Temple University - Templar Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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-• 0'Ui»0 AVI DOOR BUS SHUTTLE SERVICE AREA

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Demands listed within the document included adequate funding for public universities, an end to tuition hikes, a freeze on student loan interest rates, student loan forgiveness, an implementation of measures to make higher education more accessible to communities of color, and programs to address the unemployment crisis that is facing young people. “We cannot afford to keep naturalizing the existence of homelessness, of hunger, of rampant inequality, Iss-er said. “We need to realize that these things are political issues that need to be addressed by government. Not churches, not non profit organizations, not a few wealthy individuals or do-goodery marches. We need to realize that right now our taxes are being used to fund wars that are being fought for profit,” Isser added. Isser identifies herself as a revolutionary socialist, and does not believe that the Occupy movement is a movement of the Democratic Party. Temple College Republicans disagrees with the message that the people of Occupy Philadelphia and similar movements around the world are trying to convey. I am not a fan of the Occupy movement, said Erik Jacobs, a junior political science major and TUCR president. “Many of the things they demand are decidedly anti-Capitalist and border on socialism and communism. Jacobs doesn't believe that anything meaningful will come from the Occupy movement, and that eventually the occupiers will leave City Hall and things in Philadelphia will return to normal. He added that it's difficult for him to support a movement that demands taking from the rich and redistributing wealth. He commented that it was even more difficult to support a movement that demands higher minimum wages, annulment of college debt, and a borderless society.” After learning of Occupy Philadelphia’s plan to demonstrate at PA Senator Pat Toomey’s office on Thursday, Oct. 13, Jacobs and 12 other college republicans met them at demonstration. They believed that they were needed to defend the senator and the country's current economic system. “The system is flawed on essentially every level,” Isser said, explaining that what really needs to happen with the country is significant structural change. “I know that sounds like a hyperbole, but it is important for everyone to think critically about the state of our cities, our country and our planet. When occupiers and media personnel arrived at the office of the senator, police officers formed a protective bicycle blockade around the counter demonstration that separated them from the occupiers. Occupy Philadelphia participants had directly addressed the Republican students in their speeches and invited them to visit the camp at City Hall for a civil discourse on the topic of economic injustice. At the start of the protest, Jacobs instructed members of his group not to engage with the occupiers. Both sides had ex- changed words, but there was no contact between them. “I think they have reasons to be mad, like the bank bailouts, TARR etc., Jacobs said. Other than that, their concerns are misguided, and they should be focused on the policies of Washington, not Wall Street. Occupy Philadelphia protestors marched to main campus during a snowy Saturday on Oct. 29. The purpose was to sit-in at an event featuring former President Bill Clinton. The rally was intended to support Mayor Michael Nutter's re-election campaign, but was canceled due to the inclement weather. The protesters, who had intended to sit-in silently during the rally, went to Mitten Hall, unaware of the cancellation. They then traveled to the Howard Gittis Student Center, only to find that the entrance was blocked by police officers. The group was later told that they had received clearance to enter. Taking to the atrium, the protesters chanted in support of the movement and against student loan debt. After the short meeting, some protestors, including student occupiers, took the dining area of the north side of the first level in attempt to gather more student participation. Social movements take time, Isser said. “Huge changes take time. But I think that, if people keep occupying and coming out to rallies and marches, things in Philadelphia can change.

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Temple takes you TUrDoor BECKY KERNER You’ve just spent six hours studying • albeit unsuccessfully • at The TECH Center, exhausting all possible Facebook creeping and Starbucks sipping options. Unfortunately it’s 3 a.m. and in your partially-comatose state, you're forced to venture outside and begin your journey home. You start toward the old Berks Mall but once at 12th and Berks, you realize you’ve landed at the shuttle hub. Walking through the silence of the city at night can be beautiful, but a friend was recently held at gunpoint and you’re rightfully nervous to make the trek alone. Conveniently, Temple has helped mend this problem. In the mid-1980s, Temple was largely a commuter school. I can tell you, in the evenings past five or six o’clock, especially on a Friday, it would be a ghost town...it was a whole different world, it really was, said Charles Leone, deputy director of Campus Safety Services. To address the issue of security at that time, CSS started escorting students to their cars or residence halls by foot. Every semester, CSS and Temple Student Government hold a meeting to discuss the workings of the shuttle services, covering topics like driver responsibility, student expectations and problems that have arisen in the past. CSS and TSG have worked together for nearly 12 years in an effort to evolve the transportation system, Leone explained. Around 1999, the groups decided a new system was needed. TSG would gather upperclassmen student workers to drive shuttles provided by Facility Management and ultimately organized by CSS. This arrangement eventually met its demise too, as the student workers became unreliable and complaints about their friendliness towards patrons rose. Finally, in 2005, Owl Loop was created as a collaborative effort between Facilities Management and CSS. The free shuttle runs in a circuit throughout Main Campus every day from 5:30 p.m. - 6 a.m., stopping at all residence halls and major places of interest. Drivers have also been instructed to stop for students flagging them down if a valid Temple ID is shown. We finally said, ‘we need to sit down and look at all these resources’...we put it all together and came up with the Owl Loop, which was the start of it all, Leone said. As students migrated further into the community, the team started realizing students needed another option. “We were watching students walking [off campus] late at night and we knew we had to come up with something else.” Leone expressed. So, as the Temple community continued to grow and the number of students living off-campus exploded, the TUrDoor service was born in 2008. Although this three-bus system runs on the same schedule as the Owl Loop, it has a much more expansive jurisdiction; It will take students anywhere between 5th and 20th streets and Girard and Cumberland streets. It saves me the trouble of walking, said Jae Lee. junior kinesiology major who rides about three times weekly. Where I live is kind of dangerous so [the shuttle] provides protection. I get to stay later and longer at the library.” “They have a ton of ridership...it just keeps going up every year, Leone said. The ridership is monitored each and if demand requires more vans, they will look into more resources, he added. Last year the overnight service averaged about 2.500 rides per week, with TUrDoor comprising about 75 percent of that total, said Mark Gottlieb, superintendent of Service Operations in Facilities Management. The numbers are gathered via driver counts as students board the buses. To help minimize wait time, Computer Services and Facilities Management joined forces and this fall released a tracking system for Owl Loop. A GPS device was installed in the bus and allows students to track where the bus is and what time it will arrive at a given stop from either a computer or cell phone. This feature came as a result of a student survey administered at The TECH Center. “It was actually student demand, we didn't even think about it...people kept asking for it, student government had asked about it at one point.” Jerry Hinkle, executive director of computer services, said. The shuttle tends to have the most ridership Sundays, Mondays and during midterms, according to Oliver. Very few students use the system Friday nights. Though Facilities Management and Philly Transportation, LLC make Temple’s shuttle system go round, CSS stays involved for the safety of students. [The Temple Police] are here 24 hours, so if there’s any issue with the van overnight, we’re usually the first to know...and since it is a safety feature, we always want to stay involved with that and make sure it’s always paramount and that the system is running the way we want it to run so people are safe when they’re out there,” Leone said.