Shannon McDonald
Archive for April 2008
New Gen Ed classes need world affairs requirement
By Shannon McDonald | April 29, 2008 | The Temple News
When it comes to the improvement and expansion of Main Campus, students tend to focus on housing and technology. But academics – the real reason you’re paying tuition – often go ignored.
Journalist and professor Ted Gup addressed this in his April 11 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
“I find it profoundly discouraging to encounter such ignorance of critical issues,” Gup wrote. “I challenge [students’] right to tune out the world, and I question any system or society that can produce such students and call them educated.”
Gup finds it incomprehensible that students who have almost constant access to technology can know so little about current events and world affairs. He is right in this opinion.
SEPTA attacks bring security too late
By Shannon McDonald | April 15, 2008 | The Temple News
It took three attacks and a funeral to increase security on Philadelphia’s sole public transportation system.
The subway attacks of March 26, April 2 and April 4 occurred within blocks of each other – some in broad daylight – and have highlighted the need for increased security on SEPTA’s tracks.
“We’re taking special note of what’s going on,” Mayor Michael Nutter told 6 ABC recently.
Nutter and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey have both promised SEPTA users more safety in the wake of the attacks.
SEPTA has also responded. Immediately following the attacks, the transit agency increased the number of officers on duty by 50 percent during after school hours – the time associated with the recent attacks. Between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., 90 officers will now police the city’s subway system to deter crime. SEPTA also plans on installing security cameras over the next few years, an investment of more than $50 million.
“These senseless and tragic incidents are unrelated events that occurred in the public pedestrian areas adjacent to our stations. I want to assure you that our transit system is safe,” Joseph M. Casey, general manager of SEPTA, wrote in a message to users on the agency’s Web site.
