President John A. Fry sent out a campus-wide email last Wednesday, with the headline reading “No Place for Intolerance at Drexel.”

What President Fry was referring to, unbeknownst to many before the email’s appearance, was an incident, “in which hateful language was placed on the door of an African-American student.” The student — who is a freshman at Drexel — posted a photo of the racial slur on her snapchat story, which garnered many reposts from her fellow students on social media, according to a video clip on the incident done by FOX 29 News Philadelphia.

On Friday, roughly 100 Drexel students gathered in the common space between the Main Building and Stratton Hall before going inside Main Building to stage a silent sit-in. The students sat in a circle in the main walkway of Main Building’s first floor, remaining silent for about 30 minutes.

The students who participated in the sit-in were united under the belief that Drexel — despite being noted for its high diversity ratings — is failing its black students, who make up only seven percent of Drexel’s student body.

Many of the students at the sit-in also felt that a single email addressing an incident that involves something as problematic as a racial slur doesn’t do the situation enough justice.

“We just wanted Drexel to keep up with the zero tolerance policy. Nothing in the email was expressed as to what was going to be done for the person or people who committed the hate crime, because it was a hate crime,” junior Kennedy Jackmon said in an interview with KYW News Radio.

In what was a big showing from black students and allies who belong to Drexel, students hoped that the sit-in brought attention to their plight.

“It symbolized solidarity between not only the black student community at Drexel, but also minority students as a whole … We used our bodies to show that our voices will not be ignored, and I hope to see Drexel hold those students accountable and be more receptive to the concerns of its students,” sophomore Jordan Ramdial said.

It’s hard to ignore a plea for accountability such as this, especially when the sit-in occurred mere feet from President Fry’s office. Drexel leaders were nearby during the sit-in but chose to spectate.

As the black community at Drexel looks for change, they turn their sights towards a potential discussion at an upcoming Town Hall. This could provide a platform for students of all backgrounds to bring up any potential issues of racism or intolerance of culture at Drexel.

The end goal for black students is to create a campus-wide culture that doesn’t have to worry about instances like this.

“Every minority that has ever felt like they don’t belong have been impacted by discrimination or hate — everybody. This is a community, overall,” DeShaye Carter, an organizer of the sit-in, said.

It is clear that while this racist incident primarily targeted the black student community here at Drexel, these students are making it clear that they want increased accountability for all minorities, for they know they aren’t alone.

These black students and allies don’t just want Drexel to point to diversity statistics on paper, but want to see change in the course of action with discrimination. More is expected to come at a future Drexel Town Hall.

Bernie Sanders announced Feb. 19 that he will bewas running infor the 2020 Presidential Election on Feb. 19, 2019, a move that has launched a range of reactions throughout the nation — including at Drexel University.  

On campus, students and professors alike have a multitude of opinions on the topic. While some have shown complete support for Sanders’ campaign, others have reservations.

“I think he has a lot of good ideas that appeal to a lot of young people, but [he] is not considering the cost of all those ideas. He has yet to solidify where that money is coming from. Taxing stock market trading, in my opinion, is not going to generate enough revenue to sponsor free tuition,” Ruth Thomas, a pre-junior finance major at Drexel, said.

Mekhala Santebennur, a freshman biology major, also expressed her opinion on Sanders’ campaign.

She said though she likes some of Sanders’ ideas, but he is not an ideal candidate or face for the Democratic Party.

“It will be like Hillary Clinton all over again. He is not a strong enough candidate to go up against Trump in the election,” Santebennur said. “The Democratic Party needs someone young and energetic enough to bring the country back to a middle ground. Right now everyone is very far right or left, and that means nothing gets done.”

Dr. Jack Santucci, an assistant teaching professor of politics at Drexel, said that voters must watch out for two main issues.

“First, will Democratic Party opinion leaders unite behind one of the candidates? Pay attention to endorsements and the tones pundits use when discussing candidates. Second, if opinion leaders do signal some pick, will primary voters follow those cues?” he posed.

To answer some of the questions that many people have about this campaign, Dr. Bill Rosenberg, a professor of political science, provided his analysis of Sanders’ 2020 run and the trajectory of the democratic party.

“In 2020, there may be 15 or 17 Democratic candidates all running, so it won’t be necessarily like it was in 2016 with two people running. There’s going to be many, many more people running, and many of them are going to espouse a number of policy positions that Bernie Sanders actually developed in 2016. So he is in a sense, the intellectual ‘Godfather’ of many of these candidates that are running, and now he’s also competing against them,” Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg went on to explain that Sanders is not truly a Democratic candidate;, instead, he is more of a Democratic- Socialist and does not necessarily want to be considered a Democrat. But considering the recent passing of a rule by the Democratic National Committeeparty, stating that only Democrats can run, Sanders is going to have to do some “word gymnastics” to call himself a Democratic candidate for president.

Drexel University held its third annual showcasing of a psychological treasure “I Am Psyched!” Feb. 25. The event, sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, celebrated the accomplishments of women of color in the field of psychology.

Created by the American Psychological Association, the convention has had a long list of reputable destinations. Initially debuting at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., many people were able to stimulate their minds with the discoveries that were spearheaded by women of color in psychology. The exhibit was then later showcased at the APA’s convention held in Denver, Colorado, later returning to D.C. at the prestigious historically black Howard University.

Drexel, the collection’s final destination, has since formally been coined as the technological innovator of the exhibit; the institution has worked hands-on in developing an interactive QR code, included iPads in the user experience and formatted the closed-captioning for embedded videos within the “I Am Psyched!” consortium.

Following the arrival of the collection at Drexel back in 2017, inspired students set out to launch a creative cohort of their own: Drexel’s Students of Color in Psychology.

“The field of psychology has a long history of illustrious names in their village, but as in other fields, women in particular — think of the movie Hidden Figures — have been underrepresented and underrecognized. This exhibit can’t undo the injustice done to women of color, we can recognize their contributions today to make sure they will never be forgot, but will be celebrated and serve as an inspiration for our students,” Dr. Dorothy Charbonnier, an assistant teaching professor of the department of psychology, said.

When asked what comes to mind when reflecting on the accomplishments of the forerunners in the exhibit, the panelists had much insight to share.

The seats were joined by Lauren Johnson, a third year Ph.D psychology candidate at Drexel; Dr. Stephanie Ewing, an assistant professor in the College of Nursing and Health Professions and Kaya Gravesande, a junior at Drexel studying psychology.

“The first thing that comes to mind is pride. Pride at their resilience and their ability to do the things that they did during the times that they did them,” Dr. Ewing said. “Their struggle, and the perseverance and the strength that needed to reach what they reached and the world that they paved for us today.”

“The [pioneers’] legacy in the field has made it a lot easier for me to do the things I do. To go to conferences and feel that there is representation — it speaks to there is a lot more to be done, but it has allowed me to do the things that I would like to do,” Johnson said.

She also added that she is excited to become a part of history herself, making sure to be an example for the women that will follow after her so that they’ll be reassured they can create even greater opportunities of their own.

Gravesande brought to light her hopes to hone into the statics of mental illnesses — specifically the presence of depression and anxiety that disproportionately affect people of color.

In a similar fashion, Johnson spoke about her mission to specialize in suicide and trauma studies with a particular focus on the adverse trends affecting her native country of Guyana — a populous that has been tremendously impacted by rising suicide rates, making it the nation with the highest number of suicides in the world.

“Hearing about the challenges facing the country, particularly the lack of infrastructure, lack of resources and having those conversations made me more interested in how those factors affect people disportionately, based on their ethnicity, country of origin, a lot of other socio-demographic factors,” Johnson said.

Dr. Ewing, a political and developmental psychologist, also cited that seeing common threads of disparities based on ethnicity and racial backgrounds inspired her ambitions to pursue psychology.

“Having the feeling of more needs to be done; psychology is potentially the way either through research of practice or both to make a difference,” she said.

She also cited that her mother, the first black female psychologist to graduate from Rutgers University, played a significant role in her shift from pursuing a different career.

“Standing on the shoulder of giants, following in the footsteps of women who did amazing things is another huge reason that I felt pushed to follow this path,” she said.

When questioned on the concern to break down barriers, the panelists presented the fact that carrying such a large responsibility can be daunting.

“As a faculty member, I am committed to mentoring students  — specifically students of color — and creating an environment of inclusiveness; creating converversations and increasing opportunity,” Dr. Ewing said.

The panelist also discussed the importance of maintaining the drive to be unapologetic on the subject of breaking down barriers.

“Representation is the most important. Having professors, students, organizations and events will push us forward. Another important thing is interrupting conversation where you might not know what your opinion will contribute,” Gravensande said.

Johnson shared that engagement is also a priority.

“I think a lot of times it can feel stressful to have that responsibility — to not only be a mentor, but an advocate. It’s important that we encourage others who may not feel like us, or other who may have different experiences, to take this on as something truly important and meaningful and valuable for them as well,” she said. “We talk about niches that are of different racial backgrounds, different sexual orientations, different gender identities — all kinds of areas of diversity.”

Amber Davis, a junior psychology major minoring in neuroscience, expressed her takeaways from the discussion and how it broadened her anticipation for the remainder of both her college and professional career.

“I liked hearing what they had to say about their experiences. As women of color in psychology myself, it gave me something to look up to,” Davis said.

Drexel University’s Department of Public Safety’s Communication Accreditation and Training Manager, Colin Quinn, is in charge of the Public Safety Communications Center. As handling communications within Public Safety is a large part of Quinn’s job, he is a coordinator for the Drexel Guardian app — a safety feature that connects students with Drexel Police and Public Safety in the event of an emergency.

This interview was edited for grammar and clarity.

The Triangle: What is the Drexel Guardian app? What services does it offer Drexel students?

Colin Quinn: The Drexel Guardian application is our department’s smartphone application, and it provides another opportunity for our students, our faculty and our staff to reach out and interact with our department.

There are a few key features that are available through the application, most notable of which is the shadow escort functionality. You can set up a guardian — whether it be a family member, a sorority sister, a coworker — and they can track you in real-time on Google Maps as you walk from one destination to another. For instance, say you were in the library late at night and you set your roommate as your guardian — you set 10 minutes to walk from the library to Myers Hall, you arrive safely within the 10 minutes and deactivate your timer. In that time, your guardian can watch you walking along in Google Maps in real-time. If your timer does expire — whether it is because you don’t arrive safely or you forget to deactivate it, which is more common — Public Safety will then get a notification, have access to your location and start trying to find you. We are going to start contacting you by phone — if we can’t contact you by phone, we will send Drexel Police out to try to locate you.

TT: When students use the Drexel Guardian app, who are they communicating with? Do students have any protection while using the app?

CQ: Primarily, when students are using the app, students will be interacting with their guardians, whoever they set up — that is going to be someone you trust in your own personal circle. Public Safety is also going to be designated as your guardian on the back end. So if your alarm is not deactivated and/or there is an emergency, Public Safety is who you will be interacting with — that is our 24/7 Communications Center and our dispatchers. They are the experts you call when you need a walking escort, or if you need any type of Drexel Police or Public Safety assistance. Through the other functionality in the application, including the one-touch dialing and our text messaging function, students will be interacting directly with the Communications Center — there is an option for anonymity or you can associate your name with it. This provides a very student-friendly option for communicating with our department. Whether it’s an emergency or not, students can text us through the application, as well.

TT: Why is there a need for the Drexel Guardian app? How do you encourage students to download it?

CQ: The Drexel Guardian application is an easy reminder on your phone that we are in the community, and we are here to serve you. It’s a good tool. It’s no secret that policing and public safety aren’t the sexiest of topics, especially for college kids — I understand you want to explore your city and you feel invincible, but it’s good to have that tool right at your fingertips, one click away. We are not using it to track you at any time except when there is an actual emergency — we are very big on your rightful privacy.

TT: How long has the Guardian app been in use? How has the app been impactful so far?

CQ: The application has been around for almost five years. It’s a powerful tool — we have a lot of success stories from using the application. We have folks who use the shadow escort timer functionality every single day and we have other folks who use it off-campus — folks of all ages use the application, which I think is credited to its diversity and applicability. We have success stories that are equally impactful by using the one-touch dialing and text messaging services, for both emergencies and non-emergencies.

TT: Who can purchase and utilize the Drexel Guardian app?

CQ: The app is tied to your Drexel email account; you must have a Drexel email to use it. The application is free to anybody with an Android or Apple device, but to get the assistance of our department in particular, you must have a Drexel email account.

TT: Aside from the Drexel Guardian app, in what ways can students communicate with Drexel Police and Public Safety if needed?

CQ: Aside from the application, we have police officers patrolling our campus every single day. They are approachable people — we want you to feel comfortable approaching our police officers and our security officers if you need assistance in emergency and non-emergency situations, whether you need a walking escort or see something much bigger on the street. Other tools include our call boxes scattered around campus, which use one-touch dialing to put you in touch with our communications center — you will find a lot of these attached to buildings, around the community, as well. You can also always pick up your phone and call our phone number, 215-895-2222, and that will put you in touch with our Communications Center.

TT: What advice do you have for Drexel students in regard to the Guardian app and communicating with Public Safety in general?

CQ: I think one of the biggest messages that we would like to encourage is that safety and security is definitely a shared responsibility, and that starts at the community level. We want you to feel encouraged to reach out to us, to interact with us, to report crimes, to report things even if you aren’t sure it’s worthy enough to pick up the phone — that is when we want you to pick up the phone. We want you to be comfortable interacting with us. We are a very powerful resource and we want you to take advantage of it.

The Drexel College of Medicine Adult Cystic Fibrosis Center will open a new clinic in April in collaboration with Reading Hospital Tower Health.

The clinic will be located in West Reading, making it the first adult cystic fibrosis clinic in Berks County.

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that inhibits the function of a protein, causing a buildup of mucus that leads to respiratory failure, infections and inflammations. The clinic will treat CF patients with a multidisciplinary initiative, combining the knowledge and expertise of Drexel Medicine and Reading Hospital physicians to make referrals. From the clinic, patients could go on to services such as nutrition, respiratory therapy, otolaryngology and respiratory therapy to receive more specific treatment.

Not only will this clinic provide current methods of CF diagnosis and treatment, but it will also be home to research and clinical trials, bringing new options in for patients..

In the past, Drexel’s Adult Cystic Fibrosis Center has researched protein function restoration, anti-inflammatory compounds and anti-infective compounds among other topics, and has participated in clinical trials for a variety of medications. Current research focuses on an antibiotic treatment that patients can inhale to treat the growth of a certain harmful bacterium.

“Reading Hospital is proud to provide this great new service for the community that is made possible through our ongoing relationship with Drexel,” William M. Jennings, the president and CEO of Reading Hospital, told the Reading Eagle.

Drexel has collaborated with Tower Health before; they recently finalized plans to build a branch of Drexel’s medical school near Reading Hospital, signing a 20-year academic agreement.

According to the Reading Eagle, this new clinic will have a positive impact on the Reading community, going beyond the patients’ fundamental health to help them lead more active lives.

The Thomas R. Kline School of Law’s Community Lawyering Clinic will now be known as the Andy and Gwen Stern Community Lawyering Clinic following a $1.65 million gift by Gwen and Andy Stern, both lawyers with ties to Drexel University.

Gwen Stern is the director of the Trial Advocacy Program and is a pProfessor of Llaw at Drexel. Her career has been spent practicing with Philadelphia firms like Kline & Specter PC and White and Williams LLC, serving as a board member of the Nation Youth Justice Alliance and directing the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy project, which is a joint program through Drexel and the University of Pennsylvania aimed at engaging high school students with the United States Constitution.

“The program empowers teens from communities that are typically estranged from the legal system and enables those young people to see the potential for obtaining justice,” Gwen Stern said about the program.

Andy Stern is a partner at Kline & Specter and has accumulating record-setting settlements in a highly accomplished career as a trial lawyer. These include a $95.6 million settlement for the final survivor to be pulled from the rubble after the deadly thrift store collapse at Center City’s Salvation Army location in 2013.

The couple’s contribution extends the existing impact they’ve already had on the community by offering free legal assistance to those who can’t afford it. Both Gwen and Andy will be volunteering their legal services at the the newly named clinic.

“I am honored to be part of the team of ‘legal eagles’ at the Community Lawyering Clinic and looking forward to making a positive difference to clients in need,” Andy Stern told DrexelNow.

In addition to providing legal support free-of-charge to low-income individuals, the center publishes reports that advocate for the rights of West Philadelphia community members. These reports include a 2016 report called “Needless Drought: The Water Deficit for Low Income Philadelphians,” which details how some Philadelphians have lived without running water in their homes for decades.

Dan Filler, Dean of the Kline School of Law put out a statement sharing the news Feb. 6.

“This is great news for both Kline Law and our surrounding community. In addition to providing critical support for Kline Law’s social action mission, this gift will be life-changing by helping to meet the legal needs of many individuals living in West Philadelphia. I am deeply grateful to Andy and Gwne for their generous support,” Filler wrote in a statement to DrexelNow.

Filler also suggested that the gift would go towards hiring a staff attorney that will increase the clinic’s capabilities.

Rachel Lopez, Director of the Community Lawyering Clinic, reiterated the impact that the gift would have.

“Not only will it mean that we can provide more high-quality legal assistance to some of Philadelphia’s most vulnerable, but it will also create new opportunities for innovations that will facilitate more collective and holistic approach to legal problem solving,” Lopez said in a statement to DrexelNow.

More information about the center, which is located in Drexel’s Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships, can be found here.

This past summer, a group of Drexel University faculty and students traveled to Cuba to study a particular type of honeybee, but also learned about themselves along the way as they immersed themselves in the local culture and community.

The group, led by Dr. Dane Ward, are all part of the Department of Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Science at Drexel. Their research goal was to investigate a type of stingless honeybee, Melipona beecheii, and its ecology. Student projects ranged from surveying the best location for a new colony of bees to exploring how the bees regulate their body temperature. Perhaps the most significant result of the experience, however, was the group’s unique opportunity to engage with the local Cuban community.

Despite the long history of tense American-Cuban relations, the group found the people they encountered were more than welcoming.

“The generosity and the warmth we experienced while we were there is something that I had never felt in an academic setting,” environmental engineering student Margaret McCurdy said. “We only lived with our first casa mom for two weeks, but she cried when we left because we were so bonded with her. Every person we met wasn’t just a colleague, they were also our friends.”

The group’s research heavily relied on field work, which meant that they often needed to enter people’s property to access the bees they were studying. However, they found that the community happily accepted them into their homes to allow them to conduct their studies.

“While most people would be protective of their things, we had folks who were making us coffee or home remedies for our colds. We were just doing research and they just wanted to make sure we were still going,” Ward said.

One of the primary initiatives of the program was to develop the students as global citizen scientists. These are researchers who don’t just look for data and results in the field, but who also take the time to engage with the community where they work.

“There’s the 9 to 5 time — that’s the science time — when you’re in classes or meetings, and then there’s the 5 to 9 and then some. The second leg of the day is just as significant as the first part. In fact, I think it’s the only part of significance. If you stopped at 5 p.m. and removed yourself from the culture and the people, you didn’t embrace someone else’s culture,” Ward said.

Although it may seem like working eight hours a day and then investing another significant portion of the day to cultural immersion would be exhausting, the students had nothing but positive things to say about their time there.

Though Serena Joury, majoring in environmental science and product design, had little to no experience speaking Spanish, the official language of Cuba, she had no problem communicating.

“The language barrier, although you would assume it would be a big issue, it really wasn’t in retrospect,” she said.

Although there are no plans for this summer to send another research group due to funding limitations, Ward still plans to maintain the partnership between Drexel and the Universidad de Cienfuegos, the host institution in Cuba. One of the lead professors on the research project at Cienfuegos is planning on visiting Drexel to learn about how to perform a high-powered genetic study using lab techniques.

However, Ward hopes that in the future, he can bring a diverse group of students back to Cuba to continue both the research project and to teach students how to be global citizen scientists.

Ward’s research team would not have been able to have this experience without the support of the Office of Undergraduate Research, the Office of Global Engagement, and the Department of Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Science at Drexel University.

Following a warm welcome from Rogelio Minana, the department head and professor of Spanish at Drexel University, a group of 18 students between the ages of 7 and 15 from the Bushwick neighborhood in Brooklyn prepared to perform “The Adventures of Kid Quixote.”

The play is an adaptation of “Don Quixote,” the world famous novel written in 1605 by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes. The kids’ version offered an intimate look into the complex experiences that migrant children face.

“The Adventures” originally debuted back in 2016, around the same time that the presidential elections were in heated swing. The alignment between the play’s beginnings and the political climate showcase the controversial time in America and ultimately added a new layer to its narrative.

The performers usually carry out gigs in classrooms and private homes. All thanks to the people who packed in and filled up the auditorium of the Van Rensselaer dormitory Feb. 19, the small collective graduated to seeing its largest turnout ever.

Each child was credited for taking part of the unique retelling of the classic, combining their experiences with their personal Latinx outlooks on life.

The curator noted that including the many different voices was nothing short of a collective process; everyone chimed in with reading and translating the original book to English, spending a lot of time narrowing down the perfect synonyms from a thesaurus, writing new scripts and co-creating its fresh narrative.

Stephen Haff, owner of Still Waters in a Storm, the nonprofit organization that facilitates the after-school rehearsals expressed how he admired their dedication.

Haff shared that the youth who participate are committed to their ambitions, having cranked in around 10 hours of practice each week for the last two years.

The underlying theme of the interactive and intimate performance broadens on the context of the politics of suffering and injustice, and the trials and joys of the migrant children — a raw mirror of their everyday experiences. Narrated in both English and Spanish, viewers were able to witness the varied sights firsthand.

“We all have to be resilient — in this country, some more than others,” Haff said.

The children who were cast in the play do not have to try out to perform. As such, Haff shared that much patience was needed in the writing of the songs and orchestration of the play to ensure the underlying theme of the beauty of imagination and the worth of human life was properly conveyed.

“I thought that for such a young age they were very mature, they kept to what they were doing. They really shined light on not only the play, but what’s going on in the world today. I loved how the leading role was a female. It was powerful,” Hanley Higgins, a freshman studying global studies, said.

It was also no coincidence that a young girl was chosen as the play’s lead.

“A girl playing the part gets everyone excited. Viewers respond to her choosing of persona,” Haff said.

Chloe Richardson, a pre-junior who is also pursuing global studies had an enlightening experience with the play.

“I thought it was really emotional and evocative. The children were really talented. They even had a scene where they were writing their pen pals — kids in detention centers — which I think made it more profound. Everyone should see it,” she said.

One of the most notable scenes included a segment where the children mimicked exchanging letters with children separated from their families and pondering life in the outside world.

Maria de la luz Matus-Mendoza, associate professor of Spanish in the Department of Global Studies & Modern Languages also had an amicable view.

“I think it’s a good effort and it’s very encouraging that kids are deliberating their lives, the day-to-day life, and putting it in the context of a classic,” she said, mentioning she is all too familiar with the complexities that come with mastering the Spanish language.

“[These kids] owning the piece and making it public shares the beauty of the book,” Matus-Mendoza said.

By making the piece public, the plights faced by the pure, young spirits of children are showcased in a fascinating tale.

Drexel University is participating in the 2019 RecycleMania Tournament along with more than 300 other colleges. The school that recycles the most will not only win the tournament, but bragging rights for their campus’ exceptional recycling practices.

“It’s really a great way to get the whole campus involved in recycling and seeing who can do the most and really prove how dedicated they are to sustainability,” operations coordinator for Campus Services Brittany Gondos said.

In addition to vamping sustainability efforts across campus, the tournament also raises awareness of recycling practices.

“I think everybody, for the most part we’ve talked to or dealt with wants to recycle or wants to be a part somehow but for whatever reason aren’t sure where or how,” Scott Dunham, grounds assistant director, said. “It’s a good time to bring questions and we’ll have answers for everybody, so it’s just a good time to educate anybody that’s interested.”

Drexel has a history of participating in the annual competition, and has something to show for it. Within RecycleMania, the Game Day Challenge is an event where the number of collected recyclables at a Drexel men’s basketball game is ranked against competing schools in the Colonial Athletic Association athletic division. Last year, Drexel got third place out of 24 schools.

“Prediction wise, [there’s] no reason why we can’t finish first. I think we have a lot more word out about it this year,” Dunham said. “We’re set up a little better this year to just encourage everybody to come to the game for one and cheer on their Dragons and then just bring either something with them to recycle, or what you buy at the game and recycle it. It’s good for basketball, it’s good for the challenge so it’ll be fun.”

The Game Day Challenge will take place Feb. 23 as the Dragons take on the University of Delaware at 5 p.m.

In addition to this, there will be collection events held on all Drexel campuses from the end of February to the beginning of March. The Queen Lane campus collection will take place Feb. 27 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Center City and University City collections will take place at the same time on March 6 and 7, respectively.

At these events, students can let go of nontraditional recyclables like hairdryers, keyboards, microwaves, televisions, print cartridges and computer mice.

“Collection events are for what to do with a lot of the stuff that sits in a dorm room or an office that you’re not sure what to do with. Anything electronic really we’ll take it, and that gets sorted through, and responsibly disposed of,” Dunham said.

Last year, Dunham said they shipped off about a half dozen full pallets with electronics of all kinds. This is not only good for our planet, but also makes students’ lives easier.

He said these events can help students declutter their rooms.

“It’ll take a little work to get it there, but we’ll take it from there,” he said. “And it feels good, like you’re not just throwing it out and leaving it for someone to deal with.”

With responsibility in mind, it should be mentioned that most Drexel students don’t have to worry about whether or not they’re throwing their trash and recycling into the correct bin thanks to the school’s single-stream recycling program, which separates the two groups after collection. However, the issue of contamination is something that goes rather unnoticed and Dunham said that’s the biggest problem when it comes to recycling.

“You’ll pull a recycle bag and just see that it’s just all liquids or food or something that unfortunately has got to be tossed because everything in there is contaminated to the point where it can’t be accepted,” Dunham said.

While recycling is a key part in practicing sustainability, he said, when in doubt throw it out.

“What people should keep in mind is recycle as much as possible but stick to the general guidelines of how to do it,” he reiterated.

This is a practice he hopes will he practiced beyond the span of the competition.

After RecycleMania ends March 30, there will be additional opportunities for Drexel students to participate in sustainable events on campus. EarthFest 2019 will take place on Lancaster Walk in April. The tabling event brings together student organizations that are interested in sustainable efforts so that they can promote everything they’re doing in addition to showcasing other Drexel vendors and local organizations that hope to promote their sustainable efforts.

Drexel Green also meets quarterly to discuss initiatives and plans for the year. Gondos said  recycling was the main area of focus last year and this year’s is reuse. The next meeting is Feb. 28 and is open to anyone interested in coming.

If there’s one thing that has the power to bring a group of bibliophiles together, it is an event that highlights their mutual appreciation for literature. Drexel University students, staff and individuals from the surrounding area, gathered Feb. 18 to recognize each other for their notable writing published in 2018 in an event titled “Celebrating Drexel Authors.”

Poets, novelists, literary translators and Drexel’s very own The 33rd — a student-run publishing group — displayed their collections of essays and written pieces.

The many professors who were in attendance also proudly shared their academic and creative creations.

Harriet Millan, English professor, authored “My Oceanography,” a collection of personal poems. She said the driving force behind her novel was the late sculptor, Eva Hesse — a misunderstood artist and Holocaust survivor.

“I wrote the poems in the book at the time period she was married [and] I channeled her in the book. It’s called ‘My Oceanography’ because it’s a terrain. It’s her imaginative life where it syncs with my life,” Millan said.

Hesse battled with creating a name for herself in the competitive art scene of New York during the 1960s and ’70s, and faced on onslaught of tragedies in her life. Despite eventually carving out a name for herself, the artist died at 34 due to complications with cancer. Millian shared that her unique perspective of fusing elements of her own life with Hesse brought on a motley of assertive feedback.

“One reviewer said it sounded like the [Greek] Furies on fire. Like, a #MeToo outrage,” she said.

The department head of English and philosophy, Roger Kurtz, was also in attendance. Kurtz authored “Trauma and Transformation in African Literature: Writing Wrongs,” an academic perspective on literary trauma studies published by Cambridge University Press.

“This [event] is important because professors maintain their freshness and their currency with the discipline. Consequently, the liveliness of their classes [depends on] staying current. The way you stay current is by writing, publishing, reading and keeping up,” he said. “The fact that you had this many people here doing that sort of thing is a very good sign for Drexel.”

Scott Warnock, director of Drexel’s University Writing Program and a professor of English who co-authored “Measuring Quality, Evaluating Curricular Change: A 7-Year Assessment of Undergraduate Business Student Writing” with Columbia University graduate Nicholas Rouse, also shared an appreciation for the night’s events.

“This is a great event because there is a lot of activity happening here. It’s a really impressive group of journalists, data set authors, book editors and book authors. An event like this really draws attention to the amount of high level scholarly activity at the university,” Warnock said.

Grady Chambers, a recipient of the inaugural Max Ritvo Poetry Prize winner for his book “North American Stadiums,” a collection of poems about the history and landscape of the midwest, shared a similar sentiment.

“The event tonight was wonderful. Very, very neat opportunity to meet other authors at Drexel and make connections, and see that some of the other people that I work with are poets and fiction writers,” he said.

As an instructor in Drexel’s first year writing program and a teacher at other Philadelphia universities, he felt it was a delight to see other instructors’ publications as they juggle their creative pursuits with their full-time endeavors as teachers, instructors and professors.

Dasan Lites, a junior studying nursing, also appreciated the work that was was highlighted.

“I thought the seminar was really nice — a good way to celebrate the authors of 2018,” he said.

Disclaimer: Scott Warnock is the faculty advisor for The Triangle.