Would you feel that your child is safe if they went to Temple? Any thoughts or opinions on these events, and the larger reasons behind why this happened? Perhaps why it hasn’t been reported by major media outlets?
Perspective of a victim:
http://thetab.com/us/temple/2016/10/23/tu-altert-temple-mob-attack-6728
Article with Facebook post from a victim’s Father:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3868324/Students-beaten-horse-punched-mob-attacks-university.html
Thank you for sharing those articles. Scary.
We have a son at Temple, and were there visiting when it happened. It looks like steps have been taken to keep something similar from happening again. Our S18 had a big group of kids try the “knockout game” with him down the street from our house this past summer (he wasn’t hurt).
The TAB appears to be the Temple student newspaper, and one of the highlighted links on their site is a TAB article entitled “Ranking the Trump Family by How Much I want to Punch Them in the Face”.
http://thetab.com/us/2016/10/18/trump-family-punch-53296
So a school that promotes violence is surprised when violence visits their campus.
The Tab is not the Temple University newspaper. It is an online news network that has one main national site and sub-sites for about 50 universities.
Temple is in the middle of a very challenging neighborhood. I often pooh-pooh people’s safety concerns when they are talking about urban universities, because the concerns are overblown and sometimes laden with conscious or unconscious racism. And there’s certainly a risk of that with Temple. But Temple is the starkest example I know of a university really existing cheek-by-jowl with very low-income, largely nonfunctional neighborhoods.
The university has done an amazing job of creating a safe environment on campus,promoting redevelopment of some of the areas surrounding the campus, and tying the university more closely to the Center City area that’s only a mile or so away. Those efforts are continuing. There is a constant, visible police presence. I have gone to events at night at Temple, and walked around the campus after they ended, and not felt uncomfortable at all. But I would probably not feel comfortable a few blocks away from campus, which is where the group in the story was attacked.
Temple has tens of thousands of students. They live on-campus, off-campus in the surrounding area, and all over the city – it’s easy to get there by public transportation, so its very popular with local kids who plan to live at home. As at any university, some portion of that many young people are going to have bad things happen to them. At Temple, that natural problem is probably somewhat exacerbated by its location and its inherent conflict with the surrounding community. The number of students who actually suffer harm is not very high, but it’s not zero, either.
Surveillance Footage of a Flash Mob at Temple University
My son is at another school in Philly, but he has friends at Temple. One of their main complaints are TU Alerts aren’t timely enough often occurring hours after the incidents. The alert came way too late in this instance too I hear. like 2 hours after. http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/real-time/teen-mob-gets-violent-in-attacks-on-Temple-students-police.html
Its weird/ disheartening to me that this and another incident last year where a girl had a group of teens smash a brick into her head/face and had to have major surgery are being perpetuated by 15 year olds…http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Arrest-Made-in-Temple-Brick-Attack-252304661.html
The police need to run some more serious intervention programs at area schools… this isn’t what we think of as “normal” inner city safety related crimes… This is kids attacking for the sake of enjoying violence.
Also it looks like these teen mobs had been taking trial runs days prior to this from Temples news site
http://temple-news.com/news/police-activity-increases-control-minors-broad-street/
As a parent of a freshman daughter at Temple U, I am very concerned about recent safety issues. I receive the TU Alerts about safety issues, along with my daughter, and it is disconcerting to learn that there are delays in reporting issues via the alerts, making them much less effective. Temple definitely has a lot of visible security presence on and adjacent to the campus, as well as security officers in the dorm lobbies. They also offer security escorts which many students utilize as well.
On the local news Philly news stations, it was reported that TU will be stepping up security patrols on the weekends, when these violent attacks occurred, and they are working to make their TU Alert system more responsive. These actions make sense, but I am very disappointed that there has been no communication at all about this incident from TU directly to me, as a parent of a current TU student.
On a more positive note, on recent visit when working in Philly, my husband stopped in to my D’s dorm to take her to dinner. He was asked for ID, signed in, and asked if he could use the lobby restroom while waiting, which he did, then he sat in one of the lobby lounge chairs to wait for her. One of the security officers promptly approached him in the lounge and instructed him that he needed to wait for her at the check in desk. That made us both feel good that they did not just let anyone with an ID just wander around the dorm.
On another note, I personally know 2 male students who were robbed and mugged (1 ended up in the hospital with a bad concussion and broken jaw) on the campus of my local state U, which has the perception of being in a “safe” suburban area. The bottom line is that college students can easily become targets of criminal activity, especially at night when visibility is reduced, and if they are impaired by alcohol or drugs. Students need to be vigilant and take safety concerns seriously.
@mamag2855, you mentioned students being easier targets when impaired. The evening of the attacks my younger son and I were on SEPTA going to meet my wife and Temple Freshman son for dinner on the way to the football game. There was a group of students openly drinking beer on the train. I’ve never seen this happen in my 18 years living in DC or the 5 years I lived in New York. We got off at City Hall; I wouldn’t be surprised if they were apprehended before they got to the stadium.
I’m not implying that the students who were actually attacked were impaired, or that drunk students deserve to be attacked. That makes it hard to be vigilant, though.
@SoCcErTrAcK2016, the story is all over the news, both here in Philadelphia and elsewhere. Someone posted a link to the Washington Post’s coverage in another thread.
Colleges now have to report campus crime stats to the federal government. You can use this tool to exam one school, or to compare several…
Wow. 
My D is a freshman at Temple this year and while I knew of the dangers of attending college on a city campus, nothing prepared me for the mob scene assaults when I heard it in the news. She said she wasn’t in the area at the time and also didn’t seem particularly worried about it. Temple offers walking escorts and Uber-like shuttles around campus so she’s promised me she’ll take advantage of them. I hope it was a freak incident and this idea a random violence doesn’t become a common occurrence. Life in a city can be unpredictable. But she wants to live and work in one eventually, so Temple will definitely prepare her for that.
Please keep in mind that the actual violence may have been committed by a relatively small number of people. The videos do not show most of the teenagers hurting anyone. One victim said two Black teenagers pulled an attacker off of her.
Second, please realize that there are some extreme racists right now who are trying to make the worst out of this incident.
How could it be worse?
It should NEVER happen.
We just returned from Temple’s Parent & Family Weekend. The campus was as normal as ever. My D was not overly concerned about the recent events and said her friends felt the same. She wasn’t directly affected by the violence, but we talked about being extra careful and using the walking escort and Flight services that the school provides.
A city campus is going to always have that element of outside violence, so you really have to weigh the pros and cons and decide if the “city-life” is what you want. As for my D, she loves being in Philly and having access to so many things. She would have been bored on a campus in a cornfield, with little to do but go to frat parties and campus sponsored events. And just because a campus seems safe, doesn’t mean it guarantees that it is. There are plenty of incidences of violence on rural campuses that are just as horrific.
Same here @veehee , we also attended family weekend and had a great, trouble free visit. We also reviewed safety concerns/smart behavior while there with our daughter. We had a great time at the football game and had some pizza on campus later, no issues at all, in fact, I thought things were pretty tame for a Halloween weekend!
I have to be hosest, this entire incident has been very concerning for me as a parent. While I realize there is some element of crime in most urban environments with thoursands of students at any given time, this was more that a mugging or even a simple assault. This was a mob that created havic on campus fior over 2 hours and injured many. Add to that, the fact that the urgent alert did not go out timely. I had finally convinced my son to apply to Temple because I thought it was a really good fit for him but now I think he would likely not go if offered admission. I think Temple is great sdchool, but quite frankly the administration and the local police fell down on this one.