Photo Credit: Drexel University Office of University Communications

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter announced June 27 that James Buehler, professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy at the School of Public Health, will be taking over as health commissioner. This announcement came along with the announcement of the departure of three senior staff members: former Health Commissioner and Deputy Mayor for Health and Opportunity Donald Schwarz; Department of Human Services Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose; and First Deputy Chief of Staff Suzanne Biemiller.

“When the current health commissioner, Dr. Donald Schwarz, informed the city of his plans to step down after serving for six years in this position, I was among the list of potential successors who were recruited to apply. After learning more about the position and speaking with Dr. Schwarz, and after conferring with my wife, I decided to become an applicant,” Buehler wrote in an email.

“The process culminated in an interview with Mayor Nutter. The mayor’s strong commitment to public health was clear, and I was deeply honored when he offered me the position,” he continued. Buehler’s term as health commissioner will begin in the middle of July.

The position of health commissioner requires Buehler to lead the Department of Public Health for the city, which manages programs and services dealing with health problems ranging from HIV infection, chronic diseases, maternal and child health, childhood lead poisoning, environmental health, air quality, and food protection. This also includes eight primary care clinics, a public health lab and the medical examiner’s office, according to Buehler.

Buehler brings over 30 years of experience in public health, beginning with his epidemiologist work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta in 1981. “Over that span of time, my career has touched on many different areas of public health, and I’ve had opportunities to work closely with colleagues in many cities, counties and states and in other countries,” he wrote.

He continued, “Most recently, my attention has focused on harnessing advances in health information technology to improve public health services and collaborations between public health and healthcare providers — an issue of growing importance to all health departments, including Philadelphia’s.”

According to Buehler, he will take a leave of absence from his faculty position in the School of Public Health until the end of Mayor Nutter’s term, and then expects to return to teaching and choose a new health commissioner for the next mayor.

“As a university faculty member, both at Drexel and previously at Emory University in Atlanta, I bring to my role as an instructor and researcher the mix of experiences I’ve had in public health practice. So, I expect that I’ll return to teaching and research with a vastly richer perspective,” he wrote.

Buehler plans to begin his term by announcing a strategic plan that contains a series of priority actions to address current health issues in Philadelphia, a plan that was developed with the support of the associate dean for public health practice of the School of Public Health, Jennifer Kolker.

“In the strategic plan, four priority areas that have been defined include improving the health of mothers and children, with an emphasis on reducing disparities in infant mortality between black and white infants; enhancing efforts to prevent and treat HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases; preventing chronic diseases by making it easier to adopt healthy lifestyles and making our environment healthier, including improvements in air quality that can reduce asthma and enhancements to programs that promote food safety,” Buehler wrote.

The former health commissioner, Schwarz, was known for several feats during his term including smoking cessation and anti-obesity programs. These programs led to a five percent reduction in child obesity and a 15 percent decline in adult smoking in Philadelphia. His time as deputy mayor has led to a 50 percent increase in permanent housing for the homeless as well as a 24 percent reduction in dependent children being removed from their families.

Schwarz is now moving on to becoming the demand portfolio team director for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s largest philanthropic organization for health.

Buehler expressed excitement in taking on the issues facing the citizens of Philadelphia, “I’m very excited to have this opportunity. I’ve lived in Philadelphia for just over a year, and I’ve quickly grown to love this city. To serve as its next health commissioner is a tremendous honor,” he wrote.

The post Professor to direct city public health appeared first on The Triangle.

Photo Credit: Dominick Lewis

Drexel University closed a deal June 16 to purchase a 14-acre property within Powelton Village, including the closed University City High School, Charles R. Drew Elementary and the Walnut Center, for $25.1 million. University City High School and Drew Elementary are both schools that were shut down after severe budget cuts for the last academic year.

The sale of the properties were in an effort to help financially support the School District of Philadelphia by Mayor Nutter and other officials to avoid more budget cuts in the coming fall. The original agreement for Drexel to purchase the schools was approved by the School Reform Commission of Philadelphia March 20.

“Now we’re gearing up for what the plans will be as it takes shape and looking at initiatives and at demolishing existing buildings. We’re getting ready to clean up the site. A lot of things will start happening very soon,” Robert Francis, the vice president of University Facilities, said.

Drexel had been looking into the property since 2013 because of its partnership with Samuel Powel Elementary in its interest to expand the K-4 school for the benefit of the community. This project was further supported by a $215,000 grant awarded by the Philadelphia School Partnership to Drexel and Powel in 2012.

Along with their interest in expanding the local elementary school, the University also invested into the property with Wexford Science and Technology, a subsidiary of BioMed Realty Trust, under the joint venture called Drexel University City Development for research space at the site. According to Francis, they have been involved in the development with the Science Center for some years.

“It’s basically a two-thirds/one-third arrangement, where Drexel is investing the one-third into the property, but we are the managing partner in the joint venture. Even though we are only one-third of the ownership, we are the managing partner and Wexford will be the developing partner,” Francis said.

The University plans to create residential, retail, office, lab and recreational spaces along with two schools, one K-4 and one 5-8, all on the same site.

The housing component will not be open to students, in an attempt by the University to unburden the local population of the increasing undergraduate population moving into the area as well as increasing the amount home ownership around the University for its housing support program, so far facilitating over thirty home sales for faculty and staff.

“It’s a very successful program, but we need more housing stock so it’s available for sale to the next round of faculty and staff who want to buy in this neighborhood,” Francis said.

Although the agreement was set in March, with the closing date set at June 16, the deal ran into some trouble within this process.

On June 3, Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell was outraged by the original set-up of the deal, which lacked a community benefits agreement, according to a June 4 article by CBS Philly.

“You’re not even trying to work with any of us! You come in and you hand an amendment out and say you’re happy to work with me! You didn’t come with any community agreement,” she told CBS Philly. “What do you think this is?”

When asked about the issue, Francis said, “That really didn’t happen. There weren’t any amendments.” He continued, “There were discussions taking place between us and the Powelton Village Civic Association about amendments to the zoning ordinance. All that gotten taken care of.”

Blackwell had a decision on a zoning measure that would allow for Drexel to begin its work on the property delayed by a week. This also reflected concerns over building heights and multi-floor parking in the area.

The University, the Councilwoman and the PVCA came to a community benefits agreement that satisfied them all and allowed for the deal to move forward to closing, according to Francis. The zoning measure was passed June 19, after the university closed on the deal for the school.

“Now that we have the zoning ordinance in place,” Francis said, “the next step will be actually planning and proposing the buildings and when that happens we go through what’s called the Community Design Review Process. There are many steps and many layers in the community planning process and the zoning process was just the first.”

According to a June 16 article in DrexelNow, President John A. Fry said, “This development project aligns perfectly with our commitment to serving as an engine of economic growth and development in West Philadelphia and with our desire to improve public education in the neighborhoods surrounding our campus. It represents an exciting and rare opportunity to convert an underutilized and vacant property into a vibrant center of activity that will meet the needs and achieves the priorities of the surrounding community.”

“It’s just a great time to be able to have the chance to control the future development of this parcel for the benefit of the neighborhoods of West Philadelphia at the same time as we now control the property between 30th Street Station and 32nd and Market streets and the tracks. Now we’ve got both ends of the barbells, so to speak, for innovation in West Philadelphia.”

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Senior biology major Andrea Messina passed away May 31 from complications during treatment for leukemia.

Photo Credit: Azwad Rahman

Better known to her friends and brothers as “Skillet,” Messina was the president of the Pre-Veterinary Medical Association, a Novice Class member of the Equestrian Team, member of the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honors Society and crescent girl of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, Epsilon Kappa chapter.

Her funeral was held June 6 at St. Eleanor Parish in Collegeville, Pa.

“It was impressive. I knew that she had a lot of friends. I knew that she a lot of people that were very close to her. I didn’t know she had touched that many people,” senior materials science and engineering major Daniel Quinn said.

Quinn first met Messina five years ago when he was a freshman. “When we went to the service, the line was wrapped around inside the church. It was wrapped around outside the church. I think there were close to a thousand people there.”

“You know she made a big impact, but to see it on that day was almost indescribable.”

First-year Laboratory Animal Sciences master’s student Athena Patel wrote in an email, “I was with Andrea and her family when she passed. Like everyone there, I was in disbelief. I still think I am. She was such a vibrant person and a breath of fresh air, it’s hard to fathom that she’s not here anymore. I’m deeply saddened by the loss, but more so that the world does not have such a wonderful person in it anymore.”

Patel first met Messina three years ago through the Equestrian Team. They continued their friendship through the Pre-Veterinary Medical Association.

“Andrea was the sweetest and most lively person in the world,” she continued. “She tackled everything with a smile on her face and a bubbly attitude. I don’t ever remember seeing her frown. Even when she found out she had cancer, she tackled the problem and wouldn’t let it keep her down. She loved animals and was planning on becoming a veterinarian. She also enjoyed riding horses, playing softball and was an incredibly talented nail artist.”

Patel, along with the rest of Messina’s friends, learned of Messina’s diagnosis when she announced it May 11.

“You wouldn’t have known anything was different about her. She took on her treatment like she did every other problem she faced, with a smile,” Patel said.

Messina and Patel were planning Messina’s admission into the Laboratory Animal Sciences master’s program before Messina made the announcement.

The Pre-Veterinary Medical Association held a candlelight vigil at the Quad for Messina June 8, where members, students, brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha, Drexel faculty, and Messina’s family came to pay respects and share stories of the funny and outgoing girl they had known, often times leaving the participants laughing from hearing about her.

The members of the association created a small memorial to Messina, which included a bouquet of flowers, a picture of her and a box that was accepting donations from the members for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as well as the no-kill nonprofit animal rescue group, City of Elderly Love.

“Andrea was one of those people whose warmth just extended to everyone around her and she also brought a light-hearted, funny sense to any situation,” Maria Mick, a sophomore biology major and vice president of the Pre-Veterinary Medical Association, said. “She was really great [as president]. …We did a lot of fun trips like go to a wolf sanctuary and a lot of awareness of what we need to know for getting into vet school.”

Among the people who shared stories of Messina’s time at Drexel with stories of her climbing onto fraternity brothers’ backs and stealing traffic cones after a night out, Messina’s boyfriend, computer science major Stephen Zarro, shared his story of meeting Messina when he was a disc jockey for a party on a house on Powelton Avenue during his freshman year.

“I met Andrea [at the party], and I started talking to her and I started talking so much that I forgot that I was still DJ-ing the party. We just talked, and she told me she was a sophomore and I was a freshman at the time, but I told her I was a sophomore of course,” Zarro said. “We had a good time at the party. We came back. Of course, I had to walk her home, in fact, she carried my speaker home and that’s how I knew she was really a keeper.”

He continued, “We just kind of sat on her front porch and literally until three in the morning we had a heart-to-heart. I explained to her that I wasn’t really a sophomore. I had to undo some of the grounds I was setting. … I’ll never forget that conversation. In fact, at the very end of our conversation she got up and walked up to her apartment door and I went, ‘Can I come in?’ And she looked at me and very politely said, ‘Nope.’”

Other people who attended and shared stories were various members of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity including Quinn, students who had known Messina in college and high school such as Patel, biology professor Karen Kabnick, members of the Pre-Veterinary Medical Association such as Mick and Messina’s mother, Debra Messina. Messina’s mother shared her appreciation for all of the participation and attendance at Messina’s funeral and vigil, as well as offering herself as a person to talk to.

“I just feel so blessed to be a part of this. I’ve been having some moments but I’m like a lot of you, I guess. When I think of Andrea, there are just so many good things and funny stories that I know are going to live within my heart, and I certainly know that, as you said, will carry on in your lives,” her mother said. “Because I know Andrea, she would want that. … My daughter is gone, but she will never forget the love that you ladies and gentlemen give for her.”

Quinn had also been a brother of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity since 2010, attributing his membership partially to Messina.

“She took [being a part of Lambda Chi] to a whole new level because [of her support]. The term support is kind of loosely used sometimes, because it’s easy to support things or causes in a lot of different ways, but she lived it. This might sound cliche, but she was a Lambda Chi.”

Her role as crescent girl, according to Quinn, meant she was regarded as equal to the fraternity brothers themselves.

Quinn continued, “Introducing her to those guys back in 2009, when I first got to know them — it led to so many great things and years to come that I didn’t even know about at the time. It led to such great and active participation in [Relay For Life]. It led to a lot of great memories. It led to a bunch of great relationships. It led to great friends that we gained in the organization and all those people who she touched and that were a part of us, those people are going to be in better in one way or another.”

Relay For Life, although an organization and event at Drexel associated with Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, better known as Pike, has had a large participation from Lambda Chi Alpha as well.

“She raised lots of money. She brought a lot of positivity. She was more enthusiastic than any 10 people there, I guarantee it,” Quinn continued. “She just did it because it was a good thing to do. She loved it. She’d stay the whole time. She was the most energetic. It was because of her that we’ve done so well in the relay. I put full credit to her and the people who were running it and if it wasn’t for her we wouldn’t have put nearly as much into Relay.”

According to Quinn, there have been talks of doing an event in Lambda Chi Alpha to host an event in her memory in the coming months, as well as possibly a financial scholarship to honor her name.

For those who were affected by her death, services and counseling can be found at the Drexel Counseling Center by calling 215-895-1415 during their regular office hours or 215-416-3337 during their emergency hours.

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Photo Credit: Ajon Brodie

Days after Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted into the National Football League, was recruited by the St. Louis Rams, The Good Idea Fund and entertainment and arts management junior Matthew Jolles hosted a Sports Pride Festival May 13 in the Mitchell Auditorium at the Bossone Research Center to talk about LGBTQ athletes within the sports world and on college campuses. The event’s keynote speakers were Pennsylvania State Rep. Brian Sims and ESPNW writer and author of the book “The Reappearing Act” Kate Fagan.

“The idea behind the event [is that] it is the first time that Drexel University is doing something for Pride Month to recognize the prevalence of LGBT athletes on the Drexel University campus and [in society], especially after the groundbreakings of Jason Collins in the NBA, Robbie Rogers in MLS and now Michael Sam in the NFL getting drafted by the St. Louis Rams this weekend,” Jolles said in an interview before the event.

The event began at 6 p.m. with a small group of people sitting in the front of the auditorium, facing Jolles, Fagan and Sims. Jolles began the event by talking about his side of the story, starting when he came out as bisexual and how that transitioned into his advocacy work for the LGBTQ community. He then passed the spotlight on to Fagan.

Sims asked Fagan to talk about her experience coming out as a gay basketball player at the University of Colorado Boulder and staying in sports.

“I thought about going into coaching after college and even though I was very closeted and really scared of who I was as identifying as gay, I knew that I couldn’t go into coaching because of the climate in women’s sports. That would mean that I would have to live a very scared and closeted existence,” Fagan said.

She went on to describe how this moved her to become a writer and still work in sports. “Leaving to [go work for] ESPN, I was still mostly closeted … the idea of writing in print ‘I am gay’ would never have happened. If you told me 10 years ago that I would write [‘The Reappearing Act’], I would be scared out of my mind. Even three years ago, I would’ve run away from that idea,” she said.

Her book is about her experience as an openly gay Division I athlete.

Fagan finally did come out at work in a piece that she decided to write in first person for sports athletes that came out as straight allies of the LGBTQ community, writing that she came out of the closet in her college basketball career in the first line. Fagan also faced emotional trials when she originally came out of the closet in college, and her book reflects on those experiences.

After Fagan spoke, Sims went on to talk about his coming out as gay, as a football player transitioning from high school to college football at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. He also spoke about his passion for women’s rights and women’s issues that began early on and continued to grow as he attended his university in a town run by women with a history of strong women’s sports. By his last year at Bloomsburg, he was chosen as captain of the football team.

After his team found out that he was gay, Sims learned they had a meeting to establish that they were completely and outwardly supportive of him. His friends and teammates would slowly come up to him and one-by-one tell him that they supported him, but also ask, “Are you okay?”

“Without fail,” Sims said, “every single one of them, before they would apologize, they always wanted to make sure that I was okay. It turned out that they all were really nervous that we had spent four years playing together in many ways against all odds … and they were nervous that for me, while I was apparently such a present part of their experience, that I maybe didn’t look at them as close friends as they looked at me, that I had been scared in the closet and keeping a list of every time they said something anti-gay or hateful.”

Sims still receives calls from his former teammates, now mostly teachers, about handling issues regarding the LGBTQ community and how they speak about having a gay football captain in college because it was just as much about their experience as becoming accepting and supportive as it was about Sims coming out. Afterward, he talked about running for office as an openly gay man.

“Pennsylvania does not have a single LGBT civil right statewide. Ever talk about how we don’t have [same-sex] marriage? We don’t have anything. There is not a single statewide piece of legislation in the [Commonwealth] of Pennsylvania,” Sims said, talking about his work in advocacy and civil rights.

Philadelphia, on the other hand, is the most LGBTQ-friendly city in America according to Sims. He expects to have every civil right that every other state has passed within the next two years, including the Pennsylvania Marriage Equality Act he introduced.

“We are just now really starting to talk about these issues and not be afraid of them,” Fagan said.

On ESPN’s coverage of Sam’s draft into the Rams, Fagan described it as “groundbreaking” for many sports fans to see the representation, specifically pointing out how ESPN showed Sam with his partner, sharing a kiss in celebration of the recruitment.

“We’re at the beginning of a pretty long journey of beginning to make LGBT people feel comfortable in the sports world.”

Fagan said that she felt that even though sports was past outward displays of homophobia and discrimination against the LGBTQ community, there was still risk of systematic discrimination that involved situations such as terminating players for their sexual orientation as well as interacting with the media as an openly gay athlete, and making open players feel welcome in the sport.

Fagan also spoke about transgender athletes. “We still need to do a better job talking about and making sure we’re being very inclusive in our language so that we’re also talking about transgender athletes. Trans athletes face different kinds of phobias and struggles than someone who’s struggling with their sexuality,” Fagan said.

She also discussed how future discussions would have to be about defining the different sexes and divisions between men’s and women’s sports in light of the prevalence of trans athletes.

Jolles continued to speak about how the University handles LGBTQ issues in sports. “The University does a great job in talking about it because it’s part of the training that every student athlete goes through at the beginning of the year before fall season starts.”

He said athletes are asked to take the National Collegiate Athletic Association Inclusion and Diversity Training, Drexel University LGBTQ 101 and ally training, and that President John A. Fry was constantly trying to improve conditions for LGBTQ students.

As monumental as Sam’s recruitment was for inclusion of LGBTQ athletes, Sims maintained during the event that the issues facing LGBTQ athletes have been going on for decades, “When the history of LGBT professional athletes is written, it’ll be chapter 10 by the time they get to Michael Sam. We’ve been doing this for 40 years with professional out athletes.”

“What was different about this was his being out before his career had even begun and that is truly unique. …That’s more of a rarity than anything else. Not that he’s a gay football player. Not that he’s out, but that he’s out at the beginning of his career,” Sims said.

At a question and answer session before the event ended, Fagan lastly commented on the representation of LGBTQ women, stating that although writers will flock to write about LGBTQ issues in men’s sports, there is very little focus on the same issues surrounding women’s sports compared to every other issue for women’s sports. She said there should be more male allies for them. Sims talked about how to create better allies by telling students and athletes that they are role models to improve their behavior.

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Photo Credit: Albert Yee

President John A. Fry received the upLIFTing Leadership Award for 2014 at the upLIFTing Philadelphia event, hosted by LIFT-Philadelphia April 30 at World Cafe Live, for his determination in making Drexel the most civically engaged campus in America over the past four years.

LIFT is a nonprofit organization started in 1998 by Kirsten Lodal and Brian Kreiter that aims to reduce poverty and provide families and individuals with a range of social services, such as finding jobs, securing housing, obtaining public benefits and gaining access to other organizations.

The evening began with a cocktail party with an open bar, food and music. Afterward, the award ceremony was led by Lodal, co-founder and CEO of LIFT. The award was presented to Fry and two other winners. Jill Aschkenasy, the founder of the nonprofit Our Closet received the Community Award, and LIFT member Tyrone McLaurin received the Commitment Award. There was a video presentation of McLaurin’s work and time at LIFT before he accepted the award.

“We’re honoring three people. President Fry was chosen for the upLIFTing Leadership Award because of the kind of commitment he made when he came to Drexel, wanting us to be the most civically engaged campus in the country, and how that commitment has inspired Drexel students to commit to the community and become active participants in being civically engaged,” Nora Meighan, a senior anthropology major and LIFT volunteer, said. Meighan has been a LIFT volunteer since her service class during her freshman year.

She continued, “I’m presenting him the award, having seen [his endeavours] over the last four years since I started school when he came to Drexel. I kind of have seen the ways in which, just at LIFT alone, Drexel students have become more and more involved and Drexel as a culture has become more thoughtful of its neighbors.”

According to Meighan, there are 15 to 30 service classes in session during each term. Volunteers and members of LIFT also participate in classes taught by Drexel professors in which they are educated on the issues surrounding poverty and life in the urban environment.

Fry had the chance to speak after he was given the award.

“I’m really excited to be included in the celebration,” he said. “The thing about my job, you need to know, I often get credit for things I deserve no credit for, and so I accept this award not only on my behalf but on the behalf of my students and my colleagues at Drexel who have helped create this incredibly rewarding partnership with LIFT. They have done the work.”

Fry went on to discuss his history at Drexel, starting with the October 2010 convocation. He also specifically spoke about Meighan as an example, describing her work at LIFT and her commitment there. Fry discussed the Lindy Center and how it fit into his vision for Drexel to become more civically engaged.

Fry is the second person to win the Leadership Award from LIFT. The first person was David Cohen, the executive vice president of Comcast.

“Comcast actually set up an Internet Essentials computer course with LIFT. So once a week someone from Comcast would come into LIFT and we would have a laptop library and they would work on anything from using a Word document, to using Google, to setting up a Gmail [account] and all of those essentials you need for getting a job, to apply to jobs. And Comcast directly supported us in that way. Anyone who attended all ten classes of any course [was] entered into a raffle to win a discounted laptop and discounted Internet services,” Meighan said.

She went on to say that this course focused on people who haven’t had experience with computers in a while and need a way to refresh themselves and improve their  resumes.

“This year, President Fry was a really fabulous contender for the upLIFTing award for not only his management in Powelton [Village], where most LIFT members come from, but also with the number of students. There’s a tremendous [number] of students [from Drexel] that volunteer at LIFT each week,” Cyndi Rickards, an assistant teaching professor of criminology and justice studies and board member of LIFT, said.

She continued, “It really was a reflective process on the board of LIFT of who has been a source of support and strength for LIFT throughout the year, and President Fry and Drexel just rose to the occasion.”

“There’s no partner more complimentary to our vision of civic engagement like LIFT-Philadelphia. It’s a hand and glove fit,” Fry said in his acceptance speech. “LIFT gives people the tools that they need to improve their quality of life, person by person and neighborhood by neighborhood. Every outcome that we want for Drexel students to experience in civic engagement, from a sense of responsibility, empathy, to a broader perspective and problem solving and leadership experience is present in the work that they do at LIFT.”

This summer, LIFT is going to meet with Drexel faculty to discuss the ideal partnership between the University and the organization.

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On the evening of April 23, 11 police officers from seven units of Drexel Police responded to a call from a security officer at the W.W. Hagerty Library regarding a male student wearing a handgun and verbally abusing other students in the basement.

No injuries were incurred, as police officers arrived within minutes of the call and the student was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, according to Vice President of Public Safety Domenic Ceccanecchio. The student’s name, year and major have not yet been released due to the ongoing investigation.

According to Director of Library Administration Services Ann Yurcaba, the library staff had begun the procedure to evacuate students, but did not follow completely through because of how quickly the student was arrested. The security guard continued her role and stayed at her post in the front until Drexel Police arrived.

According to Ceccanecchio, at no point did the student brandish the gun he was wearing. There were no wide panics before or after the incident.

The student had a permit for the handgun he was wearing from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. However, because being in possession of a firearm also goes against University policy, he will be going through the disciplinary process along with court.

“I was just working on something on my computer. What caused me to get my head out of my books was — I didn’t see the cops, but I saw this flashing going on and I turn around and there was [a lot] of cops,” Alyssa Lipcsey, a sophomore biology major, said. “We saw the cops came down first and they were clearly looking forward for someone.”

Lipcsey went on to describe the student as Caucasian with a t-shirt and jeans. “He did seem under the influence of some kind. There was some struggle, but he cooperated to an extent,” she said.

Ceccanecchio said that the student had beer in his backpack and some of it was consumed, but the student was not considered intoxicated.

“I know my boyfriend [sitting across from me] saw that when the cops were looking, he saw the guy try to walk and get away, trying to be unnoticed and get up the stairs as fast as possible,” Lipcsey said. “The cops saw him and arrested him. They lifted his shirt up and you could see the gun he was wearing.”

Lipcsey described the library as packed with students. There was no panic or response from the students until after the arrest. The male student was coming from the inner study rooms while he was trying to sneak away. She also reported that she didn’t hear any of the verbal disputes that the male student was having.

Due to the speed of the response, Ceccanecchio said that the DrexelAlert that was in the process of being sent out was not sent. He also said that due to that same quick response, there would be no changes to the library security at this time.

“[The police response] was really quick. I think they handled it swiftly. We didn’t get a DrexelALERT after, which is kind of weird. There wasn’t really danger after they caught him. They caught him within two seconds of me realizing there were cops there,” Lipcsey continued.

“I kind of wished they did [put out a DrexelAlert], because they caught him so quickly but they should let people know that ‘Hey, this happened. Don’t come to the library, so the cops can sort it out,’” she said.

Photo Credit: Rachel Wisniewski

Ceccanecchio went on to describe what students should do when faced with dangerous situations. “Whenever or wherever someone finds themselves in this type of situation they should immediately contact police and follow police instructions without hesitation. Kudos to the students who alerted the security officer in this case. Their quick action to report the male ensured a timely response and positive outcome,” Ceccanecchio wrote in an email.

“Key library staff members, along with many other individuals on campus, attend regular training sessions hosted by the University on how to handle emergency situations,” Yurcaba said. “Largely, the library’s role is to support the efforts of our emergency teams, such as the Drexel Police.”

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Photo Credit: Ajon Brodie

In the basement of MacAlister Hall, the Department of English & Philosophy has set up the Drexel Writing Center, an academic area where students can meet with peer readers and faculty to discuss their progress with their writing skills. Within the same room, there are three cubicles: One of these cubicles serves as space for online collaboration and tutoring with some computers, and the other two serve as office space for 37 adjunct faculty members with only two computers and two phones in each cubicle. The department, along with many others at Drexel’s urban campus, has suffered this overcrowding problem for years.

“You can see they’re open-top cubicles. Between 40 to 50 adjunct professors that share those two little cubicles — most of them you don’t even see, because most of them don’t even use them. Too many people use them. Obviously, that’s not a realistic office,” Scott Warnock, associate professor of English and director of the Writing Center, said. Adjunct professors are crowded into the small space because of lack of space in the offices on the upper level of MacAlister.

Abioseh Porter, the English department head for the past 11 years and a Drexel faculty member since 1986, said that the problem with the space for the Writing Center and the adjunct space has been an issue since he started, citing that the center’s current placement is actually a step up from its previous, smaller location on the fifth floor of MacAlister, where the department is currently located. The office space for the adjunct professors was also moved to the basement from the fifth floor.

“My colleagues — fellow department heads and myself — always are having discussions with our dean about the space issue. I believe that [Dean Donna Murasko] is doing her best to alleviate the space situation, but it’s been difficult because on a practical, pragmatic level the space has just not been there,” Porter said.

Porter went on to talk about identical issues in the other departments, such as culture and communication or chemistry.

“Over the years, we’ve heard all kinds of stories and promises that they’re working hard on providing the space. We’ve been told that they’re looking at several different venues. We’re still waiting to see how these promises will actually come [to] fruition,” he said.

Porter also said there is still a need for better equipment in classrooms and classroom space in general.

Another problem that adjunct professors face is accessing the Writing Center during unconventional office hours because the center is only open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week. Some adjunct professors meet with their students in other places, such as the Hagerty Library.

According to Warnock, the English and philosophy department went under internal review as a pilot department for the Program Alignment and Review. The review process was set up as a self-study but external reviewers were bought in. These reviewers considered the shared space between the Writing Center and adjunct professors as a potential violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

FERPA is the U.S. legislation that protects a student’s private information such as their school records, grades or reports. The external reviews are not just “all talk,” and overhearing personal conversations is a real possibility, according to junior biology major and peer reader at the Writing Center Unmesha Roy Paladhi.

“It’s very crowded and especially after week three or four, when you have all our appointments booked and you have one [session] per table, it gets really loud,” Roy Paladhi said.

A conference room in the Writing Center is where developing projects happen, and then there are readers who simply spend their time in there during their off hours.

Roy Paladhi also said that peer readers, unlike adjunct faculty, are not allowed to take their meetings outside of the Writing Center. Roy Paladhi admits that not many students complain about the possibility of their conversations being overheard, but attributes students’ initial reluctance to talk about their personal issues in their writing to shyness. Roy Paladhi also said that she has had experiences where she has overheard student’s grades because of shared space with the adjunct professors.

“That’s not appropriate at all. That’s very intimate, and I feel like if they had the option, they wouldn’t want to share that with anyone else,” she said.

The adjunct faculty is most closely related to the First-Year Writing Program, a program directed by Rebecca Ingalls. All freshmen are required to take the ENGL 101, 102 and 103 sequence that teaches the fundamentals of college writing. Surprisingly, she noted, not many students complain about the conditions in the Writing Center and the adjunct offices.

“Many of our teachers follow a [process-centered model], which involves drafting and that requires [that] many of our professors [have] conferences [with the students],” Ingalls said.

Ingalls also said that the adjuncts are required to hold office hours and that those office hours overlap with each other, despite the offices only being able to accommodate a few professors.

However, Ingalls also maintains that the possible FERPA violations are strong concerns. “The University has been pretty good at preserving students’ privacy around their grades. We need to always be sure that the student has signed the FERPA release [before releasing protected information], but in a space like that, when people are overhearing conversations about grades and other issues of privacy, the lines that the policy protects are blurred. It’s not just pedagogical,” she continued.

Ingalls also said that she saw responses to space complaints and that she can see that the administration can do very little to solve them right now, citing the formation of an adjunct task force that responds to issues that the adjunct professors face.

“My hope is that those legal issues don’t outrun the pace at which they’re working on it,” Ingalls said.

“I’m in an English department administrative role, and I really want to advocate for them. We want to provide the best teaching structure, and this is clearly not it,” Warnock said.

Senior Vice Provost for Budget, Planning and Administration Jan Biros as well as Vice President of University Facilities Robert Francis both said that all departments in Drexel are facing similar space allocation issues. According to Biros, new building space is being made for the Nursing program, the School of Public Health, the Chemistry department and Physics department. They both, however, stated that they were not aware of complaints of possible FERPA violations.

“Everyone is well aware of the severity of the [space] problem, and efforts are continuously underway to address it and find favorable solutions. This includes the efforts of many on campus in the planning and design area, the leasing office, and the provost’s office; it is overseen by the Capital Asset Allocation Committee which includes such senior leaders as the provost, the [senior vice president] for finance, and the senior VP for Student [Life] and Administrative Services. This group meets monthly to identify solutions for space issues, whether they be through leases for additional space or involve renovating Drexel-owned space and the associated funding to address them,” Biros wrote in an email.

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On Feb. 14, a Duke University freshman under the pseudonym “Lauren” came forward to the Duke Chronicle, the student newspaper, as a porn star who works in adult film to make money to pay for the $45,000 tuition of her school.

One week later, she released an article on xojane.com, a collaborative online media source organized by Jane Pratt and SAY media, under her performer name, Belle Knox, elaborating on her experience as a sex worker. She talked about her involvement in hardcore porn, sometimes accused of being “rape porn.”

“Everything I did was consensual. I also stand by and defend the right of adult performers to engage in rough sex porn. Everyone has their kinks and we should not shame anyone for enjoying something that is perfectly legal and consensual for all parties involved,” she wrote in her article.

She went on to write, “Of course, I do fully acknowledge that some women don’t have such a positive experience in the industry. We need to listen to these women. And to do that we need to remove the stigma attached to their profession and treat it as a legitimate career that needs regulation and oversight. We need to give a voice to the women that are exploited and abused in the industry. Shaming and hurling names at them, the usual treatment we give sex workers, is not the way to achieve this.”

Knox has most recently been set to host a web-based reality show that pits 16 male and female first-time porn stars against each other to win a $1 million prize, called “The Sex Factor,” according to TIME.com.

The facts are that the adult film industry is an estimated $9 to $13 billion industry in the United States, and it is a protected form of industry under the First Amendment, as proclaimed by the Supreme Court case Miller v. California in 1973.

On her website shelleylubben.com, Shelley Lubben, ex-porn star and executive director of the faith-based anti-pornography group Pink Cross Foundation, features pages upon pages of stories shared by ex-porn stars. These stories talk about the horrors and abuse in the industry, often times discussing graphic physical violence, threats, drug abuse and sexual assault (e.g., being forced to do acts that were not agreed upon in contract: rape, anal rape, etc.) both on and off screen. There have been some stories of porn stars not being paid after refusing to do scenes without a condom. This includes both male and female sex workers.

In March 2012, the Daily Mail did a piece on Linda Boreman, better known as Linda Lovelace, the lead porn actress of the 1972 film “Deep Throat,” a hardcore porno. In that article they wrote about how Boreman got into the porn industry, getting involved with Chuck Traynor, a man who would eventually become her husband and simultaneously her controlling and violent pimp. Traynor forced Boreman to commit sexual acts in porn by threatening her with a gun and using a drug addiction against her. Boreman even wrote in her autobiography, “Ordeal,” about how Traynor had her gang-raped by five men at gunpoint.

Boreman went on to suffer through drug abuse in the late ‘70s until she remarried and settled down to have children. It was in the ‘80s that she began to give college lectures against pornography under the guidance of well-known feminists at the time, such as Gloria Steinem and Andrew Dworkin, who Boreman would later claim disowned her after they had used her for their anti-porn propaganda. Boreman died at a hospital in 2001 after a car crash.

After her original movie, the Nixon presidency began investigating the obscenity of hardcore pornos, trying to censor it. Investigations like these would continue to follow her. In 1986, Boreman told an official inquiry that when people watch the porno “Deep Throat,” “you are watching me being raped.”

“It is a crime that movie is still showing. There was a gun to my head the entire time,” Boreman said.

The largest legislations regarding the regulation of porn have been the several regarding child pornography (the most recent being the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act) and the standards kept by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, whose biggest steps toward protecting sex workers were requiring condoms in pornos made in California, decades after the exposition of Boreman’s abuse in the porn industry.

For the most part, legislation and enforcement of adult films is simply around censorship. People seem to be more concerned about blocking porn websites than the actual physical and emotional safety of sex workers.

Most importantly, the most searched term for porn in the United States is “teen,” according to a post on FlowingData.com, a website created by Nathan Yau, who has a doctorate in statistics. Teens like Belle Knox go into the porn industry to help pay for college or to try adventurous things. Unfortunately, as I said earlier, these teens aren’t all as lucky to have the “empowering” experience that Knox claims to have, and these teens will go into these dangerous situations of porn that have rampant abuse and risky behaviors — without any regulation. One of the biggest problems, other than the physical abuse, is the large amount of drug abuse in the porn industry, further destroying the lives of young teens that get mixed up in the business.

There are very few, if any, organizations that are dedicated to creating ethical conditions for sex workers in the porn industry. So far, I’ve only heard of two: the Ethical Porn Partnership and the Licensed Adult Talent Agency Trade Association.

Started in the United Kingdom, the EPP is a coalition of pornography producers, consumers and supporters. “The EPP wants to challenge the notion [that] all porn is exploitative. Instead, we want to collectively establish ‘best practice’ for the industry, while proving that it’s possible to advocate the health, welfare and working rights of those involved in its production, and offer consumers high-quality, original content made to certain ethical standards,” it reads on the EPP’s description page. Despite some talks they have given on their Facebook page, there is very little content on what they actually do.

The LATATA is a trade association that promotes the use of licensed agents and has a list of them on their website, as well as their list of known unlicensed agents. However, they also have opposed OSHA initiatives such as the condom law in California.

It wasn’t only the EPP that came up with the idea of creating a self-regulating body for the porn industry. In 2010, Jenna Jameson, one of the biggest porn stars today, told RadarOnline that a union for porn stars is a must after outbreaks of HIV infections in the industry. She discussed the problems with trying to enforce the law because very few performers will complain to OSHA about unsanitary conditions, for fear that they will be blacklisted and unable to find more work.

No matter how you feel about the ethical implications of porn, hardcore porn and its relation to the empowerment of women, it is a legal form of business. However, its legality is nowhere near as important as ensuring the physical safety of sex workers from dangerous and abusive sex practices.

Although most porn stars say that many porn agencies engage in ethical practices, there needs to be more of a discussion and legislation around protecting them. Ideally, there should be a self-regulating organizational body made up of members of the porn industry showing a universal set of guidelines and rules that the porn industry should follow and a way to enforce unethical practices, including a system of healthcare providers for injuries sustained during scenes in hardcore porn.

Until the porn industry makes a stand against these abusive practices in a much more vocal and active manner than they have done in the past, making sure that teens and other groups of sex workers don’t fall victim to abuse, and that things like hardcore porn are simply theatrics and not harmful to performers, the legitimacy of porn and it’s so-called “empowerment” of women will always be in question.

And for those of us who watch porn regularly, keep in mind that more than 88 percent of 304 scenes analyzed by a study in 2010 published in “Violence Against Women” showed physical aggression. It makes you wonder how much of aggressive porn is “theatrics” and how much is abuse.

Azwad Rahman is the assistant news editor at The Triangle. He can be contacted at azwad.rahman@thetriangle.org.

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The School Reform Commission of Philadelphia confirmed the purchase of six vacant school properties for a total of $37 million March 20. Of the purchases, Drexel University made the largest, buying the University City High School property along with the neighboring Charles Drew Elementary School at 37th and Warren streets for $25.1 million. University City High School and Drew Elementary were shut down in 2013 and 2012 , respectively.

Photo Credit: Dominick Lewis

Drexel has had a commitment to Samuel Powel Elementary, a K-4 elementary school at 36th Street and Powelton Avenue, since spring 2012 to help with the elementary school’s expansion. Together, Drexel and Powel were awarded a grant of $215,000 in September 2012 from the Philadelphia School Partnership, an organization that invests in Philadelphia public schools to create high-quality education. Drexel was planning to make the expansion based on the Science Leadership Academy, an adoptive high school of the Franklin Institute. Powel Elementary currently has 250 students, including those absorbed from Drew Elementary after it was shut down, leaving it over capacity.

Drexel has also had a partnership with Morton McMichael Elementary School since September 2011 as part of President John A. Fry’s vision for community civic engagement from the University.

It was after the school district became interested in selling the properties in fall 2013 that Drexel became interested in the University City High School property, estimated to have a value of $23 million, according to the Office of Property Assessment at the time. According to Mark Gleason, the director of PSP at the time of the grant announcement, Drexel had planned to add 200-250 more students to Powel Elementary and a middle school that would educate 300-400 students in grades 6-8.

In October 2013, Mayor Michael Nutter proposed a deal to sell at least $61 million worth of buildings by June 30. That would cover the $50 million that the city had pledged to the school district and the $11 million that the city budgeted in selling property for 2014. The $50 million went toward the school district’s $304 million deficit, allowing schools to open on time for the 2013-2014 school year. The buildings would be sold by the district with the help of the city’s commerce department and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. If the district fails to meet this goal, the city would cover the difference in the coming fall. Proposals for the schools by bidders were to be submitted by Dec. 17, 2013.

It was also in October that a real estate investment firm from Washington, D.C., offered the district $100 million for over 30 of the vacant schools, according to Philly.com. The proposal, however, was rejected.

According to the Philly.com article, the school district had 20 offers for the properties among the 28 listed schools that the district offered. Seven of them, however, were the only ones up for individual bid, including the University City High and Drew Elementary properties. City Council President Darrell Clarke had expressed concerns about the district’s ability to sell the properties, encouraging them to find professional help, according to the article.

It was in February 2014 that the school district announced four finalists among six schools that would be sold, including Drexel’s plan to buy two properties at 36th and Filbert streets.

In February 2014 Drexel announced it would not include student housing on the school properties, according to what Robert Francis, vice president of University Facilities, had said then. More than 150 people came to a planning exercise Feb. 26 for the University City High property, according to the University City Review.

According to the University City Review article, Fry said that the school would be focused on the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. The SLA would be heading the middle school portion of the school, along with the expansion of Powel Elementary. Fry also said that they would be including the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University and The Franklin Institute as partners. Drexel also plans to make more green space in the area, along with mixed-use development.

Francis wrote in an email interview that it is too early to talk about the details of the expansion and how Drexel plans to coordinate the change in the new properties. “Drexel has been very clear in supporting a public school use for part of the site. Clearly, we feel that strong public schools are key to neighborhood vitality.”

The meeting that sold the properties to Drexel drew some criticisms as well. Michael Jones, president of the Powelton Village Civic Association, said that although he was happy that it was Drexel that ended up being the highest bidder for the property, it was “unfathomable” that the SRC never took input from the neighborhood.

“At no time did the School District invite real conversation from the community,” DeWayne Drummond, president of the Mantua Civic Association, said, according to the Philadelphia Public School Notebook. Drummond pointed out that the SRC never took into consideration what happened to the students after the school shut down, asking about how many were failing, dropping out of school and even incarcerated.

“The winter storms complicated matters,” Francis wrote. “Whatever concerns may have been expressed, Drexel will interact extensively with the community going forward.”

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Senior chemistry major Fatima Rahman was found dead in the Schuylkill River around 9:45 a.m. March 19.

Rahman had been reported missing since Jan. 2, her information and description reaching news sources such as NBC, Metro and the Delaware County Daily Times. Her body was identified by the medical examiner through her dental records and there was no evidence of trauma, according to the Philadelphia Police blog.

Photo Credit: Mashaal Syed

“She was a nice girl, really friendly and smart. She finished the first year with me but I didn’t see her since the winter quarter in my second year at Drexel,” Hieu Nguyen, a junior chemistry major, wrote in an email.

According to the public affairs office of the Southwest Detectives Division, which is in charge of Rahman’s case, “The cause and manner of death are pending the results of the autopsy.” The only information the office has released are the circumstances around her disappearance and the few details about her body.

Rahman’s funeral was held March 22 at the Masjid al-Jami’a, the same mosque that she regularly attended. The University has yet to notify the student body about the death because Rahman had been on a leave of absence since the winter term of 2013 and the protocol regarding student deaths only includes currently enrolled students.

“I heard about her death also via Facebook and chemistry majors. We are really sad about her death. Honestly, it hurt me a lot because Fatima was one of my best [friends] during freshman year. Drexel should have reached out to us about her death, but they didn’t. I don’t know if she was still a Drexel student when she died, but Drexel should make something about this,” Nguyen wrote.

Her family and loved ones organized searches throughout the two months that she was missing. She was described as last seen at the 4300 block of Chestnut Street as a 21-year-old, five-foot-one-inch, 120-pound girl of Bangladeshi descent that suffered from schizophrenia. Due to her schizophrenia, the family reported that she would become increasingly paranoid and would avoid contact with people.

The dosage of Rahman’s medication for her illness had been increased before her disappearance, yet she had left the medication in her residence and disappeared without her cell phone and jacket. She was last seen wearing a blue head scarf, red sweater and blue jeans.

“Recently, about two months ago, I heard about her disappearance via a Facebook post. I shared this post immediately and tried to look for any information about her whenever I got a chance,” Nguyen wrote.

There was also a Facebook page made Jan. 14 called “Help Find Fatima Rahman,” where users posted updates on sightings of Rahman and organized search parties. The earliest sighting was said to be around The Gallery at Market East; one person reportedly witnessed someone who looked like Rahman crying near the area. The latest sighting posted on the page was March 1, near 30th Street Station.

On Feb. 8, a month after Rahman went missing, State Rep. Margo Davidson, D-164, helped hand out 500 fliers with Rahman’s description to the people of Upper Darby, Pa. Davidson, according to the Delaware County Daily Times, has been writing a legislation to create a program that is similar to the Silver Alert law in other states. The Silver Alert law is the equivalent of an Amber Alert for elderly people who are reported missing while driving or on foot. Davidson wants to create an Amber Alert-like response for people with certain types of mental conditions.

Farzana Rahman, Rahman’s sister and an environmental science major at Drexel, said: “I feel like she was always the best sister. We never fought. I would get annoyed with her because I would fight with her and she would never fight back.” Farzana took a leave of absence from Drexel after Rahman’s disappearance, saying that she wanted to be with her family.

According to what her sister told the Delaware County Daily Times, Rahman had gone missing once before, six months prior. Rahman took her cell phone and went to Germantown, Pa., where she contacted the local police and confessed that she didn’t know where she was and asked the police to call her parents.

After being notified about her death, Rahman’s family released a statement on the Facebook page organizing a search for her. “We are so overwhelmed by the amount of love and support that we have received since Fatima’s disappearance and the news of her death. We are completely and utterly grateful to every person who has helped in her search, raised their hands to pray for her safe return or sent us kind thoughts. And we consider ourselves fortunate —despite the insurmountable loss — that we were able to find Fatima after so long, pray her Janazah, and properly bury her,” the family wrote.

“We have been so hopeful these past few months; actively working to keep ourselves from feeling defeated. This is not the end we were hoping for. We wish that her body did not have to be fished out of a river. We wish that we could touch her, one last time, or say our goodbyes. But, despite all of that, we are so fortunate to have been able to know such a remarkable young woman,” the post continued.

Rahman had been involved in several organizations around campus, including the Mock Trial Association and the Muslim Student Association. Rahman was also a part of the Drexel Badminton Club. On the day of her funeral, the MSA released a statement on their Facebook page: “All who were close to her recall her being a quiet yet charismatic individual — a very caring person capable of making anyone’s day that much more meaningful. We pray that Allah bestows her among the best of Women, with her Namesake, a place in the highest of Jannah, Jannatul Firdaus! Ameen!”

Mashaal Syed, Rahman’s friend from high school and a biomedical engineering major at Drexel, began a campaign to raise money for renovations to the mosque that Rahman regularly attended with her family. The goal is to reach $10,000 by July 5. Information about the campaign can be found at fundly.com/in-memory-and-honor-of-fatima-rahman.

For those students who have been affected by this loss, the Student Counseling Center can be reached at 215-895-1415 during business hours or 215-416-3337 outside of business hours.

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