Drexel University School of Public Health has been christened the Dana and David Dornsife School of Public Health in recognition of their $45 million gift to the University. President John A. Fry made this announcement at 2 p.m., Sept. 30, at Nesbitt Hall.
The Dornsifes are known worldwide for their philanthropic and humanitarian efforts. This latest kind endeavor brings their cumulative Drexel donations to $58 million.
“They put not just their resources but also their hearts and their backs into empowering communities that face challenges. I learned this when I traveled with them to Africa, where they work with World Vision International to build wells that provide safe water for millions of people,” Fry wrote in an open letter about the announcement.

Jacob Dalton The Triangle

“Our School of Public Health was founded on the principle that health must be viewed as a human right. Today, led by Dean Ana Diez-Roux, M.D., Ph.D., the school provides innovative community-based education for public health professionals and conducts research and community outreach benefiting many thousands of people each year,” he continued.
The donation was made in hopes of accomplishing several goals detailed out in the letter. With this donation, Drexel will establish the Drexel Urban Health Collaborative, the first of its kind in North America according to Fry, which will be focusing on improving urban public health policies and health inequality. It will also create three endowed professorships, four endowed scholarships for graduate students, expand Drexel’s Global Public Health Program to include visiting professorships, online courses and other opportunities, and establish Dean’s Strategic Initiatives Fund to respond to urgent public health issues.
“We believe health is a human right—that doing good requires boots on the ground and engagement with the people that you serve,” Dana Dornsife said in her speech at the naming ceremony, citing Fry’s vision as the main inspiration for her donation. “Truly effective change relies on sustainable intervention. Dave and I know firsthand that Drexel’s public health team is making a sizeable impact on health and human rights in Philadelphia and around the globe. They’re making a difference in communities today and in shaping the next generation of public health leaders. We are profoundly inspired by their commitment to health equality and social justice.”

Dana Dornsife, a 1983 graduate of the LeBow College of Business, is founder, CEO and President of the Lazarex Cancer Foundation. David, a graduate of the University of Southern California, is chairman of Herrick Corporation, the largest steel fabricator and contractor on the West Coast.
At the naming ceremony, Diez-Roux made some comments as well. “I do want to emphasize that this gift is a recognition of all the hard work and the teamwork that has gone on in the school over many years involving faculty, staff, students and external partners, and that has characterized this school from its very origins.”
The couple’s first big donation to Drexel in 2012 gave $10 million to establish the Dana and David Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships. The center has enhanced Drexel’s civic engagement in the form of collaboration between students, faculty and residents in Mantua and Powelton. Since then, the Dornsife name has made some more appearances on campus including the Dana and David Dornsife Office of Experiential Learning and the Dornsife Global Development Scholars program in which students work for World Vision International on development projects related to water, sanitation and hygiene in African countries.
“The work that David and I do with World Vision is immeasurably enriched by the Dornsife Global Development Scholars Program,” Dana Dornsife said, “and the capacity building online education program established in partnership with this school, World Vision, and Desert Research Institute.” She attributed her continued success of these programs at Drexel with the shared core beliefs among them and the school.
This is the second largest donation the university has ever received, right after the $50 million donation to the Thomas R. Kline School of Law in its naming in September 2014.

The post Dornsifes donate $45M to University appeared first on The Triangle.

Philadelphia Magazine opened up voting for its 2015 Health Hero Challenge Semifinalists Sept. 15. Among them, Drexel College of Medicine’s Stacey Trooskin was chosen as a semifinalist along with 15 others in a campaign to choose who in Philadelphia would help their communities be health and happier. Nominations for the challenge began in the early summer, after which the editors reviewed each of the 600 nominations to narrow it down for voting.

Trooskin, an assistant professor with a specialty in hepatitis C and HIV research, was nominated for work in the “Do One Thing, Change Everything” campaign, a collaborative movement of Drexel and Brown University. She worked with the campaign that promoted communities doing a simple mouth swab or finger stick test to determine their HIV or hepatitis C status. The campaign also helps provides access to proper healthcare for those who need it. Trooskin had developed a specific model, which she had tested in West Philadelphia prior to working for Drexel. She launched the model with Do One Thing.

“I think knowing your status is really important when it comes to HIV and hepatitis C,” Trooskin said. “And now that we have a cure for hepatitis C, we want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to receive that.”

In December 2012, Trooskin launched a mobile van testing center into southwest Philadelphia neighborhood, offering free and fast testing for HIV and hepatitis C. She and ten other medical student volunteers went from neighborhood to neighborhood with high rates of infection in order to bring awareness for illnesses that can largely remain asymptomatic. To date, they’ve tested several thousand people with a three and a half percent reported positive for antibodies and four that went into full care.

In February 2015, Trooskin published a research article indicating that this door-to-door method was one of the most effective ways to get medical help in neighborhoods with high rates of infection. Her co-author, assistant professor Amy Nunn at Brown University said, “Our paper proves that scaling screening and treatment, even in neighborhoods with the highest rates of infection, is possible. We overcame all the commonly cited obstacles in this high-risk population.”

Photo courtesy: Drexel Now

Although the voting for semifinalists began Sept. 15, the voting is divided up into rounds in which four semifinalists are up for voting each week. The voting for Trooskin will begin Sept. 22. Along with Trooskin, founder of Philly Girls in Motion Beth Devine, SWEAT Fitness trainer Dan Goldstein and leader of the Team Humane League Meatless Monday Running Crew Lia Belardo will be up for voting in her round. Winners from each week will become among four finalists that run into late October. People will be able to vote once every 24 hours during the voting week. Winners of the Health Hero Challenge will receive a $7,500 donation to a charity of their choice. Runner-ups will get to choose to donate $1,500. Voting ends on Sept. 28.

According to Trooskin, she would take the money and donate it to The Hepatitis C Allies of Philadelphia, an organization dedicated to community outreach for hepatitis C and spread awareness about the disease. Trooskin is a community co-chair for the organization.

Voting can be done at http://www.phillymag.com/healthhero/

The post Trooskin qualifies as health hero challenge semifinalist appeared first on The Triangle.

Photo Credit: Philadelphia Police

James Harris, the former handyman of the building that Jasmine Wright lived in, was charged in her murder and rape July 24 according to the Philadelphia Police department.

The 56-year-old was banned from the building one week prior to the attack. He has a long history of violence, most shockingly the murder of his father, James Washington whom he was convicted of killing on a voluntary manslaughter charge in 1982. Harris was also charged with the attempted rape and rape of a 15-year-old girl but he was either found not guilty or had the charges dropped, as reported in NBC Philadelphia. 6abc reports that Harris’s prior criminal charges account to 31 in total.

Wright’s body was found at 2:30 p.m. on July 16. One day earlier, Wright was in her home on the phone with her mother when Harris came up from behind her, attacking her. Her mother had heard parts of the struggle before Wright’s cellphone went dead. According to Police Homicide Detective James Clark, Harris had broken into Wright’s apartment waiting for her to come home. Wright, entering thirty minutes later, had no idea she was not alone. Harris sexually assaulted Wright as he beat her. Philadelphia Police believed this happened on the floor next to her bed. After strangling her to death, the Philadelphia Police say that he placed her on the bed.

While Harris attempted to use bleach to clean up the crime scene, DNA evidence was successfully collected and and tested, identifying him as Wright’s killer.

Despite being fired from the building and evicted (he had lived three doors down from Wright prior to being banned from the building), Harris kept the keys to Wright’s apartment complex as the owners of the building failed to recover them.

“I mean, he’s a monster. We’re very happy to get him off the streets,” Clark said during the criminal charge announcement.

Philadelphia Police currently have not released information on the motive for the murder, however Philly.com reports that Harris had posted a picture of a dozen roses on Wright’s Facebook page. “All in,” he wrote, “for you.”

The Triangle will update this piece as further information comes along.

The post Jasmine Wright’s killer charged for murder, rape appeared first on The Triangle.

Flickr: SAM Naslm

Scrolling through my newsfeed on Facebook, I’m usually hit with a wide variety of information. Friends will post personal photos, share cute quizzes and make witty statuses. One of the biggest trends on Facebook has been for people to post up links to articles read online about issues to make their friends more “socially aware.” This particular evening, while I was scrolling through Facebook, I came across a shared Mic.com article that left me with a sick feeling inside. “Bangladesh is One of the Worst Countries for Child Marriage — For One Horrible Reason,” it read. My heart sank. The caption read, “It’s worse than
you think.” 

“Natasha is a Live News Staff Writer with the highly specialized beats of feminism, the Muslim world and global politics. Before joining Mic she reported on regional affairs from Pakistan,” I read about the writer, Natasha Noman. Noman went on to write an article about the rampant issue of rape and sexual abuse in my country, fueling the “inhumane” and “human rights violation,” which is child marriage. She wrote about the difficulty of marrying off daughters who were sexually abused prior to being given away.

“Given the prevalence of rape in Bangladesh, parents rush to marry their daughters early to minimize the likelihood they will get abused or raped by someone other than a husband,” she claimed.

“Rather than tackling the problem of sexual harassment, common social responses ultimately interfere with girls’ basic human rights,” Noman continues after citing a statistic claiming that one out of three girls growing up in rural Bangladesh was sexually abused. She was making commentary on parents refusing to send their girls to school in fear of the “sexual abuse pandemic.”

What an arrogant claim this outsider had to say about my country. I held back the burn of tears for shame that I should not have to feel — because what she was trying to say about Bangladesh was simply not true.

I’m not just trying to rep the home country, Noman figuratively took tidbits of a very lengthy report and blew it up in order to do one thing: to continue the media narrative that South Asian men are misogynists, domestic abusers, sexual predators and even worse (as Noman clearly demonstrates above), that South Asians don’t even care about it.

Photo Credit: Jean Roy

In her article, she cites several very credible sources to back up her argument: BBC, Human Rights Watch, the World Health Organization, and other quotes from social activists. What she failed to cite is how all of these credible news organization also talk about how child marriage is heavily influenced by a multitude of complex problems that developing countries, such as Bangladesh, all have. These problems then interact and push against each other, creating the high prevalence of child marriage. Namely: poverty, lack of access to education, age-based social pressure and natural disasters.

“The main problem [causing child marriage] is poverty. People don’t have enough to eat every day. They need more financial help from the government,” a local government official told Human Rights Watch in their report. The financial relief of dowry is often a heavy influence on rural families that can be left starving or have had their crops washed away from the monsoons. This is a rather striking contrast from Noman’s “one horrible reason.”

In this same report, 16-year-old Sultana C. said, “Whatever land my father had and the house he had went under the water in the river erosion and that’s why my parents decided to get me married.” She was married at 14. Once again, poverty tends to be the major root of what influences parents to be pressured to marry off their young daughters.

This report is struck with stories like these, including stories of daughters not being able to afford going to school because of fees and textbooks (Sorry, Noman, the “No Child Left Behind” Act has yet to
reach Bangladesh). 

Don’t get me wrong, there are also plenty of stories of young girls being coerced into marriage through threats of sexual abuse, kidnapping and other unthinkable acts, but minimal in comparison to the stories mainly influenced by what I was discussing earlier. It would be irresponsible of me to suggest that some of what Noman is claiming in her article isn’t a problem. Bangladesh is far from perfect, but we’re also not a society of rapists and pedophiles.

Photo Credit: DFID

Interestingly, Noman spoke a lot about the suffering from these girls and what she claims they went through, but she didn’t include a single quote from any actual girls who went through child marriage.

But let’s hypothetically suggest that Noman’s delusional accusations were accurate, that Bangladesh’s child marriage problem is almost entirely fueled by sexual harassment, the threat imminent rape and acid attacks. What does Noman suggest is the solution for this?

“Policymakers and national leaders, like [Sheikh Hasina, prime minister of Bangladesh], would be wise to prioritize the eradication of this inhumane practice amongst other development goals,” she wrote. That’s the thing about Western liberal media writers like Columbia University alumnus Natasha Noman: they like to pretend that all of these problems almost have an off-switch, that developing countries just simply refuse to stop raping and
hurting women.

Sheikh Hasina, the Bangladeshi Prime Minister has been discussing how to prevent child marriages for years, and there could be a multitude of reasons why she chose to support a law stating that the age of marriage should be lowered (perhaps to encourage more magistrates to adhere by a more feasible law), but of course none of this is discussed by Noman. Instead, she places all blame on Hasina without any substantial evidence to support what she claims Hasina is trying to do.

However, as ridiculous and outright racist Noman’s writing about Bangladesh is, these hellish caricatures are not the most disturbing part of why all of this is so wrong.

Photo Credit: Arr4

Bangladesh has been a nation-state for 46 years, born out of one of the bloodiest genocides of the 20th century. That is not an exaggeration. The death toll after the US-backed invasion of present-day Bangladesh by present-day Pakistan is estimated to be up to three million, including the murder of most of the intellectuals, leaders, the burning of cities and the internment of hundreds of thousands of women. These women were systematically raped and often times murdered by being burned alive. Sound familiar? There is a generation of children born from these horrible atrocities.

I remind you, this was less than half of a
century ago.

I am only a few months younger than my mother when she gave birth to me, and she was years older than when her mother started bearing children. My mother’s father was the principal of a girls’ school, so protecting a girl’s access to education was very important to him, and something he passed on to his daughter. For Noman to claim that people who survived hundreds of thousands of rapes and killings to now become the rapists is what is so completely disturbing about all of this.

I think the best part that encapsulates just how ignorant the approach Noman took to discussing this was when she quoted social activist Jayati Ghosh, an economics professor at a New Delhi, India university who was discussing the issue of child brides in India (because they’re basically the same country, right?).

Photo Credit: DFID

Does this mean I believe that the problems Noman brings up should not be discussed? Not at all. Sexual assault and violence against women is a real problem in Bangladesh and there is progress being made, through the efforts of Bangladeshi activists and policy makers who have a rocky road ahead
of them.

But since the reports of sexual assaults and horrendous acts of violence began coming out of India and Pakistan, South Asia in Western media has been marred by articles similar to Noman’s about of how “bad” it is in our countries. South Asian people such as myself have to bite our lips as western “feminists” set fires to our flags. Developing countries in general are painted by the media as primitive, violent and savage. And how can we defend ourselves? It’s not like these problems don’t actually exist, but Western media often ignores the fact that countries like Bangladesh didn’t have two hundred years to exist and don’t have the benefit of creating their economy with the foundation of genocide of indigenous people, slavery and colonization like, you know, America did. In fact, developing countries are usually the ones who were exploited by Western countries, only to be kicked down further when they can’t meet the same “social justice” goals that the Westerners “accomplished.”

Meanwhile, it still takes the accounts the over forty women and a taped confession to even insinuate Bill Cosby is a rapist. In the fall semester, Penn State University reported over twenty sexual assaults on their campus in that term alone. Charlie Sheen is an award-winning actor despite figuratively shooting an ex-wife and domestically abusing her along with
many others.

I just wanted to remind everyone that it took a century and a half for the United States to give women the right to vote, and it took almost another century after for a serious female candidate to even be in the running for President. Bangladesh has existed as an independent state for less than a fraction of the time the US has, and already has had a female prime minister. Don’t tell us how to treat our women when you can barely figure it out yourself. We’re going to get where we need to be, but it comes with time and development that Westerners don’t award us.

Photo Credit: Sanjoy Kumar Chowdhury

Articles like Noman’s do nothing to help the girls she’s trying to bring awareness about. In fact, they do more damage than anything else, by putting a negative light on a country that needs more support than it needs criticism. As a first generation American, I will always be proud of my heritage. Often times, I’ll see many American-born Bangladeshis take back the education that we had the privilege of accessing here in order to improve our country and the problems we don’t need Noman to tell us we have. Noman is the type of liberal that uses the problems of the “third world” for shock value and page views. We have enough issues getting support we need. In fact, she should just quit focusing on Islamic countries in general. It’s clear her agenda is to use as caricature for the horrors of “third world men.” We are not for you to put on a burning stake, Noman. You are a hypocrite. We are a nation of people with a wide variety of problems, ideologies and political beliefs. Noman’s one-dimensional analysis of us will not define us and our progress we’ve already had and will continue to make is our credit to take alone.

The post South Asia’s problems are not for Westerners to simplify appeared first on The Triangle.

Christopher Granger, 29-year-old former Drexel University graduate student and teacher at Cardigan Mountain School in Canaan, New Hampshire, was sentenced May 19 to 10 years in prison for possession of child pornography. This sentence comes one month after the arrest of Drexel mechanical engineering student Hunter Gayden for possession and distribution of child pornography.

Granger was originally arrested and charged in 2013 when child pornography was discovered on his computer. At this time he was a graduate student at Drexel. It was reported that he was in possession of child pornography for nine years. His sentencing was carried out in federal court in his native city of Detroit after prosecutors discovered that he had deceived priests from the church of St. Paul on the Lake and the Solanus Casey Center for Capuchin into writing letters of praise on his behalf. These letters were given to the judge during the trial. Granger had asked for the letters under the guise that he would be using them as job references.

Granger said that he was embarrassed to his “very core.”

Meanwhile, Gayden, after posting bail of $25,000 April 17, began to attend preliminary hearings April 30. His latest hearing was May 28 at 11 a.m. Gayden has hired private lawyer Michael J. Engle, and the prosecution is being represented by private lawyer Rebecca Elo and the Philadelphia County District Attorney’s Office. The 24-year-old was arrested on 50 counts of child pornography and one count of distribution. Gayden is no longer listed as a student at Drexel University.

Drexel University released this statement on the matter: “Drexel places high priority on the protection of children from abuse and exploitation. The Drexel Police Department is fully cooperating with Philadelphia Police in the investigation. The University is prohibited by FERPA to disclose specifics about a student’s status. However, when a student is in violation of the University’s code of conduct, the student is subject to the conduct process and disciplinary action,” Director of Media Relations Niki Gianakaris sent in an e-mail.

In the 2014-2015 Student Guide book, the university details out what occurs for students that violate the law: “University disciplinary proceedings may be instituted against a student charged with a violation of the law that is also a violation of a University policy, rule, regulation, or standard of conduct. Disciplinary action at the University may proceed without regard to pending civil litigation or criminal arrest and prosecution. Such proceedings may be carried out prior to, simultaneously with, or following civil or criminal proceedings. The University’s disciplinary action will not be subject to challenge on the ground that external charges or litigation involving the same incident have been dismissed or reduced.”

This article was updated on May 28, 5:15 p.m.

The post Former graduate student sentenced ten years on possession of child pornography appeared first on The Triangle.

On April 22, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office announced six more arrests in a recent investigation of suspected child predators. One of the suspects arrested was 24-year old Hunter W. Gayden, a mechanical engineering major at Drexel University. Gayden was charged with 50 counts of possession of child pornography, one count of distribution of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility.

Gayden is a member of the Formula SAE racing team on Drexel’s campus, a group that’s recently received some spotlight for the lack of space provided to them by the University. Gayden was also part of a sustainable water resource engineering course last summer in which a group of students spent two and a half weeks on the island of Lazzaretto Nuovo in Venice, Italy.

FSAE President Hunter Hall told The Triangle, “The Drexel FSAE team was shocked to hear about Gayden’s recent charge. He was very involved with the team, including running the website with team updates. Every effort has been made to be sure that his involvement with these charges has not leaked into the FSAE team’s functions.”

In Pennsylvania, the state prohibits the voluntary viewing or possession of child pornography in one’s home or another place under one’s control. The prosecutor must prove that Gayden has kept or distributed pornographic photos, books, videos, films or computer files that involved children under the age of 18. There are no mandatory minimum sentences for possession of child pornography, but distribution carries a minimum of five years. The first offense of possession is considered a third degree felony; because it is only possession, Gayden may not be required to register as a sexual offender if found guilty.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane said to 6 ABC News, “This means to a lot of people in the area, ‘You have child predators living among you, and these people are a danger to children — whether they are depicted in video or living in the neighborhood.’”

It isn’t the first time a member of the Drexel community has been charged with such a thing. In 2010, a former Drexel associate professor of philosophy named Mark Manion pleaded guilty of possession of child pornography, with a total of 800 images of “pre-pubertal” girls and six movies of children having sexual relations with adults.

The Triangle is investigating this incident further and will update this story as it develops.

The post Student arrested on child pornography possession appeared first on The Triangle.

Less than the week since the Drexel community lost freshman computing and informatics major Taline King, LeBow College of Business students were informed that freshman general business major Rocco Perate III died March 5 as a result of a car accident that occurred three days earlier.

“University officials have contacted the Perate family and have expressed the sincere condolences of the Drexel community. We will provide whatever comfort and service we can to them during this time,” Frank Linnehan, dean of the college of business, wrote in an e-mail to the student body March 6.

For students looking for support, Drexel’s Counseling center is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It can be reached at 215-895-1415 during those times and at 215-416-3337 all other times.

The post LeBow student passes away days after car accident appeared first on The Triangle.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks on Charlie Hebdo and the days of violence that followed, global attention focused on the tensions that often occur when cultures meet in the West. Fox News commentator Steven Emerson went on-air to talk about the danger of radical Islamic sleeper cells in Western cities.

Emerson appeared Jan. 12 on the conservative network and declared Birmingham, England, a “totally Muslim city” where non-Muslims “don’t go,” and described these “no-go zones” as a country with in a country, where Sharia law is forcefully carried out without regard for or interference from governing bodies of the countries in question. Cue the Internet mockery.

While a quick glimpse of the demographics of Birmingham do paint a picture of a traditional English city with a large and growing Muslim population, they don’t describe a “caliphate” as host Jeanine Pirro suggested at the time.

For the record, in this context, describing these communities as a caliphate is to say that the laws of England are ignored in favor of Quranic laws, which are carried out by locals instead of the laws of the land. The latest census data from 2011 says that the city of Birmingham is about 22 percent Muslim, which is significantly less that the “complete” population of around 1.1 million people.

As the story went viral, people took digs at Emerson and Fox News — especially since the network continued to talk about these no-go zones throughout the day — on Twitter using the hashtag “#foxnewsfacts.” Even the British Prime Minister David Cameron took notice, “When I heard this, I choked on my porridge and I thought it must be April Fool’s Day. This guy is clearly a complete idiot,” he said.

The backlash to the story of “caliphates” in European cities was so deafening that Emerson not only apologized, but also pledged a donation to a Birmingham hospital. The mayor of Paris publicly stated her intention to explore the possibility of taking legal action against Fox News for “damaging the honor” of the city and Fox News apologized for not checking its facts before airing the story.

For a network that is regularly criticized for, and unapologetic about, making false and exaggerated claims, the reaction to the error and the networks subsequent acknowledgement was surprising, if not well overdue.

Aside from the questions of journalistic integrity, this story is really funny. I consider myself a bit of an Anglophile — I love British culture. I blame it on Harry Potter; I wanted to be prepared when I inevitably got my acceptance letter to Hogwarts. So I’m not sure what the average American knows about Birmingham, England, but I know it to be quintessentially British city.

Like many places over the past decade or two, Birmingham has experienced a large influx of immigrants, particularly from Muslim countries. The city of Birmingham, quite like Dearborn, Michigan, has a growing population of immigrants from Muslim nations.

But unlike Birmingham, which has a population of Muslim immigrants of around 22 percent Dearborn’s population is near 40 percent. Not only is Dearborn’s Muslim population large, it’s fairly old; many Middle Eastern families (including Christians) settled there in the mid-20th century during the area’s automotive manufacturing boom in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
Now, the process of assimilation tends to take a few years. Sociological studies have shown that immigrants tend to hold on to their culture. The next generation, their children, can run the gamut typically, with the firstborn closer to the traditions and acting as an official go-between (and sometimes the literal translation) for the old and new and younger children more inclined to assimilate (adapt the culture of their adopted home).

With all cultural assertions, each case is different and there are a lot of variables involved. My point is that in most cases, Western countries have nothing to fear from immigrant populations.

We have to get over this idea that we are being infiltrated and corrupted by immigrants. In America we like to pride ourselves on our diversity, but it doesn’t take long for the Americans who are proud of their Scottish, British, Irish, Italian, etc. heritage to turn on recent immigrants and blame them for all of society’s ills.

So yes, the story of so called no-go-zones in Europe is laughable, but it also disguises a very real and unfounded fear, that immigrant communities are dangerous, trying to erode the culture of their new home nation. But try to describe American culture without including the influence of all the immigrant communities who have contributed to it; I hope your Cherokee is fluent, because the English language was brought here by immigrants.

The post Fox news announcer apologizes for Muslims ‘no-go’ report appeared first on The Triangle.

Photo Caption: Rachel Wisniewski

The Muslim Student Association of Drexel University organized a candlelight vigil Feb. 12 at for the three victims of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shooting Feb. 10. The victims of the shooting were 23-year-old second-year dentistry student Deah Barakat; his wife, 21-year-old Yusor Abu-Salha, who was just accepted into the UNC School of Dentistry; and her sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19-year old freshman architecture student at North Carolina State University. The suspect, Craig Stephen Hicks, has been charged with murder and surrendered himself to the police.

The shooting has sparked public outcry from the Muslim community across the country, with the hashtags “#ChapelHillShooting” and “#MuslimLivesMatter” spreading rapidly across social media. The shooting is widely seen as a hate crime birthed by Islamophobia. The police, however, stated after a preliminary investigation that the incident may have occurred over a longstanding dispute Hicks had with the victims, his neighbors, over a parking space. They have not excluded the possibility that it was a hate crime. Hicks reportedly posted incendiary social media posts criticizing religion, CNN reported.

The vigil began with Muhammad Sattaur, a Drexel alumnus of psychology who organized the event, speaking about the shooting. Members of the MSA condemned the violence and prejudice of hate and discrimination, handing out candles and flyers reading, “END Hate Speech, END Hate Crimes, #ChapelHillShooting.” The board of MSA then recited a passage from the Quran in Arabic and English called “Suraht Al-Baqarah.” A verse within the passage goes, “Who, when disaster strikes them, say, ‘Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return.’”

In attendance were not only members of the MSA and Drexel faculty, but also representatives from other faith-based organizations at Drexel and the surrounding area, such as the Drexel Newman Catholic Community, and Drexel Hillel, a Jewish organization

A representative of Newman, Chad Maguire, spoke along with Father Dave Piltz of the Open Door Christian Community at Drexel, Imaam Niaz Hannan, a volunteer chaplain for Philadelphia and Associate Dean of Students Rebecca Weidensaul.

President John A. Fry was unable to attend the vigil because he was traveling, but he sent his condolences and Weidensaul and Dean of Students David Ruth attended in his stead.

After the speakers, a candle-lighting was attempted. However, the cold wind prevented any of the candles from remaining lit and the vigil proceeded to a moment of silence for three minutes.

Hannan then led the Muslim students in a funeral prayer for the victims, which ended with a du’a, a vocal call to Allah that usually occurs after the silent prayer.

When Sattaur was attending Drexel, he was heavily involved in the Drexel MSA, and eventually elected to the board of the national MSA. It was that experience that led him into activism, organized through a single group on Facebook. This vigil at Drexel coincided with other vigils organized around the country systematically by the activist group. Sattaur was responsible for the vigil in Philadelphia. The activist group has also organized the hashtag, “#OurThreeWinnners,” in order to represent that the victims have gone to heaven for their good deeds in life and thus were truly the winners.

Sattaur commended the amount of people that came to the vigil, noting the range faiths that were represented.

Sattaur actually came to know Faraz Barakat, brother of Deah, through MSA, and the rest of the Barakat family. “The family was always hospitable. … [In 2013] this family actually housed several members of MSA national in their own home during the course [of a conference in North Carolina]. We know them as a bunch of hospitable Muslim students who are very proactive and willing to help. We’ve all benefited form their hospitable nature.”

The controversy over the cause of the shooting has caused negativity against the major news outlets, which took hours after the shooting to show any coverage of the shooting and continue to debate the nature of the crime — whether it was a hate crime or a dispute over parking. “It leaves you in a state of confusion over how previous incidents that are very similar are handled nationally, and then you have this incident and how it’s handled by national media,” Sattaur said.

Citing an interview between CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Barakat’s older sister, Sattaur continued, “You’re left in a state of confusion as to why the title of that interview was ‘Hate Crime?’ In other scenarios, it’s much more upfront. Why does there have to be a question mark? Why is that the question of this situation?”

The post Drexel MSA holds candlelight vigil for victims of Chapel Hill shooting appeared first on The Triangle.

Photo Credit: Ajon Brodie

A Drexel University shuttle bus caught on fire, forcing the two students and the bus driver on the vehicle to escape Jan. 23. All those inside left unharmed, but a video of the burning vehicle was recorded and distributed after the student gave the footage to NBC Philadelphia.

The Triangle contacted director of media relations Niki Gianakaris for a statement. After speaking to Francis Maahs, director of transportation of Drexel University, she responded that the fire was still under investigation. However, according to Gianakaris, it was found the fire was the result of an electrical short in the wiring harness under the dashboard of the bus. “As a preventive measure, every bus is being checked by auto mechanics of the University facilities department to determine if other buses have this same electrical problem,” Gianakaris wrote in an email.

According to her, University facilities has been operating a full-size bus service since 1998, servicing an estimated 22,000 passengers weekly. This is the first ever incident of this magnitude to happen on the service.

There are three bus service routes, named “Dragon,” “Blue and Gold,” and “Queen Lane.” Peak hours are said to be from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. as well as from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

“Drexel complies with the which requires all buses to undergo a safety inspection every six months. The safety inspection is first performed by in-house Drexel University facilities mechanics. This inspection includes checking all the operating systems such as bus airflow, braking system, glass, tires and wheels, vehicle lights, chassis, the electrical system, seats, doors and windows. The inspection also includes checking — and changing when necessary — the vehicle fluids such as the system engine oil and transmission fluids,” Gianakaris wrote.

She continued, “After the Drexel safety inspection, the bus is sent to a vendor [that] performs commercial vehicle safety inspections. This vendor performs the same safety inspection and will make any necessary repairs needed under the inspection code. The vendor will then issue a Pennsylvania safety inspection sticker, which is attached to the vehicle’s windshield showing that the safety inspection has been completed and when it expires.”

Photo Credit: Ajon Brodie

Gianakaris also wrote that the bus drivers are required to perform pre- and post-trip inspections for any defects, reporting any issues with the supervisors. Any reports are promptly corrected by the Drexel mechanics before it continues on its service.

Some students commented on the shuttle fire and the University’s handling of the event. Alyssa Ragno, a biological sciences pre-junior biology major who used to use the shuttle to get to co-op everyday, said she was “not comfortable” with the fact that Drexel did not notify students about the incident. She did, however, still feel comfortable riding the shuttle.

Devan Carrigan, a nursing major, said she has all of her classes in Center City and uses the shuttle to get to all of them. “I just hope everyone was okay. I thought it was kind of funny because we’re supposed to be a top-notch university. We rely on the shuttles and then they catch [on] fire,” Carrigan said. She also stated that she didn’t seem afraid to use them in the future as long as they are inspected.

The post University discovers that shuttle bus caught on fire due to electrical short appeared first on The Triangle.