Photograph courtesy of Marco Verch Professional Photographer at Flickr.
As of April 22, the positivity rate for COVID-19 at Drexel is 2.3 percent. According to Janet Cruz, an assistant professor in the Drexel College of Medicine, no Drexel dorm that has significantly more COVID-19 infections than the others. Currently, about 25 percent of the beds in North Hall are being utilized for isolation or quarantine. The goal is to decrease this number, even though it is a very decent occupancy rate.
Should the occupancy reach 75 percent in North Hall, the campus has the right pause its opening or even send students back, as any other university would. With the variants of COVID-19 (such as B117 variants) and the increase in cases, asymptomatic carriers, higher transmission rates, etc., it is important for students to be fully vaccinated with the both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
For the fall term of 2021, Drexel University plans on requiring vaccinations for all students taking face-face classes, according to an email statement sent by President John Fry Tuesday. This means part-time, full-time, undergraduate or graduate students will need to show proof of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine to be on campus, live in Drexel campus housing, take in-person courses, and take part in campus activities, barring individual cases of personal health or religious accommodations. Drexel also plans to operate its residence halls at full capacity.
Students are expected to be fully vaccinated two weeks before coming to campus, but they also have an opportunity to get vaccinated with the Drexel COVID-19 clinic. “Fully vaccinated” means having both doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. After the second dosage, you must wait at least 14 days to receive maximum protection.
Drexel students are strongly encouraged to utilize the Drexel Health Checker mobile app. If a member of the Drexel community feels like they have been exposed to COVID-19 or have symptoms, they can report it on the app. Someone will call them to inform them about testing, quarantine, and other healthcare needs. All of their medical information will be in a secure, HIPAA-compliant cloud database.
Although many students aren’t required to take classes in person, especially students in Drexel University Online, they are still strongly encouraged to take the vaccine, as mass vaccination will keep students and faculty safe when they need to gather. Drexel University saw a significant rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, and most of the infection rates came from unmasked get-togethers indoors.
According to Drexel’s Marla Gold, deean Emerita and professor of Health Management and Policy in the Dornsife School of Public Health, this significant rise on campus was likely caused by the mid-quarter blues, along with an overall sense of security that came with more people receiving vaccines.
Another reason students should strongly consider getting vaccinated when possible, while still maintaining safe distances, is the possibility of stronger COVID-19 variants spreading. The B117 variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom in December 2020, is present on Drexel’s campus and is traced to almost half of the current COVID-19 cases among students and staff, according to Gold. Receiving vaccinations and continuing to take precautions is the biggest way to target these dangerous variants.
“The more time there is for a virus to be in motion and circulating, the more opportunities it has for genetic errors to give rise to variants,” Gold said.
On April 19, the clinic in Behrakis Grand Hall administered 1,122 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Drexel plans to continue its vaccination efforts through Commencement on June 11.
All members of the Drexel community are encouraged to contact Drexel’s COVID-19 line at (215) 703-2335 or email Covid19Questions@drexel.edu with any questions or concerns.
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Photograph courtesy of chrisinphilly5448 at Flickr.
The pandemic has infamously caused mandated cessations of activities from festivals to court dates. However, gentrification has continued to cause immense changes in struggling communities across the city. Around Philadelphia, buildings of rich significance are being torn down to make way for urban housing and artisanal food fare. Mt. Airy has been the subject of gentrification, and Drexel Dornsife doctoral student Samantha Rivera Joseph wants to do something about it.
Being a Mt. Airy community member herself, Joseph has seen buildings being destroyed in her community, even during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both she and her husband, Antoine Joseph, saw the building next to the Philadelphia Sun building being demolished and believed that the Philadelphia Sun building itself was next to meet the same fate. Worried about the loss of the building’s rich history, the Josephs decided to act.
“So we started just thinking about what we can do. We wanted to draw attention to it. We want to try to save it…We realized that, you know, we do have an opportunity,” Samantha Joseph said.
The building they are trying to save holds substantial Black history in its foundation. Its first use was by Malcolm Joseph Ford, a Black education leader in Philadelphia that used the space as an antique store called “Heritage Pieces.” Until recently, however, the building was repurposed as the headquarters of the Philadelphia Sunday Sun Newspaper, a prominent outlet known for “Connecting Philadelphia’s African American Community.”
“My husband grew up in the neighborhood, and he knows a lot of the history,” Joseph said “He knew the newspaper used to run out of there. He remembers it being an active building.”
With such defining roots, it was hard for the Josephs to see it destroyed. After thinking of ideas, the couple then decided to buy the building, ensuring its longevity as an integral part of the community.
“We can try to buy it ourselves. That’s the best way that we can ensure that it doesn’t get bought by a developer, potentially knocked down and replaced by another new development that doesn’t necessarily fit the community,” Joseph said.
However, the couple is not buying the property for personal use; rather, their true intentions are to honor the space’s history through the development of a community and event space. The second floor would be turned into two apartment units that are reasonably priced for the residents of the community.
“We want to make sure that it’s a space where we can actively engage the community, and have it be a space that celebrates collaboration and honors Black history. There’s a lot of monumental things that happened on Germantown Avenue, especially on this block, that we don’t want to disappear with the new development,” Joseph said.
The cost of the project is not to be negated, however. The price tag of the building and the planned construction hits over $500,000, and the closing date is April 30, 2021. The Josephs have invested all their personal savings, family gifts and loans from family members, accounting for roughly $150,000. On the other hand, 50 percent of the budget is from an aggressive bank loan.
“Once this project is running smoothly, then we’ll worry about our personal finances again,” Joseph continued. “But we are invested. All of our savings is in here, plus our parents. My dad took money out of his retirement fund.”
Adding the money up, the couple is still missing 20 percent of the planned budget. The Josephs hope to receive contributions from crowdfunding. Through GoFundMe, they are looking for $100,000. Readers are encouraged to contribute through their GoFundMe page, “Save the Sun Building in Philadelphia.”
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In the United States Capitol, a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee has stood representing the state of Virginia, but that is going to change. In December of 2020, Virginia governor Ralph Northam announced that a statue of civil rights activist and Drexel alumna Barbara Rose Johns will replace the former statue.
Although she was born in 1935 in New York City, Johns grew up in Virginia and was inspired to be involved in civil rights by her uncle, Vernon Johns, a civil rights pioneer and pastor.
Her career began as a teenager — in 1951 at the age of 16 Johns led a walkout at her high school in response to inferior conditions at the all-Black school, whereas their white counterparts were not subjected to the same treatment. Her leadership resulted in the support of the NAACP lawyers who eventually filed a lawsuit that was reviewed in the historic Brown v. Board of Educationcase.
The walkout led by Johns has been considered the start of a movement to end desegregation within the United States. Due to the attention she received for her work, Johns was subject to threats from the Klu Klux Klan, which resulted in her parents sending her away for her safety to finish high school. After high school, Johns attended Drexel University, graduating with a degree in library science.
The decision to replace Robert E. Lee’s statue with one of Johns’ came after a commission was created to find the replacement statue. After the collection of nominations and a deliberation period, Johns was selected. As the Capitol prepares to welcome the statue, the commission will continue their work in selecting a sculptor to create the statue of Johns.
In a statement, Governor Northam praised the decision to place a statue of Johns in the Capitol. “I am proud that her statue will represent Virginia in the U.S. Capitol,” Northam said. “Where her idealism, courage, and conviction will continue to inspire Virginians, and Americans, to confront inequities and fight for meaningful change now and for generations to come.”
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Screenshot courtesy of @drexeldancemarathon on Instagram.
Drexel Dance Marathon, a student organization benefiting the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), had a successful Spirit Week beginning last Sunday, which culminated in a fundraising total of over $11,000 for children and their families.
High school friends and third-year students Abbey Haas and Lin Choi started Drexel Dance Marathon because they were a part of their high school’s Mini-THON event, an off-shoot of Penn State’s THON, both of which benefit the Four Diamonds Fund of Penn State’s Children’s Hospital.
“For being completely virtual, and a first-year organization, I can’t even begin to tell you how proud I am of our team,” Haas said.
Throughout the week, DDM hosted daily activities like “Miracle Monday,”, sharing stories of children who have received care at CHOP; a “Wellness Wednesday” virtual yoga session;, and the “Fun Run 5k” on Friday, complete with a suggested route and directions, all leading up to the final celebration and fundraising effort on Saturday where executive board members completed “dares” via suggestions on Instagram.
Haas currently serves as Director, and Choi as Internal Director of DDM. The pair have been working to get DDM recognized as a student organization since their freshman year, and it was conferred during spring last year.
“We wanted to bring something to Drexel that would be inclusive to students of all interests and backgrounds while benefiting our surrounding community (CHOP) and creating strong relationships, all for the kids,” Haas said.
Usually dance marathons are completed in a single day, where groups of volunteers dance for an extended period of time, sometimes as long as 24 hours to raise money for a particular cause.
“Having a full week to celebrate in a virtual setting was definitely easier than cramming everything into one day, as we know people’s schedules are all very different right now,” Haas said.
Planning Spirit Week was a month-long coordination from various teams within DDM, including a concerted effort to market the events on social media, as it played a large part in virtual fundraising.
Ultimately, Choi and Haas finally had the opportunity to give back to a place they are personally connected to, CHOP, while initiating the dance marathon movement on Drexel’s campus.
DDM is currently taking applications for their executive board. The link to the application is located on their Instagram page, @drexeldancemarathon.
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On April 7, 2021, Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law hosted an event titled “Trial by Combat. A Conversation on the Professional, Ethical, and Moral Obligations of Lawyers.” The event was moderated by 2L student Noelia Wiegand and was attended by over 181 students, including Drexel students, faculty, deans, attorneys and legal professionals from UPenn and Yale amongst other universities.
The event featured professors Clare Coleman and Anil Kalhan, as well as Christine Chung. Chung was part of the group that drafted a letter to the New York Bar Association requesting that attorney Rudolph “Rudy” Giuliani be disbarred for his involvement in pushing false information regarding voting and voter fraud in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.
With the main focus being on moral judgments, there was discussion as to how essential it is to have a moral core. The discussion then shifted focus to the ways in which someone is guided to make certain decisions; in Giuliani’s case, going from his leadership in a post-9/11 New York and being seen as America’s Mayor to leading the efforts to overturn the election and trying to prove there were instances of voter fraud.
“Our mission is to safeguard the rule of law and to mobilize lawyers to do that… It was a group of Harvard Law School Graduates who were at their 50th reunion three years ago and were very troubled by the direction the American government was going and the rule of law was going and made a pact at their reunion to form a non-profit, non-partisan group that would address rule of law issues,” Chung said during the event.
The group, known as Lawyers Defending American Democracy has issued numerous open letters regarding rule of law issues within the United States. The group had paid attention to Giuliani in real-time, taking note that his conduct was quickly spiraling through different phases that did not align with the ethics that an attorney is expected to abide by. The group found his behavior the most serious violation; that he was “leading the charge on a very fundamental act of democracy.”
Mentioned in the event, lawyers have an obligation to call out other lawyers when rules are violated — in this specific instance, Giuliani’s violations had real consequences on real people; his actions have led people to believe votes were stolen and that there is little election integrity in the election systems, despite it having been proven that fraud is rare.
Student-led efforts amongst attorneys to hold Giuliani accountable did not go unnoticed. It was mentioned that the Kline Student Bar Association has petitioned for Giuliani’s honorary degree to be revoked. The nature of this petition along with others was discussed on April 7. At the time of the publishing of this article, Drexel University president John Fry has not made a decision as to what the fate of Giuliani’s honorary degree is. But the message from the event was clear: the morals Giuliani has displayed and his calls to disenfranchise voters do not have a place within the justice system.
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Drexel University recently announced in an email statement April 6 that it plans to offer the COVID-19 vaccine to students, faculty and staff “as soon as possible.”
Utilizing the Behrakis Grand Hall located in the Creese Student Center on Chestnut Street, Drexel plans to offer two types of clinics to distribute vaccinations to those who have scheduled appointments. First, there will be a group of clinics operated by Sunray Pharmacy and staffed by Sunray employees, which will begin distributing vaccines this week. Second, there will be a group of Drexel-operated clinics, which will require a Drexel ID and will begin later in April.
Presently, Drexel plans to restrict access to the COVID-19 vaccine at its center to prioritized groups, aligning with Pennsylvania’s plan. Additionally, decisions on who is eligible to receive the vaccine will depend on the availability of doses and Drexel’s “return to campus” phases.
The Sunray Pharmacy-run clinic in Behrakis Grand Hall, which plans to start administering vaccines this week, is currently serving those in the 1A and 1B groups, and those who are prioritized in 1C.
Marla Gold, Director of Drexel’s Return to Campus Oversight Committee, Subir Sahu, Paul Jensen and Megan Weyler, encourage members of the Drexel community to strongly consider receiving a COVID-19 vaccination when it is available to you.
“Following a year-long pandemic, we are all tired and more than ready for change,” they wrote in an April 6 email statement. “Vaccination is a major step to moving towards a safer and healthier environment.”
Drexel believes most students will qualify for a COVID-19 vaccination under Phase 2, while all employees will qualify under the 1C group for working in higher education. The Philadelphia area is gradually entering 1C, with some members of this population qualifying right now.
Members of the Drexel community who have been, or will be, vaccinated can upload a photo of their COVID-19 vaccination record card to the Drexel Health Checker app. Although this step is not yet required, it will help in the contact tracing process, according to the April 6 email statement.
“Drexel is very pleased to be able to offer the vaccine to students, faculty and professional staff,” the statement reads. “We will continue to work with the city to help all Drexel community members receive the vaccine as soon as possible.”
Photograph courtesy of Jim, the Photographer at Flickr.
Climate change, like the COVID-19 pandemic, is a global crisis that requires the participation and consciousness of many institutions and individuals in order to relieve it.
In partnership with its Academy of Natural Sciences, Drexel has chosen 2021 as their Climate Year.
Drexel’s Climate and Sustainability website outlines five goals to address institutional practices, curriculum, research and civic engagement related to climate change.
According to an official statement, the university aims to strengthen their institutional climate commitment; promote climate- and sustainability-focused courses and experiential learning opportunities; inspire applied climate-focused research, civic engagement and collaboration; and engage the community through climate and sustainability programming.
One key goal is the tracking and coordination of inventory and climate work happening at all levels of the University, which involves the intervention of a separate organization.
Drexel has joined over 1,000 other colleges and universities across North America in using the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System framework for measuring sustainability performance.
STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. According to their website, the organization is committed to holding already high-achieving institutions accountable for long-term sustainability goals.
The inclusion of climate-based curriculum has the potential to create enduring sustainability education at Drexel.
Starting in winter term of 2021, the Office of Global Engagement has offered an Honors College course, “Great Works: Climate Action,” to examine the development and influence of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties and Drexel’s participation in the annual conference.
Alexandra George, a third-year communication major, took the course this winter.
“It was a great opportunity to be able to learn about a topic that isn’t a part of my major. I learned that climate action has to do with every single part of society. No matter what career path we might take, the climate crisis will affect it,” George said.
This course highlights global climate proceedings and features bi-weekly guest speakers who are experts in climate change and policy.
Additionally, there is a new undergraduate Climate Change minor being offered. This minor provides an overview of the Earth’s climate system and the science of climate change, allowing students to understand, mitigate and adapt to its potential impacts from varied disciplinary perspectives.
Another learning opportunity offered through this initiative is the application of the EPIC-N model, which is an experiential learning model centered on the partnership of a University and municipality.
Drexel maintains its sustainability and civic-engagement pledges by offering students a chance to find solutions to local issues. Each year, the University will partner with a different municipality and address their climate and sustainability needs through coursework across the Drexel.
According to the official website of The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, “Climate Year is our opportunity to learn and do something about issues like the unequal burdens of climate change on vulnerable communities, habitat and species loss, public health impacts of a warming climate, the economic risks of inaction and more”.
Drexel aims to inspire student and faculty researchers to partner with international practitioners in need of climate-focused solutions. The University, in partnership with the City of Philadelphia and the Academy of Natural Sciences, will convene a meeting of climate and sustainability stakeholders to develop a multidisciplinary, justice-centered research agenda for the Philadelphia region.
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Many Drexel students lined up for free drinks from April 1 through April 3 at the grand opening of Boba King, the new boba tea and coffee shop on campus.
Moses Choi, Dustin Park and Sun Son decided to found Boba King after realizing that there were not many places in Philadelphia where they could get high-quality drinks other than coffee, as they could in their native Korea.
“Our goal is to give a little happiness to students returning to campus, serving them with a smile and quality specialty drinks,” Choi said in a phone interview.
Boba King is different from other boba tea stores around University City. Instead of focusing their menu only on boba, they also have milkshakes, coffees, smoothies, fruit teas and honey bread, Choi said.
Students lined up for hours for their special giveaway offer of free drinks during the first three days of Boba King’s inauguration on campus. The store is located at 3200 Chestnut Street, where Joe Coffee used to be.
Photograph courtesy of Moses Choi.
“The boba place is really cute and pretty, and their drinks are pretty good especially considering they were giving them all out for free,” said Miyo Imai, a third-year Computer Science major.
Imai was excited about the new boba store on campus and thought Boba King offered different things from other similar stores in the area.
“I tried going on Thursday after work, which was their first day doing their promotion, but the line was so long that my friends and I ended up heading out — I had some friends say they had been in line for over an hour and a half, and they weren’t even in the door yet,” Imai said.
She returned on Saturday morning 20 minutes before opening and was able to get her drinks, being the third in line.
“I already went back once after their grand opening to try something else,” Imai said. “I think when the weather gets a bit nicer, Boba King will be getting a lot of the business, since it has nice seating and is cuter.”
Choi said they designed Boba King following the style of Korean cafes, but right now, they only allow 25 percent of seating capacity.
“Once we are settled, we have three main goals: to serve premium high-quality drinks, use natural and organic ingredients, and to make a scholarship for Drexel students to give back to the community we are in,” Choi said.
Boba King is open all days of the week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
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The Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania mothers and babies clinic with Dr. Erlanger standing left of center with a stethoscope, taken in 1918. (Photograph from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania Photograph Collection ACC-AHC1.)
The COVID-19 pandemic will likely remain a defining event of 2020 for decades to come. In fact, COVID-19 may even be viewed similarly to how we, in the present day, view the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic.
As a university in the heart of a highly populated city like Philadelphia, Drexel faculty and students have been readily involved in efforts to assist with the pandemic both then and now.
Back in 1918, the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania served in the frontlines of the pandemic. The WMCP was a predecessor to Drexel’s current day College of Medicine, serving as the first medical school in the world for women. Around the time of the pandemic, WMCP’s staff had been greatly reduced and spread thin across the war front due to World War I, according to an article by Ari McManus in the archives of the College of Medicine. The capabilities of these women, both students and staff, would soon be put to the test during the influenza outbreak in Philadelphia.
On Sept. 18, 1918, WMCP received its first case of influenza, followed by another case on Sept. 21. Shortly after the infamous Liberty Loan parade, cases began piling up, and the WMCP attempted to increase capacity by clearing up rooms for new patients. By October, things started to look grim as space was running out and the small amount of staff present were falling sick. Classes were canceled from Sept. 30 to Oct. 22 as the college deliberated how to deal with the large influx of patients while also ensuring students were receiving a proper education. Given the hospital staff shortages, students rose to the occasion to volunteer.
Medical students and volunteers from different backgrounds offered their assistance despite not necessarily being trained in the areas where help was needed. As one report from 1919 indicates, “It would have been impossible to carry the volume of work which presented had it not been for the splendid cooperation of our medical students, our newly entered probation class in nursing, our nurses’ aides, trained last year in our wards, and last, but by no means least, the splendid body of volunteers… No hospital was ever so fortunate in the response of women to its need!”
Although students were not necessarily trained in the areas where help was needed, they offered their assistance regardless.
“To the first-year students belongs the credit for keeping the College machinery running, which they did faithfully, even resisting the inroads of the influenza germ….There was rejoicing in all classes when it was possible to return to our normal academic life late in October,” an unknown author wrote in a December edition of the Bulletin of WMCP.
The Dean of WMCP, Martha Tracy, also acknowledged the assistance students provided in an alumni meeting one year following the pandemic. “During the epidemic the Freshman class of thirty students… stood by to give assistance or relief to the first line whenever it was asked,” Tracy said in another edition of the Bulletin.
Mary Buchanan, a WMCP professor, hospital staff member and president of the Alumni Association even stated once in the Bulletin: “The scarcity of doctors and the dearth of nurses threw an awful burden on those left in civil life. The acts of heroism of some of our women doctors will never be known, but the devotion to duty while those nearest and dearest to them were dying and dead, too far away for them to reach them, was worthy of an epic I am unable to write.”
As facilities were overflowing, this cooperation among WMCP medical students, volunteers, and other colleges or hospitals was an important component of dealing with the 1918 pandemic. Nearly one century later, and members of the Drexel community have demonstrated similar acts of public service and community with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just as the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania had a prompt response to the national health crisis, Drexel members exemplified some of the same qualities again with the emergence of the new pandemic. This time, of course, Drexel has evolved into a much larger university, and with it, more resources, students and responsibilities.
Dr. Viola Erlanger, left, is caring for children at the Barton Dispensary, which is part of the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, taken in 1918-1919. (Photograph from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania Photograph Collection ACC-AHC1.)
When the COVID-19 pandemic was in full motion in the Philadelphia region, the associate dean of nursing and student affairs, Kymberlee Montgomery, and assistant clinical professor, Kimberly McClellan, answered the call to take charge of the university’s tracing and testing efforts. These testing efforts translated into the university testing centers operated by student health coops and volunteers from the professional health schools of Drexel.
Thanks to these successful testing initiatives, the university could plan initiatives to successfully bring some first-year students back to the dorms, as the planning by Vice Provost for Community Health Care Innovation and Director of Return to Campus Operations Marla Gold and her team was put into action. “The World Health Organization wants a positivity rate of below 5 percent. And, to date, Drexel has consistently maintained a positivity rate of under 2 percent,” Gold said.
The university also has had other notable contributions to the COVID-19 pandemic effort. Drexel is known to be a premier research institution and that has been one of its major offerings in this pandemic, compared to the one in 1918.
During the first few months of the pandemic, the one development Drexel underwent that opened the opportunity for other COVID-19 developments stemmed from the “Drexel University Rapid Response Research and Development Funding” program. This was emergency funding curated by the administration of Drexel to award promising inventions and progress that would mitigate the COVID-19. This would give quick funding to these series of projects all led by Drexel students and faculty around the pandemic.
This funding not only reached the medical implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also the implications in other disciplines such as economics or supply chain. From the development of rapid on-site testing kits for asymptomatic individuals, to the refining of the majorly flawed supply chaining of personal protective equipment (PPE), Drexel’s rapid funding has born the fruit of its labor.
In light of the need for ventilators in various emergency rooms across the country and the world during the pandemic, Marek Swoboda, PhD, assistant teaching professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, lead a team that created back-up ventilators for hospitals called the Y-Vent. According to this project’s website, this ventilator is specifically innovative because it can be 3D- printed and it does not have any mechanical parts, making assembly very easy.
Additionally, in the Dornsife School of Public Health, Jennifer Taylor, PhD, led a team of Drexel researchers to study the stress that comes with being an emergency responder coupled with the stress of contracting COVID-19. As emergency responders, their gut reaction is to help others before helping themselves by putting on protective gear. This research’s goal was to create resources for first-responders to handle stress, Neel Patel wrote in an article by The Triangle last November.
Most recently, it was announced in December that faculty from Drexel will be partnering with the transportation’s heart of Philadelphia, SEPTA, to enhance efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on public transportation, according to a DrexelNow article. This partnership will focus on understanding the role of masks, ventilation, air treatment and surface cleaning in preventing transmission of the virus, developing strategies that SEPTA can deploy to safely transport hundreds of thousands of Philadelphians every day.
Another notable event was the downfall of the organization Philly Fighting COVID. What seemingly started as an organization that was trying to provide rapid COVID-19 testing to the hard-struck areas of Philadelphia, took an unexpected turn when PFC, led by Drexel student Andrei Doroshin, transitioned into a for-profit organization that allegedly tried to sell patient information to third parties.
Philly Fighting COVID, at its inception, had garnered a big Drexel community following and even recruited many Drexel students and faculty as volunteers. Upon development of its doing, the students and faculty who participated in their clinics and work could not help but feel disappointed and betrayed.
This is not to say that the work of these brave and courageous individuals was in vain. Albeit PFC resulted in being a bust due to underlying ethical issues, the work of its volunteers and the initial efforts of this organization will not go unnoticed.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, most Drexel students’ co-ops turned online, but this was not the case for several nursing students who got co-ops in their fields working in the front-lines in Penn Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and several other institutions across the country. Additionally, thousands of nursing, medical, public health and biology students have volunteered at testing and vaccination sites nation-wide. To all the healthcare professionals, front line workers, and alumni in the health field that have answered the dire call for help, the Drexel community and the world show their gratitude and applaud for the valiant and collective effort of our everyday heroes.
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The Afro-American Society in the Drexel Lexerd Yearbook in 1970. (Photograph from the Drexel University Archives.)
As an institution within a major metropolitan area, Drexel University has lived through times of great divide within society; since its inception in 1891, both the university and its students (though sometimes, not at the same time) fought inequality and segregation in key historical turning points, such as the Civil Rights movement and other protests that took root in Philadelphia.
In 1967, the university planned to build its first dormitory to accommodate some students who wanted to stay close to the school instead of commuting and follow the West Philadelphia Corporation — created by Drexel and the University of Pennsylvania — goal to redevelop West Philadelphia and accomplish the higher goal of molding Philadelphia into an economic and industrial engine like it once was. This first building was set to be constructed on 33rd and Arch St., where there was a majority Black population that would have been displaced; specifically, 574 families would have been displaced, of whom 90 percent were minorities, according to James Wolfinger who wrote a chapter about race and Civil Rights in a book co-edited by Richardson Dilworth and Scott Knowles called “Building Drexel: The University and Its City.”
Students at the time realized the importance of community outreach and wellbeing, and decided to voice their concerns by forming a coalition named “East Powelton Concerned Residents.” This group of students and community residents protested to call for the university to see West Philadelphians as equals and not force them to leavee where they have lived their entire plans for University construction plans, The Triangle reported in 1967.
Penn and Temple students joined the protests that gained attention through revolutionary newspapers and by illegally occupying Drexel buildings. The East Powelton Concerned Residents organization was able to eventually get a meeting with Drexel University’s soon-to-be president William Haggerty. However, expansion continued.
These were not the only social issues Drexel faced at that time, and this movement of “liberation” found a cause tied to the West Philadelphia community to fight for Black rights and Black identity on campus. However, there was a concern regarding the lack of Black students within the student population.
In 1967, there were only 36 Black students attending the University, representing a mere 0.7 percent of the student population. But in 1970, that number grew to 302, representing 3.4 percent of the student body. Although some reports say that this jump was because the school began to report its evening classes enrollments in 1969, the climate became more hostile since this increase.
Students were beginning to complain about their peers performing in blackface for talent shows according to articles published by The Triangle in the late 1940s and 1950s. Many students were writing that the school made them feel “invisible.” That to fit in they felt pressured into “dressing white middle-class, acting, and even talking white middle class.” By “the second year at Drexel,” wrote Regina Arnold in The Triangle, “you become bitter about the whole scene.” Black students received 16 hours a week of airtime on the school’s radio station for “The Black Experience in Music,” and the glee club had significant African-American representation. But overall, “No student organization makes any attempt to enfranchise the members of the Black student population,” wrote one reporter.
Even in 1968, wrote another reporter, Drexel had only a few black employees, and almost all worked in “menial jobs.” There was no African-American history class, no Black faculty members, no authors of color on campus. For many Black students whose “experience has been sheltered, meaning you’ve dealt almost exclusively with Blacks,” wrote one woman, “the transition that is made in coming to a place like Drexel University can be a living hell.”
One of the first actions taken to combat the small Black population at Drexel was the formation of the Afro-American Society. This organization was tasked with holding informational seminars for African Americans to push them to attend Drexel, in addition to holding lectures that educated participants on Black culture and power, as The Triangle reported in 1968 and 1969. The Afro-American Society was also used as a platform to voice the concerns of the small, but powerful Black population; they ultimately pushed Drexel executives and administration to hire more Black professors, add more African American history classes to its curriculum, and admit enough Black students to substantiate a 10 percent Black student population.
Despite the robust attempts to change Drexel’s stance on inclusion, little was done to appease the Black students at the time. The growing tension between white and Black students ceased the administration’s initiatives to appeal to the Black student population’s concerns. According to Wolfinger, Dilworth and Knowles: “critiques of the school angered some white students and pushed the administration in halting ways to be more attentive to black needs.”
We are now in 2021, living during historic times. Over the summer of 2020, during the Black Lives Matter protests, Drexel had numerous statements and incidents regarding the situation and there were many controversies about the university’s involvement in the civil unrest that took place multiple times in Philadelphia.
As protests against racial injustice were ongoing, Drexel’s Police Department was involved in a big incident on 52nd Street. People started marching from 33rd & Market St, Mario’s location, towards the University of Pennsylvania’s police building. Students, alumni and faculty, along with members of multiple organizations were protesting on May 31, 2020, when DUPD was seen committing acts of police brutality on 52nd street in a predominantly Black neighborhood, The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote.
“One officer was photographed holding the arm of an individual. According to an investigation into that incident, the officer was assisting the individual, who was in need of medical attention,” according to a statement posted by Drexel University on July 28, 2020. Two days later, on July 30, 2020, Drexel posted another statement, “Correction and Apology: Drexel Police Activity on May 31,” saying that “the Drexel officer was attending to the individual after he had been handcuffed by Philadelphia Police.” Penn and Drexel’s students and officers on the universities’ campuses called for defunding the colleges’ police departments, The Inquirer reported.
Drexel was part of another controversy regarding the presence of the National Guard on campus. This situation created unrest among Drexel students amid the protests against racial injustice and police brutality, according to a Triangle article written by Jason Sobieski.
The majority of Drexel students were not pleased with the situation and immediately contacted the administration. President Fry disclosed that The Armory is the property of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania making Drexel unable to refuse Mayor Kenny’s request.
“I acknowledge the anger, frustration, pain and, frankly, fear that was caused by seeing National Guard vehicles on or close to our campus,” Fry said in an email statement sent on the following days. “Drexel is not condoning violence against peaceful protestors.”
During a period of civil unrest for the United States and the rest of the world, Drexel students got involved in multiple anti-racist actions.
Student Tianna Williams is the only undergraduate student co-chair that is part of the Anti-Racism Task Force created at Drexel University, a DrexelNow article wrote. She is the president of the Drexel Black Action Committee (DBAC), a member of the National Society of Black Engineers as well as a student ambassador for the Student Center for Diversity and Inclusion. The student was named the Face of Change at Drexel University due to her constant hard work and effort put into multiple organizations that fight for social justice.
“I think it gave us and other Black students, Black faculty and staff, [the ability] to really turn the eyes on the University and be like, ‘You know, this is just part of a larger issue of systemic racism,’” she said. The student is hopeful and fighting to introduce multiple anti-racist changes among the university’s policies.
The Black Lives Matter movement also made the University create the Anti-Racism Task Force and the Center for Black Culture. The university promises multiple greater anti-racism efforts and to become better partners and stronger advocates on anti-racism. “Sharde [Johnson] will lead a steering committee to develop the Center’s mission and ensure that it serves as a home to all Drexel students, faculty and professional staff, while increasing knowledge of the people, histories and culture of the African diaspora and its many contributions to the world,” Fry said in a statement announcing the creation of CBC. People interested in The Center for Black Culture should contact anti-racism@drexel.edu.
To not let the movement die and keep engaged in these social causes, there has been a lot of advocacy for social change among Drexel students through social media.
The Instagram account @blackatdrexel is a space for students of color to make anonymous confessions of instances where they were victims of racist aggressions or microaggressions on campus. This account was created on July 1st by a student who saw similar accounts created on Penn and Temple’s campuses. Another account that gained a lot of traction on Instagram is @drexelforjustice. The creators of the account frequently post about Drexel’s effect on West Philadelphia due to gentrification, defunding Drexel University Police Department and multiple other social justice causes. They organized multiple online and physical events over the summer to express their advocacy goals.
Additionally, the DBAC as well as Drexel Black Student Association organized multiple events over the summer in an effort to inform and educate people about racial injustice and police brutality against the Black community.
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