it due to its central location. She also wanted to spread the word of the tree’s removal, which she has been personally upset by.

“I always used to joke that if the constantly changing quad plans ever mentioned cutting down that important central tree, I would chain myself to it,” Soldner said. “When I walked out of Pearlstein on February 15, I saw the stump and was just heartbroken.”

According to Drexel University communications official Niki Gianakaris, substantial decay was observed in the tree’s trunk during its removal, which would have made it unsuitable for relocation.

She also said that the Korman Quad’s new design will feature a significant number of new trees. This includes both large canopy trees, such as oaks, maples, elms and tulip trees, and understory trees, such as serviceberries, redbuds, fringe trees and sweetbay magnolias.

Photo courtesy Karly Souldner

Photo courtesy Karly Souldner

Photo courtesy Karly Souldner

It’s been four weeks since dining hall service resumed operations at Drexel University with Aramark and diners say they have noticed a difference in both food quality and service with the new provider.

“People working there are a lot nicer now,” freshman  business and engineering major Animesh Peddireddi said. He added that they’re the same workers, there’s just a change in their attitude.

“And the food is much better,” he continued. “For example, they’ve cut down the desserts at the Hans and provided more space for salads.”

He said this might be because of the new management style, something that he and his friends have noticed. When Sodexo ran the cafeterias in the fall, management seemed to be mostly absent. But now, supervisors often sit or stand next to the workers to keep an eye on them, he said.

President of the Undergraduate Student Government Association Brittany Tucciarone agreed: “I think it’s changed.”

It all seems healthier, she continued. For instance, broccoli is steamed this term, not doused in butter and salt.

Shortly after the announcement that Aramark would replace SodexoMagic as Drexel’s food service provider fall term, Tucciarone reached out to Rita LaRue who oversees campus dining as vice president of campus services.

Tucciarone said she told LaRue that she knew students were disappointed with campus dining and thought USGA could act as a liaison between Aramark and the student body.

As a resident assistant at North Hall, Tucciarone frequents both the Handschumacher Dining Center   and Urban Eatery weekly. And although she oversees upperclassmen, she often hears what the freshmen with meal plans are complaining about from other RAs.

More options for students with dietary restrictions, Kosher, halal, gluten free, vegetarian or vegan, are high on some students’ wishlists.

But the biggest issues? Hours and portion sizes.

Urban Eatery operates from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. throughout the week. The Hans is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays. Tucciarone said these hours are not ideal for athletes with early morning practices.

Since Urban Eatery is the only cafeteria open until 11 a.m. athletes eat there in the mornings. But the amount of food students can get with one meal swipe at Urban is less than the amount of food they can get at the Hans where refills are unlimited.

In a meeting with Aramark representatives, Tucciarone said she and a few other representatives from each class just had an open discussion in which the student government brought up these issues.

“They were very candid,” the USGA president said. “They wanted to hear everything that students were upset about currently and how they could make it better.”

Kristina Coble, Aramark’s resident district manager at Drexel, told The Triangle in an email correspondence how cafeteria operations have changed this term.

Coble said that Aramark has debuted a restaurant rotation at Urban Eatery’s Street Fare station, which showcases a new weekly menu each week. Food styles range from Mediterranean and Korean to Indian. Other additions to Urban Eatery have included a self-serve option at the REV Endless Breakfast station and La Colombe coffee at Downtown Grounds.

At the Hans, Coble said that Aramark has added more gluten-free pantry options and brought back The Deli.

Another of Aramark’s adjustments, she said, was creating more visible on-site nutrition labels and signs at both cafeterias.

According to LaRue, Drexel Campus Services’ top priority throughout January has been transitioning operations smoothly between vendors.

“With the Aramark team fully operational on campus, we will spend the next several months working with the USGA, and any other interested student groups or individuals, on planning the future of Drexel Campus Dining,” LaRue wrote in an email correspondence with The Triangle.

Students can give feedback to Aramark employees instantly through an online survey platform called Voice of the Consumer. VOC allows the student to choose the dining hall they’ve eaten at and then asks them to rank from 1 to 10 how pleased they were with their dining experience and service. Boxes are available for students to explain their rankings.

When the VOC survey is completed, it sends an instant message to Aramark management at the location students indicated.

Brandon Wade: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

It was 6 a.m. Sunday morning. I was sitting in the Philadelphia International Airport beside my best friend. Her flight would leave in an hour.

“Do you think it will get better?” she asked. “With all the protests?”

We were both biting back tears because we had no idea when we would see each other again. She was taking leave of absence from Drexel and flying back to India, her home country. Despite the impending doom of midterms, I’d spent the last day in the U. S. with her at the Marriott Hotel, the airport’s adjoining guest accommodation.

“Not for a while,” I said.

While we were eating dinner the night before, President Donald Trump had declared an immigrant and refugee ban on citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Travelers from these countries who’d taken off before the ban was put in place were being detained at their destinations in the United States, and in some cases, sent home.

Within hours, protests erupted at all of the major airports. By 8:30 p.m. Philadelphia was one of them. More than 200 people, among them Gov. Tom Wolf and Mayor Jim Kenney, were gathered in the International Arrival Hall to protest.

“Let them in,” read one sign.

“My students belong here,” read another.

My friend and I caught the tail end of the chanting. When we arrived, only a few people were left, raising their handmade signs up and down for a disgruntled newscaster, who’d missed the bulk of the action but needed a shot.

As soon as her cameraman finished filming, the remaining protesters threw their signs onto a pile of others beneath a wall-sized replica of the Declaration of Independence.

When you live in Philadelphia, it’s easy to forget this city is the birthplace of our nation. That 241 years ago, the United States’ democracy was created by a group of men that wanted a government that put power into the hands of its people.

Across the international arrival hall’s ceiling, a few of the words that created this country are plastered in curly, calligraphy-style handwriting. It’s a shortened version of the following:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Because of the ban, an Iraqi man, Hameed Khalid Darweesh, was detained at JFK Airport overnight. Darweesh worked as an interpreter for the U.S. Army when it invaded Iraq in 2003 and later worked as a contract engineer for the United States. After lawyers petitioned a Federal Court, Darweesh, among others, was let go.

He told a waiting crowd, “America is the greatest nation, the greatest people in the world.”

A nice sentiment, but untrue. America is not the “greatest nation”, Darweesh. Not yet anyway. That’s why Trump’s here, to make it great again. I say this in jest, but who knows maybe, inadvertently, it’s true. Maybe all of Trump following through on all of his bullheaded campaign promises is what it takes to re-engage a people with a democracy they’d become uninterested in and unphased by. Maybe, in the longrun, the United States will be better off for his election.

Think about it.

Last weekend, we, the descendants of immigrants, slaves and revolutionists emerged, seemingly out of nowhere as so many media outlets pointed out, at the news of this ban — to protest a government order that defied everything it meant to be American. We drew up signs and stood in airports in unison because we believe our Muslim neighbors have the same right to chase the American dream as we do and that the United States was founded on the ideology that all people, no matter where they came from, would have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Regardless of where they come from.

It was 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning. I thought back to how signs from the protest had been left against a large imitation of the Declaration of Independence and the stark contrast between the signs on the posters and those on the document.

I looked at my friend and thought about how I would feel if I never got to see her again. What if she had been born in one of these seven countries? What if after she walked through security, she’d never be able to come back?

One of my favorite things about our friendship is its ability to transcend boundaries. Even when we have different opinions, we respect each other and subsequently, each other’s arguments. Likewise, even when we’re in different corners of the world, we still seem to find things to talk and laugh about. Usually, we don’t even realize we’re doing it.

In its simplest form, this ban reduces countries and their citizens to their religion. It compartmentalizes terror and Islam into one and places an unnecessary wall between the people of the United States and the people of seven of our fellow sovereignties. Which is sad, because friendships, and families, transcend these boundaries too.

Three men pushed a bag of ski luggage past the chairs where we were sitting.

“It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” I said.
“But I think it will get better.”