Some students and activists say they are fed up with what they say is negligence from the university regarding campus safety.
These students expressed their concern at the Protect the Nest Safety Walk-Out on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
Keep Us Safe TU, student-led movement, strives to hold Temple accountable for its lack of transparency on crime,
They organized the walk-out after they said crimes involving students went unreported by the university and almost two weeks after the murder of TU Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald.
“Temple wasn’t doing their due diligence to report all of the incidents,” said founder of Keep Us Safe TU, John Mangan. “But as we dug deeper into all of these issues, there’s a lot of things that need to be addressed.”
Students believe communication from the university to the student body needs to be stronger.
“We need to know what’s going on and that’s the only way we’re going to keep safe,” said Psychology student Josie Lemon, who was a victim of a home invasion that happened off campus.
Andrew Ankamah Jr, founder of The Accountability Initiative and former Temple student, also believed that communication is key.
“So many incidents have been going where they’ve been posted on the Keep Us Safe TU Instagram account, but nothing from the Temple,” Ankamah Jr. said. “And that’s something that has to change.”
The Accountability Initiative works heavily with the North Philadelphia community and Temple University focusing on critical issues intersecting them.
In addition to communication, community collaboration is another important issue students believe the university needs to work on.
“It’s a collaborative effort 100%,” Lemon said. “We need to work with the community, we need to work with the students and administration.”
Keep Us Safe TU is set to meet with Temple University to discuss more about campus safety.
Be the first to comment