Reimagining Temple
The ReimagineTU Campaign has broken up their initiatives into several categories: DE&I, Physical & Mental Wellbeing, Campus Life, Public Safety, Sexual Assault Prevention, Neighborhood/Community Engagement, Administrative, Sustainability, and Greek Life.
ReimagineTU advocates for more multicultural service providers to foster inclusive empathy on campus. With Diamond Dollars being phased out, many students face food insecurity stress. For instance, without this currency, meals at places like Chick-fil-A and Wingstop may exceed the one-meal limit, exacerbating issues for students with limited swipes. To combat this, ReimagineTU proposes partnering with "Swipe Out Hunger" and implementing a system for meal swipe donation, sharing, or rollover. The focus should not be on where the next meal comes from. Additionally, our campus wrestles with unequal restroom facilities, impacting inclusivity and hygiene. ReimagineTU's Bathroom Equality initiative aims to install free menstrual product dispensers, increase trash cans, prioritize maintenance, and possibly add more gender-neutral bathrooms. Lastly, Temple University students face steep textbook costs. We seek to collaborate with Temple to secure funds for students needing textbook assistance.
At ReimagineTU, we are committed to advocating for the implementation of EC/Narcan Vending Machines equipped with Fentanyl test strips. These vending machines will serve as crucial tools in combating substance abuse by providing immediate access to overdose-reversing medication and accurate testing for the presence of deadly substances like Fentanyl. ReimagineTU aims to ensure that along with the potential distribution of these life-saving resources, comprehensive training and warnings will be provided to users
ReimagineTU understands the need to ensure student safety on campus and help build a safer community within North Philadelphia for both students and community residents alike. We plan to work hard to develop and implement effective policies to better inform the student body about crime occurrences and address their safety concerns, as well as providing forums for members of the community to voice their concerns.
Sexual assault is a pressing issue on Temple's campus and many across the nation. Students often encounter a lack of information and transparency from administrations on the issue and struggle to find supportive resources. ReimagineTU, supported by our Presidential Candidate’s experience as President of Student Activist Against Sexual Assault, is devoted to bringing awareness to on-campus resources and addressing the ongoing epidemic of sexual assault and failures to address it. Ray has been involved in the field sexual violence prevention since her 8th grade year, where she began interning on Capitol Hill for the anti-teen dating violence non-profit organization Break the Cycle. She has dedicated her life to researching and creating nuanced forms of activism and training to combat sexual violence.
Temple University is at the center of an ever-growing surrounding community, one filled with several small businesses and opportunities that do not receive the recognition that they deserve. ReimagineTU aims to propose a collaborative experience with the many small businesses and students on campus by potentially hosting podcasts at these different locations where students are able to converse with the small businesses of Philadelphia about certain topics, some of which are taken from an active/open chat box where both students and organizations can leave comments, questions, and concerns to be answered—morphing the once destructive image of Temple students into a constructive bond between the students of Temple University and the surrounding community. Alongside this initiative, ReimagineTU plans to host open town halls for students and community residents and provide service/volunteer resources for students to become more involved within the community (including the Temple University Police Department’s “Toys for Tots” event); it is crucial for both the community and the students of this University to collaborate.
Temple administration and student government are too often disconnected and unknown by the majority of the student body. ReimagineTU will bring together student organizations to understand their needs better and work to improve outreach to the student body that their government is made to represent.
Climate change impacts the already underserved including both low-income and urban environments; Temple University is included in this demographic because of its position in an urban area. Taking inspiration from a successful campaign from a student group at Rowan University, ReimagineTU aims to work alongside Temple and the 300+ universities and colleges in the United States to urge the divestment from fossil fuels.
Greek life accounts for thousands of Temple students who enjoy close-knit and energetic communities within their fraternities and sororities. ReimagineTU wants to work towards bringing its large and organized membership into partnerships with the broader student body that serves our Temple and North Philadelphia community.