The following crimes occurred on or near campus and were reported to The Triangle by the Drexel University Department of Public Safety between Oct. 31 and Nov. 16. All information included in this report is taken from law enforcement or Division of Public Safety incident reports.

BURGLARY (5)

Nov. 2, 2:05 a.m., 3300 Market Street

An unknown male was observed entering the Drexel Parking Garage, disarming the exit gate and fleeing with a Drexel owned pickup truck.

Nov. 2, 4:25 a.m., 3300 Market Street

An unknown male (same male as the previously listed incident) was observed entering the Drexel parking garage and a short time later, fleeing while driving a Drexel owned work van.

Note: On Nov. 3, DUPD arrested two males found to be in possession of this vehicle at 3100 Spring Garden Street.

Nov. 2 to Nov. 12, 200 North 34th Street

A Drexel student reported that an unknown person(s) entered their room at a fraternity house and took cash and clothing.

Nov. 11, 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., 3400 Hamilton Street

A non-Drexel complainant reported that an unknown person(s) entered their residence (no sign of force) and took a MacBook Pro laptop computer.

Nov. 14 to Nov. 16, 3300 Hamilton Street

A complainant reported between that an unknown person(s) entered their residence through a side window and took various items from the property.

ASSAULT (3)

Oct. 31, 2:05 a.m., 3300 Baring Street

A Drexel student reported that they were assaulted by two males known to them at the stated location. Very minor injury to victim.

Nov. 13, 11:55 a.m., South 33rd Street

Drexel Police arrested a male armed with a knife that was threatening to stab people exiting the subway.

3400 Lancaster Ave

A Drexel student reported he was assaulted by his roommate during a dispute over personal property. Minor injury to victim.

THEFT (3)

Nov. 3, 3300 Market Street

A group of juveniles entered the Wawa store, took an undetermined amount of candy and fled the store without paying.

Nov. 9 , 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., 3400 Powelton Avenue

A complainant reported that an unknown person(s) took a delivered package from their front porch.

Nov. 10, 3400 Lancaster Avenue

An unknown male entered a store, took cleaning products and fled the store without paying for the items.

VANDALISM (1)

Nov. 6, South 33rd Street

It was discovered that a male Drexel student caused damage to an overhead canopy support arm by grabbing it and pulling it from its point of contact. The incident was sent to Student Conduct for review.

POLICY VIOLATIONS (2)

During the period from Oct. 31 to Nov. 16, there was one Policy Violation for Alcohol and one Policy Violation for Drugs. The reports were sent to the Office of Student Conduct for review.

The Drexel University polling center at the Daskalakis Athletic Center on 3301 Market St. had 87.54 percent of its votes cast in favor of former Vice President Joe Biden on Election Day, Nov. 3.

Students who are living on or around campus and other members of the West Philadelphia community voted in this electoral center. It was composed of the 10th, 18th and 19th Divisions of the 24th Ward of the City of Philadelphia, said Tim Dowling from the County Board of Elections.

Among all of the votes cast at the DAC, Biden had a total of 513 voting machine ballots cast on election day, making his count 85.03 percent of the 10th Division votes, 85.37 percent of the 18th Division votes and 90.18 percent of the 19th Division votes. Of the 586 ballots cast on campus, one was a write-in vote, 66 were for Donald Trump and six were for Libertarian nominee Jo Jorgensen, according to the Office of Philadelphia City Commissioners website.

These votes contributed to the massive number in favor of Biden in Philadelphia that, after four days of uncertainty, allowed him to win the state of Pennsylvania. The win gained him 20 more electoral votes and projected him as the winner of the presidential elections, the Associated Press reported on Saturday, Nov. 6.

The count in Pennsylvania was very tight between him and current president Trump, making it one of the states that could decide who would be the United States’ next president. Biden needed either Pennsylvania or two states among Arizona, Nevada and Georgia to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to win. On the other hand, Trump needed Pennsylvania and three states among North Carolina, Arizona, Nevada or Georgia to reach the 270 mark, BBC reported.

Nonetheless, it was the unprecedented high amount of mail-in ballots that changed the lead of the state, going from the majority of votes in favor of Trump on Election night to a Biden win on Saturday. Additionally, these mail-in votes could only begin to be opened the morning of Election Day, which delayed the process for more days, NPR said.

Since Election Day, some Philadelphians who supported Trump went to the Constitution Center in Old City to protest the counting of votes, while Biden supporters protested for every vote to be counted. On Saturday, more Philadelphians, including many Drexel students, joined the streets by City Hall and the Constitution Center to celebrate Biden’s projected victory, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Despite the recognition of Biden’s win from most media, President Trump has not accepted the election’s results and is holding lawsuits in different states, including Pennsylvania. He and his team are asking for recounts and claiming alleged fraud in mail-in ballots, CNBC reported.

College is a new frontier filled with academic and social opportunities, as well as a chance for young adults to exercise their independence. However, the pressure of academics, making friends and staying involved in a new environment can also lead to high levels of stress and mental health issues.

In the midst of a pandemic, situations of stress, depression, anxiety and uncertainty occur more frequently, worsening a lot of people’s mental health — even more so when the country is also battling racial injustices and unprecedented elections. With all of these situations going on, the week before the presidential elections, four Drexel students were hospitalized for suicidal ideation, said Tania Czarnecki, Executive Director of Counseling and Training Director of Drexel’s Counseling Center. This is the most hospitalization cases they have had this year, compared to nine total hospitalization cases in all of 2019.

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, approximately 1,100 university students across the U.S. choose to end their lives per year. The reasons behind each suicide vary from case-to-case, but there are consistent factors that contribute to higher rates of mental health problems among college students. According to an article from the Illinois Department of Public Health, sleep deprivation, substance abuse and disturbed eating patterns are all risk factors for suicide.

As suicide rates continue to rise across the country, many colleges and universities including Drexel, have implemented resources, such as mental health counseling, peer counseling and diverse health and wellness programs for students. However, even with these new means to combat this issue, the number of suicide-related deaths on college campuses continues to rise.

There seems to be a reluctance from university administrations to look at the driving forces behind suicides among college students and make systemic changes. Each college student struggles in their own way and responds differently to the changes in their life. Suicide is a multifaceted issue and cannot be addressed with one solution.

Drexel University’s Office of Counseling and Health Services is one of the main resources for students struggling with mental health issues. The center, which normally operates on the second floor of MacAlister Hall, now offers all of their services through online platforms: individual and group teletherapy, psychiatry services, virtual workshops on various anxiety and mood management topics, same-day support appointments, outreach services, after-hours phone calls for students, an on-call crisis line and many other options. Recently, some of the most popular services have been the workshops, including their anxiety toolbox one, and their outreach services like stress management during COVID or international students navigating politics.

In an interview with a Drexel student, who decided to remain anonymous and has attended counseling sessions, the student mentioned that she found out about the counseling center during Drexel’s Welcome Week, where freshmen are the only students on campus. Welcome Week’s activities allow incoming students to learn about the different clubs and resources available to them.

“I think I put more into it than what I got out of it in terms of getting myself situated and having a schedule with them.  I wanted more support and ideas about how I could develop better coping mechanisms but for some reason, it wasn’t that simple,” the student said when she was asked about her experience at the counseling center.

This student also mentioned that her counselor mostly listened to her talk and nodded his head every few seconds.

“I had always felt through all the sessions that I was talking too much and based on his responses it was like he wasn’t even listening to me. All he would say was ‘uh-huh’,” the student said.

However, Amparo Nieto’s experience at the Office of Counseling was completely different.

Nieto, a third-year student at LeBow College of Business, said she first went to the Office of Counseling in her freshman year because it was difficult to adapt to college and many other academic and social aspects. Nieto said that everything was new for her as an international student from Argentina. However, once she solved those issues, she never used the center again for that year.

“In sophomore year I had a big panic attack and I realized these issues that I haven’t been sharing are coming back to the surface, so it was like I have to go, I have to actually ask for help, instead of pretending that it’s like all okay and it really changed everything. From last fall term to this full-term, my life is completely different,” Nieto said.

Nieto then began meeting with a counselor once a week, and she found the extent of resources the Counseling Center offers.

“I attended a workshop and I also found out they offer psychiatry services, and since then, I have been suggesting their services to my friends because they are technically already charged in our tuition,” Nieto said.

Nonetheless, one big issue Nieto had with the counseling center during the COVID pandemic was when she had to move to Ohio and she could not attend her on-going sessions because of licensing issues.

“Sometimes the licensing restrictions on different states don’t permit people who are licensed in other states to do ongoing therapy unless you’re licensed there. Even though we all pass a national exam to get licensed, every state has its own restrictions. But at the beginning [of the pandemic] a lot of states relaxed that,” said Annette Molyneux, the Director of Counseling and Health.

At the moment, the center can only do on-going sessions with students located in the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. The last two states are permited because they had relaxed their licensing restrictions due to the pandemic, Tania Czarnecki said. The only options available for students located in other states or countries are the call lines, the same-day support appointments, the 7 Cups online service and the asynchronous recordings of the workshops. Nonetheless, the office’s case manager has been also working with students in other locations to help them find therapy services wherever they are.

These past weeks, in the wake of the elections, were the busiest ones for the Office of Counseling. Besides their regular services, they offered two weeks of same-day appointments every day. Additionally, they had their busiest week of the year just before Election Week, with four cases of hospitalization because of suicidal ideation, Tania Czarnecki said.

“[When] students can call the [crisis line] number, we do a risk assessment where we think about the student’s plan and intent. We will consult as needed with one another and then it’s deemed where the student does need to go to the hospital. Then, we work with the Hospital of Pennsylvania at 34th and Spruce St. to notify them that we have a student that we’d like to go there for a crisis evaluation and then, we will work with the Drexel Police Department if appropriate, to help us transport a student safely over there,” Czarnecki said, explaining the process the Office of Counseling takes when hospitalizing a student.

The center also tries to involve the student in the process making them agreeable with the hospitalization, they ask them if there is anyone they would want the Office of Counseling to reach out to like a parent, an advisor or a friend. After that, the office does a follow up with the hospital to see where the student went and work with them for a discharge plan, Czarnecki said.

“We have also received calls from relatives of someone afraid of their mental health. Most times are friends or roommates of someone who they might think has suicidal thoughts. In those cases, we can call them to check with them,” Molyneux said. “However, the issue we sometimes come up within those cases is that the friends do not want us to tell the person who they were referred by and we cannot call someone for a wellness check out of the blue without telling them who referred them.” In those cases, Czarnecki added, they try to train whoever is calling on how to talk and approach someone who is in this situation.

Nonetheless, the service that receives most of these calls is the Drexel Police Departments, Molyneux said. “A lot of people call them directly when they know of someone with suicide ideation and they have very well-trained officers who go to the person and do a wellness check. From that process on, they can give the student our information or directly inform us if the student needs to be taken to the hospital,” the Director of Counseling and Health explained.

Resident Assistants: The Help First-Year Students Don’t Have With Online Learning

At Drexel, Resident Assistants are one of the first lines of defense when it comes to suicide prevention and providing resources for managing mental health problems. However, since the spring term of last school year when classes went remote, first-year students have not been able to count on this support.

When students were using on-campus housing, RAs received extensive training from the Resident Director about how to best handle situations with residents who may be struggling with mental health . RAs were trained to handle extreme cases of suicidal residents. For Ethan Hermann, an RA at Bentley Hall, his RD was Amy Bevins.

“We have floor meetings at the beginning of the year to kind of set the tone about who we are as an RA, but also provide available resources to students. Whether it’s talking with the counseling center or mentioning that we have on-campus resources that they can call or text if they need any help,” said Hermann, one of the Bentley Hall RAs.

Hermann went on to say that he feels his residents know they can come to him to talk, but he always reminds them that RAs are mandated reporters. This means that they are required to report to whoever their RD is if a resident is putting themselves or others at risk.

Like Hermann, Alexandra George (a third-year RA at Drexel) said she believes her residents trusted her and could come to her with problems or just to talk.

Through training, RAs learn that they are a resident’s first resource, but not their therapists. RAs are trained to recommend residents to the Office of Counseling and Health Services to seek further help, said George.

RAs are also responsible for conducting “wellness checks” when a concern is brought to Housing and Residence Life Staff regarding a resident. Wellness check protocol means that an on-duty RA will knock on a resident’s door, identify themselves and then ask the resident questions about how they might be feeling.

Training, which occurs two weeks before classes begin in the fall, teaches RAs how to identify trigger words and phrases that may indicate that a resident is contemplating suicide.

George explained that these situations can be anxiety-inducing, which is why RAs are taught to stick to the acronym QPR: question, persuade, refer. The question that is the hardest to ask,: “Have you thought about committing suicide?”, is practiced during group training sessions so that RAs can become more comfortable asking it.

If a resident discloses that they have thought about committing suicide, RAs next ask if the resident has a plan.

There are emergency counselors on duty at all times to deal with situations where a resident poses an immediate threat to themselves or others.

With the support of RAs and similar mental health programs at colleges and universities across the country, it appears that cases of suicide should be less frequent. Despite this, suicide remains the second highest cause of death among college students, according to SafeColleges.

Drexel University’s notorious co-op program and 10-week terms are some of its main selling points for soon-to-be college students. However, the fast-pace academic calendar and career-centered curriculum also contribute to widespread stress and anxiety among students.

Looking Back: the History of College Suicides

Nationally, the suicide rate among 15- to 24-year-olds has increased modestly but steadily since 2007, from 9.6 deaths per 100,000 to 14.4 in 2017 (the latest year available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

Cornell University in Ithaca, NY — seven hours away from New York City — is a prestigious Ivy League school known for its high-status and academics but also for their numerous suicide cases throughout the years. In a study of college suicides made by the Boston Globe, nine students committed suicide at Cornell in the span of a decade from 1999 to 2000, representing 5.7 student deaths per 100,000 per year. These statistics put Cornell in the fourth position out of the 11 peer institutions, the Globe ranked.

With 11 suicides in the same number of years and a student death rate of 10.2, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology far surpassed Harvard University (which has 7.4 deaths per 100,000 per year) and Duke University (6.1 suicides per 100,000 per year). MIT’s suicide rate is also 53 percent greater than the national average among college students, which is 10 per 100,000 per year, according to a 2001 study.

Many people living in Ithaca now seem to be inured to suicide. For as long as anyone can remember, Cornell’s gorges under the Thurston Avenue bridge have granted the town the unwanted distinction of “suicide capital of the combined Ivy League, Big Ten, Little Three and Seven Sisters,” as one local writer put it in an interview for Rob Fishman’s 2010 investigation in The Huffington Post.

After the suicide of a senior on March 10, 1968, by the bridge, advocacy projects against suicide grew in Ithaca, according to an article by The Cornell Daily Sun (Cornell’s independent student newspaper). The city of Ithaca created a Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service, which was incorporated in 1969. That first year, the crisis phone line received 387 calls. By 2010, there were between 20 to 35 calls per day, or nearly 10,000 calls each year. Deb Traunstein, the Director of Education, explained many of the callers are overwhelmed with work or worried about their futures, but not in any immediate danger. However, not everyone who is feeling suicidal calls the crisis line, Fishman clarifies in his HuffPost article.

By the end of 1973, the decade had already seen eight suicides in Ithaca, seven associated with the university and four in the gorges, Fishman writes.

In quick succession, three students died in the gorges. Their classmates became despondent, and, on a November midnight, staged an impromptu rally on West Campus. 500, indignant freshmen yelled out into the night sky, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore,” a catchphrase from the movie Network. Cornell declared a mental state of emergency due to academic pressure, students formed a Committee for Humanism and the Health Clinic opened a formal program aimed at suicide prevention — one of the first at a college in the nation. A joint committee of faculty and campus council voted for a fall break in October, which still exists today, Schroeder told the HuffPost.

Yet by the next year, the crisis had abated. Fall term ended without incident.

In 1977, such barriers had been added to the suspension bridge over Fall Creek, which one professor described to the HuffPost as a “claustrophobic channel with a honky-tonk garishness worthy of Las Vegas [where] serried ranks of close-spaced bars make a prison corridor.”

Another faculty member wrote disapprovingly: “Many people were and are truly depressed by the prison-like atmosphere created by the ‘cure’ applied to the suspension bridge…I do not take it as a given truth that saving one young (or old) life from self-destruction is to be weighed more heavily than the rare opportunity the suspension bridge once offered thousands of people every year to be immersed very closely in God’s beauty.”

Fishman later said in his HuffPost article that in 1994, after six years and another death, a university trustee asked President Frank H.T. Rhodes at a meeting of the executive committee if the gorges were influencing the number of suicides. The president reflected that firearms were an influence, yes; but the gorges? No.

“At bottom, the question for Cornell is not whether the gorges afford a dangerous outlet for the disconsolate or disturbed (by all accounts, they do). It’s if, absent the gorges, some of the suicides could be avoided,” Fishman writes.

Maria Hnaraki, a professor at Cornell University from 2003 to 2006 who currently teaches at Drexel University, said that during her time in Ithaca, she does not remember any suicide cases, although she had heard of the problem before she got there. Additionally, she does not recall any resources given to her by the university on how to handle situations where she suspects that a student is struggling with mental health issues.

“[However,] my classes were all electives, so I never felt my students were into any sort of pressure since it was up to them to join them,” Hnaraki noted.

“During my tenure at Cornell, I worked mostly with graduate and/or international students. I would always put together cultural events such as music and dance as well as cooking workshops and movie nights,” Hnaraki went on. “I trust this contributed a lot to their psychological situation, in positive ways.”

Hnaraki also mentions that, unlike Cornell, Drexel has required its professors to put the information about our counseling centers in the syllabus of every course and provide a cell number or another immediate way of being contacted in case something happens on or around Drexel’s campus.

Where are we now?

There is no data indicating that suicide is more prevalent at elite institutions than at two-year or four-year colleges, according to a 2014 New York Times article by Julie Scelfo.

Sadly, Drexel’s statistics are not better than the average. Since 2001, there have been at least eight student deaths linked with depression or suicide.

On April 26, 2001, Brien Kivlen,18, a first-year student at Drexel’s LeBow School of Business, was found dead at approximately 5:45 a.m. in the outdoor parking lot of the Sheraton, located near 36th and Chestnut streets, according to a Daily Pennsylvanian article.

“According to Penn Police Chief Maureen Rush, a passerby stepped into the Sheraton — which is owned by the University of Pennsylvania — to alert hotel officials that something had fallen from the roof,” said the article, written by Alexis Gilbert. The body was found by members of the housekeeping staff, who called University Police and the Philadelphia Police. Kivlen was pronounced dead at the scene.

“But according to Jeff Moran, a spokesman for the Medical Examiner’s Office, Kivlen sustained ‘multiple injuries’ and, in the end, his death was ‘ruled a suicide’,” Gilbert wrote.

On June 16, 2012, Stevens Glemaud’s parents came to Drexel from West Orange, NJ to pick him up at the end of school. Glemaud was nowhere to be found. His parents reported him missing that day, according to an NBC10 Philadelphia article.

Two days later, Glemaud’s body was found in the Schuylkill River near Kelly Drive and Boathouse Row, and a suicide ruling was issued for his death the following Wednesday.

The following year, on March 2, 2013, Drexel senior Jakub Susul was found dead by his roommate in their off-campus apartment. Susul was a business major with an accounting concentration in the LeBow College of Business, according to an article written by Helen Nowotnik for The Triangle.

A close friend of Susul, who wished to remain anonymous in Nowotnik’s article, said Susul had planned to get his master’s in accounting and eventually wanted to become a certified public accountant. He was in the process of applying to master’s programs at Drexel and Temple University and was scheduled to take his Graduate Management Admission Test in April.

Just a day later, on March 3, 2013, Thao “Joe” Nguyen was found dead by Drexel Public Safety personnel in her room in Caneris Hall after a concerned friend called about her, according to a Triangle article written by Julia Casciato. Nguyen was a sophomore English major and art history minor in the College of Arts and Sciences, an active member of the Foundation of Undergraduates for Sexual Equality and a Pennoni Honors Program student.

“Like you, I find these events to be shocking and upsetting, and I grieve for this young man and woman, their friends and families, and everyone who knew them. Our University will feel their absence keenly,” President John Fry said in an email sent March 4, 2013, to the Drexel Community. “I am deeply saddened to have to write this message, but I am comforted by the certainty that the members of our community will come together to support each other in the wake of these tragedies, and to cherish the memories of Jakub and Thao.”

On February 28, 2015, 18-year-old Taline Nicole King, a freshman at the College of Computing and Informatics from Moorestown, NJ was found dead in her dorm room at Myers Residence Hall, according to university information provided to Mark Daniels for a South Jersey Times article.

Officers with the Philadelphia Police Department Southwest Detectives Division and university police officers investigated the incident and reportedly determined there was no evidence of foul play in King’s death.

Additionally, in the last three academic years, there have been three student deaths in the Drexel community.

On June 12, 2019, 19-year-old Andrew Yun, went missing after he was last seen at Towers Hall during spring term finals week when his family came to pick him up from Chapel Hill, NC, according to a PhillyVoice article written by Michael Tanenbaum. Five days later, on June 17, he was found dead in Los Angeles. According to officials, there were no signs of foul play involved in Yun’s death.

Yun was a freshman at Westphal College of Media Arts and Design majoring in Film & Television. “Drexel officials have been in close contact with Andrew’s family and conveyed the entire Drexel community’s sincerest condolences,” Fry said in an email to the community sent on June 17, 2019. “Andrew showed great promise and potential in his first year at Drexel. His loss is deeply felt by all of us in the Drexel community. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Yun family during this most difficult time. We will continue to support them in any way possible.” The email ended with the information of Drexel’s counseling center and a suicide prevention hotline.

Five months later, on November 12, 2019, the Dean of the College of Computing and Informatics, Yi Deng, sent an email to all the members of the college informing them that a student was found deceased in their off-campus apartment over the weekend, Ethan Hermann reported in a Triangle article.

The email went into some detail about the student, saying how they were a “promising” student within the College of Computing and Informatics. It explained that Drexel University officials had reached out to the student’s family to “express sincere condolences on behalf of the Drexel community,” Hermann wrote.

There were not public articles or information published about the name of the student or the cause of death, but the Triangle article finished with recommendations to the Drexel community to take care of their “physical health, mental health, [and] emotional health.”

So, what would ideal mental health resources look like on a college campus?

According to The Recovery Village, some of the top colleges and universities for mental health support offer programs like individual and group therapies, sexual assault programs, psychological resources and alcohol and drug dependency programs. Some of the top schools include the University of Pittsburg and The Ohio State University. These schools offer a variety of services that are geared toward students that could be struggling with stress, anxiety, depression or just need a stress-free atmosphere to escape to.

Some of the more unique programs from the top colleges and universities for mental health programs includ mindfulness workshops, nutrition coaching, and financial well-being coaching. These resources help students cope with some of the main contributors to suicidal thoughts and actions that arise while attending college.

Although Drexel already offers some programs for adjusting to college, alcohol and substance abuse, and disordered eating, many students are unaware that they exist. The disconnect between students struggling with these mental health problems and seeking the help they need is a roadblock in the university’s efforts to support its students.

“Ambition to Drexel is fearlessness. And that’s something that I think is a double-edged sword.”

University life can be very stressful, and some students don’t have the resources to find help, and although Drexel promotes their counseling center it hasn’t been safeguarding their students, especially in recent years.

“Ambition to Drexel is fearlessness. And that’s something that I think is a double-edged sword,” RA Ethan Hermann said. He went on to say that having mental health resources available for students isn’t enough. “I think RAs do a good job of being messengers for the counseling center, but I feel like there isn’t a presence from them that is really active in the community. I haven’t really seen that presence on campus.”

The continuous rise in suicide rates among college and university students has put pressure on these very institutions to implement the necessary resources for students to combat and cope with mental health issues. Unfortunately, Drexel University’s mental health outreach has remained unchanged in light of these incidents.

“Changes need to be made. We aren’t going to solve this problem by ignoring it until the next student death happens. That’s just not proactive,” Hermann said.

The novel coronavirus is known for symptoms of fever, coughs, headaches, fatigue, and more. However, a new symptom has arisen, specifically among emergency responders: stress. For the last six months, Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health has studied emergency responders in Philadelphia and 16 other fire departments in the United States.

Dr. Jennifer Taylor has 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.

“It’s the calls when you don’t think you need to put it on and then the patients are coming back positive and then our members have to worry about did [sic] they contract it,” Jacqulyn Murphy said, a paramedic for the Philadelphia Fire Department.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, COVID-19 cases have reached an all-time high. However, this is not an issue in only Pennsylvania; rising COVID-19 cases are found all around the country. With such a dire risk at hand, emergency responders are extremely worried about contracting the virus, according to Crystal Yates, Deputy Commissioner of the Emergency Medical Services in Philadelphia.

“I think that we are having stresses coming from multiple angles, like a pressure cooker as we term it, like, ‘You’re getting it! You’re getting it,’” Yates said.

Using mental health assessments that have a fast turnover rate, Dr. Taylor and her team are able to measure the emotions of emergency responders of Philadelphia and 16 other municipalities. Although the study is not yet complete, preliminary findings have been discovered.

“It’s interesting because we are seeing, in some places around the country, not uniform, but spikes in anxiety, spikes in depression. And one of the things that is concerning the most is increases in intent to leave the profession,” Dr. Taylor said when asked about the initial findings.

Even before COVID-19, Dornsife School of Public Health had seen the intense stress placed on EMS officials. As COVID-19 cases, and the stress along with it, ramp-up, emergency responders are needed now more than ever. If there comes a time when Philadelphia and other cities are seeing a shortage of those willing to put on their EMS uniform every day, serious problems will arise.

These preliminary findings are worrisome, but the Philadelphia Fire Department is showing initiative to deal with this crisis. For one, it has released information on “employee assistance programs” that are intended to help EMS officials combat stress.

Yates said, “We also have other avenues through our local union. We have peer support groups.”

By the end of 2020, Dr. Taylor and her team are hoping to have substantial data to steer fire departments to develop helpful resources for emergency responders to combat the pandemic-related stress. However, as the researchers analyze the data, the program is low on funds.

“It behooves us to try to find the funding to keep going so that we can continue to measure,” Dr. Taylor said.

As the second wave of the coronavirus hits cities and states across the United States, the work at Dornsife School of Public Health will be crucial to making sure emergency responders are ready to protect and serve the public.

The University Concert Board, consisting of Drexel University’s Campus Activities Board and Dragon Concert Series, has returned this year with Dragonfly 2020 From Home. Beginning Wednesday, Oct. 7, a six-segment virtual series will be presented. The event will consist of comedians and artists, including Cheat Codes, The Aces, Jonathan Van Ness, Chloe Fineman and Rico Nasty. The final event is scheduled for this Saturday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m, starring Swae Lee.

In the past years, Dragonfly has had over 4000 guests, making it the largest student-organized campus event. Past concerts have starred artists such as Lil Uzi Vert, Amine, Wiz Khalifa and Big Sean. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event is being hosted virtually. The event is exclusively open to Drexel students, and tickets are free for reservation using a Drexel email address.

This year’s lineup began with Cheat Codes, a Los Angeles trio that specializes in electronic dance music and has done pieces with Liam Payne, Blackbear and Demi Lovato. The next group, The Aces, is a female indie-pop quartet that has performed openings with 5 Seconds of Summer and COIN. The Aces were followed by Jonathan Van Ness from the “Queer Eye” and Chloe Fineman, a player from Saturday Night Live’s 45th season.

The fifth event was performed by Rico Nasty, a female rapper who has worked with Lil Yachty and Doja Cat. The sixth and final event will be led by Swae Lee, a rapper famous for his parts in the songs “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)” and “Sicko Mode”.

This month-long event had giveaways each week, consisting of merchandise and gift-cards for Chipotle, Panera Bread, Sephora, Nike, Starbucks and Target. Overall, the University Concert Board has presented a wide range of performers in this year’s Dragonfly 2020 From Home event on the virtual platform. Additional information on reserving your ticket for Saturday’s event can be found here: https://www.drexeldragonfly.com/faq.

On Oct. 30, the Department of Global Studies and Modern Languages sponsored their first online Global Passport Series event led by political science professor Dr. Amelia Hoover Green, the new CoAs Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The event centered around the Black Lives Matter protests from the summer in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis as well as the reckoning many institutions like Drexel are facing in the wake of the protests.

Dr. Hoover Green first addresses the nationwide wave of protests in the summer as well as the renewed wave of protests in Philadelphia due to the killing of Walter Wallace Jr. The BLM protests have officially become the largest protest movement in the United States, with studies reporting nearly 6-10 percent of the country participating in the protests at one point during the summer. The movement has also garnered support internationally, with parallel movements and symbols of solidarity from everyday people in Germany and Syria.

However, as Dr. Hoover Green points out, the rise in social upheaval tends to lead to a negative response from the state. “That fits into a pattern that those in political science know really well. As social movements grow larger, they are met with increasing repression,” Green states. “And the interesting part is what happens after that. Is protest sustained or is it quashed?” A prime example of this state repression occurred in Philadelphia during the summer when police trapped and tear-gassed protesters on I-95.

Dr. Hoover Green believes that, in many ways, the BLM movement is increasingly fitting the qualifications for a successful movement, especially with the summer protests continuing into the fall. The four characteristics of a successful movement, according to political scientist Erica Chenoweth, are size and diversity, nonviolent discipline, innovative tech and loyalty shifts. As it stands, the BLM movement has already gained mass popularity from everyday Americans and has dramatically changed public opinion about police, though there are varying perspectives about how to deal with the issue.

“So what does all of this mean for Drexel?” Dr. Hoover Green asks. To put it short, Drexel has competing priorities as it is a tuition-driven university meant to satisfy a board of trustees and donors. Yet, as was mentioned during the event, A.J. Drexel’s original intentions for Drexel were progressive, with the university acting as an engine of social mobility for immigrants and people from lower social classes. In the wake of the BLM protests, the university has started initiatives to better understand whether students of color are feeling represented at Drexel. To investigate how students felt, Dr. Hoover Green led the CoAs Rapid Assessment in the summer, which was essentially a survey virtually sent to Drexel students to fill out.

There were over 700 respondents to the survey with around 417 of those responses coming from current or recent students. Out of these numbers, 161 students answered the open-ended questions. The results revealed that there were quantitative and qualitative differences between the experiences and thoughts of students of color and white students. Quantitatively, there were visible differences between Black students, white students and non-Black students of color when measuring satisfaction. “What you see there is that under half, like well under half of Black students at Drexel agree or strongly agree to feeling valued,” Dr. Hoover Green stated, “versus well over half of white students and just about half of non-Black students of color.” There were also various qualitative concerns brought up by students in the survey such as the importance of Black and other faculty of color; insufficient discussion of race; the daily toll of microaggressions on students of color; dismissiveness on the experiences of students of color.

Based on the survey, there were various findings that Dr. Hoover Green observed. Students want more diverse faculty, they want more productive conversations about race and racism and that minoritized students report less positive experiences at Drexel and are less likely to graduate. As a result of these findings, Dr. Hoover Green has created several initiatives to address the main concerns students expressed. Among these projects are advocacy for faculty of color, program development for Africana Studies and Women & Gender Studies as well as faculty training about acceptable behavior. Dr. Hoover Green also announced other opportunities for addressing this issue with an upcoming Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Town Hall as well as a CoAs Community Read in the winter quarter.

However, all of these proposals are dependent on Drexel’s upcoming budget priorities over the next few years. As Dr. Hoover Green acknowledges, “I can’t imagine us making truly significant progress, the kind of progress we really want, without growing Africana studies and other ethnic and gender studies programs and without improving faculty diversity.”

Racial justice is likely to remain a national priority for Americans and students at Drexel as the influence of the Black Lives Matter continues.

The West Philadelphia community rises in protests after the death of Walter Wallace Jr. at the hands of the Philadelphia Police Department on Oct. 26.

Wallace Jr., a 27-year-old Black man armed with a knife, was fatally shot by police officers on the 6100 block of Locust Street on Monday afternoon, some blocks away from Drexel’s campus. Family members and neighbors questioned the shooting, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, while city officials said an investigation was underway. The Wallace family’s lawyer said that they called 911 for an ambulance, not police officers, to de-escalate his spiraling mental health, the Inquirer reported.

After the fatal shooting of Walter Wallace Jr., over 1,000 protestors gathered in West Philadelphia over the past three days — some peaceful and some turning to rioting. On Tuesday, protestors marched to the 18th District Police Headquarters, only a few blocks away from where Wallace Jr. was killed. On Tuesday evening, crowds gathered at Malcolm X Park in West Philadelphia. Both crowds of protestors encountered the police armed with riot gear, arresting dozens.

Police officers arrested 172 people with felony and misdemeanor charges on the first evening into the morning after Wallace Jr.’s death, and 81 more people were arrested Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning.

A total of 23 law enforcement officers were injured the first night, and 53 officers the following evening. One officer sustained severe injuries after being intentionally run over by a protester’s truck. Said protestor is being charged with multiple offenses and is being held on bail for almost $1 million, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Inquirer also reports that stores across the city have been looted and vandalized, 17 fire cars and nine police cars have been damaged, approximately 10 ATMs have been exploded and a shooting left two teens wounded. Whether this shooting had any relation to the protests is yet to be determined.

President John Fry sent an email to the Drexel community on Oct. 27, a day after the shooting, mourning the death of Wallace Jr. and sending condolences to his family.

“There have already been too many deaths of too many people, too much injury and too much pain, both here in Philadelphia and around our nation,” Fry wrote. “In the face of the anger, frustration and fear many rightly feel, I hope we can find ways to support one another in the caring spirit of community that sustains us as a university.”

Fry also wrote in his email that he was joining other leaders in calling for an end to further violence.

“As the investigation of this case goes forward, we know that the path to substantive change is through peaceful protest and a collective commitment to systemic improvement,” Fry wrote.

Additionally, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Norma Bouchard sent an email statement to all the students of her college demanding answers from the Philadelphia police on Wallace Jr.’s death.

“The fatal shooting of a civilian in West Philadelphia by the Philadelphia Police Department raises troubling questions that must be thoroughly investigated and answered,” Bouchard wrote. “Walter Wallace, Jr., is the latest in a too-long list of Black victims of police violence, and video footage of the confrontation demands that we determine whether the police responded with excessive force.”

In response to the violence, looting and large numbers of protestors, residents in the 12th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 24th, 25th and 26th policing districts were advised to remain inside on Tuesday evening. After another day of protests, a curfew was set from 9 p.m. on Wednesday evening to 6 a.m. on Thursday morning, and Governor Tom Wolf requested several hundred National Guard troops to assist the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management, according to Penn Live.

Drexel University’s Department of Public Safety is sponsoring a blood drive in partnership with the Red Cross. The University is asking students to consider donating blood.

The Red Cross Blood Drive will be held Thursday, Nov. 19, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Red Cross House, located at 4000 Powelton Avenue, just outside Drexel’s campus.

The partnership between the Department of Public Safety and the Red Cross comes as an effort to increase donor turnout, especially since many Drexel students and staff continue to be learning and working remotely off-campus, said Thomas Cirone, community relations police officer.

Those interested in donating blood at the Red Cross Blood Drive must meet certain requirements.  All donors must be at least 16 years of age, weigh at least 110 pounds and be in good health. They should not have donated blood within 56 days of the blood drive.

The Red Cross encourages those who were deferred from donating blood in the past to consider trying again. Common reasons to be ineligible include the cold, flu and other illnesses; a waiting period after the final dose of certain medications; low iron levels and international travel.

To those who experience low iron levels, but are still interested in donating blood Nov. 19, the Red Cross suggests eating a well-balanced diet, containing iron-rich foods with Vitamin C. Younger people may also take an iron supplement to increase iron levels in their blood. Iron is found in foods like beef, turkey, chicken, lamb, pork and liver.

To sign up for the Red Cross Blood Drive sponsored by Drexel’s Department of Public Safety, visit www.redcrossblood.org and use the sponsor code “Drexel Police”. More information about eligibility, donation tips and tips to increase iron levels can be found here.

The COVID-19 pandemic has plagued the lives of all, but that did not stop Amanda Forastieri, a Class of 2020 alumna in Drexel’s Westphal College of Media Arts and Design. Forastieri is now working in fashion and apparel design after winning the Supima Fashion Design Competition during New York City’s Fashion Week.

Judged by a panel of industry leaders, Forastieri took home first place at the competition, winning $10,000 to jump-start her career while gaining proper exposure to the fashion world.

Titled “Utopia,” her project used Supima cotton fabrics to demonstrate a post-COVID world. In her vision, humans come together as one and rebuild society with one priority: to care for each other and the earth. Using vibrant colors and intricate design techniques, Forastieri was able to convey her vision to the judges.

“The Utopia that I represent through these garments is a world where all these hierarchies that keep us unequal are overcome,” Forastieri said. “I looked a lot at the outdoors and the environment I had around me and I really tried to catch on that to create a visual presentation of a better world. What I am most excited about is seeing this vision come to life.” Forastieri provided a brief summary of her clothing capsule.

The Supima Design Competition first started in 2008 as a local design competition. Fast-forward 12 years, and it has become an international event showcased during New York’s Fashion Week.

The competition partners with eight of the top design schools in the United States, including Drexel’s Westphal College of Media Arts and Design. A recent graduate from six of these schools is invited to showcase their design styles. These six graduates are pitted against each other, competing in hopes of winning $10,000 and connections to notable fashion designers, social media influencers and industry leaders. Many of the winners even go on to work for companies such as Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors and other brand name fashion enterprises.

“This is really about supporting the next generation of designers. We couldn’t be prouder to share these looks with the fashion industry,” said Buxton Midyette, Supima’s Vice President of Marketing and Promotion, .

The six finalists are charged with one goal: to develop a line of women’s fashion that conveys an ideal message and resonates with the judges, using a provided mentor and Supima premium cotton. With the respected competition platform, competitors have an opportunity to translate their styles from sketches to a real runway, and they observe the best way to do that while catering to their own taste.

This year’s competition was different from others. With a ban on large gatherings in New York City, the Supima Competition was forced to stream their competition on Instagram Live. Law Roach, a prominent stylist, was called to host the event, but even with these changes, thousands of viewers tuned in to see the anticipated runway.

“I am so humbled to be part of such a wonderful program that continues to lend its platform and resources to emerging designers, especially given the impact this year has had on their education and graduation opportunities,” Roach said.

Forastieri was announced as the winner of the competition at the end of the runway.

“It is such a privilege to design alongside five amazing designers and five amazing artists… I am so happy to be here, and I can’t wait to see where all of this leads me,” Forastieri said.

Drexel University is planning to partially reopen campus and bring certain students back to face-to-face classes this winter term, President John A. Fry said in an email statement sent to the University community Thursday, Oct. 29.

“Despite our desire to bring our community back to campus as quickly and safely as possible, [COVID-19] continues to spread, and cases continue to rise both in our region as well as nationally,” Fry wrote. “At this time, it is our intention to take [certain] steps for the winter term with strict health and safety guidelines in place.”

Hallmarks of the partial reopening plan include the majority of classes continuing to be taught remotely, with the exception of certain lab and studio classes for first-year students, juniors and seniors. Campus housing will be reopened with single-occupancy rooms being offered, and there will be a delayed start to winter term.

Although select classes are expected to be offered in person, Fry said that students enrolled in these classes will still have the choice to remain fully-virtual, based on level of comfort in returning to campus.

“Should a student wish to continue remote instruction, the University will support this decision and do all that we can to ensure that their learning experiences are robust and comprehensive,” Fry said.

Those who choose to return to face-to-face classes will be welcomed back to campus following appropriate health and safety protocols, including social distancing, modified classroom setups, enhanced cleaning procedures and additional testing.

“As the University increases its on-campus numbers, additional faculty and professional staff will be asked to return in order to provide an engaging and supportive environment for students,” Fry said. “Rigorous health and safety protocols, including those set forth in the Dragon Pledge, will be in place to ensure a safe learning and work environment.”

Fry announced Oct. 29 that the start of winter term for quarter-based programs will be delayed one week, moving from Jan. 4 to Jan. 11, to accommodate for the completion of a quarantine period. For the first week of winter term, classes will be fully virtual and then, beginning Jan. 18, face-to-face and hybrid classes will make the transition to campus.

Drexel also plans to reopen student housing for winter term, accommodating one student per room. More details will be provided in the coming weeks, Fry said.

Upon the return of students and staff to campus, Drexel will continue offering nasal swab testing services at its COVID-19 site in the College of Medicine. Currently, Drexel is testing thousands of students “for screening purposes.” The tests are even offered to those without symptoms, and the University is working to expand its capabilities.

The health of Drexel students, faculty and professional staff will be reported using the confidential Drexel Health Tracker app, which will also allow users to view their COVID-19 test results and other health resources. Individual symptom reports and testing results will be protected on the Drexel Health Tracker app, but the University will make general data public.

“It is essential for our community to have access to transparent and comprehensive data,” Fry said. “As such, the University has updated and enhanced the Drexel COVID-19 dashboard, with further updates expected as screening expands. I encourage you to check the dashboard frequently.”

Due to international restrictions on travel, Drexel is continuing its suspension of study abroad and international co-op experiences.

As Drexel prepares for its partial return of campus, Fry said the success of a reopening is contingent upon individual and collective behavior, including following health and safety protocols. This means avoiding large gatherings, wearing face masks, social distancing and practicing good hand hygiene.

“We want you here, but we also aim for the healthiest and safest campus community possible,” Fry said. “Each of us must help in achieving this goal. In the months ahead, safety protocols will be mandatory, behavioral compliance will be required and enforced and we will continue to be guided by a safety-first approach for students, faculty and professional staff.”