Temple students pen letter urging school leadership to confront crime: 'We're at a tipping point'
Temple response to student letter urging school to confront rising crime
Temple President Jason wingard was called out and criticized by university students on a public student-run Instagram page. They accused him of being a silent leader while students endure what they call "a crisis" of increase crime on and around campus.
PHILADELPHIA - Temple University responded to a letter from its students urging the school to confront rising crime plaguing the North Philadelphia campus.
The letter, posted to the Instagram page ‘Keep_Us_Safe_TU,’ called out university president Jason Wingard, accusing him of being a silent leader.
"We don't want him to come out and address our account, it's not about us, we want him to come out and address the community and tell us what we need to hear," John Mangan said.
Mangan, a Temple senior, created the Instagram account this semester as a way to alert students and their families about crimes happening in real-time, while pushing for transparency from school leadership.
"We're at a tipping point where everyone is just wondering what the hell is going on," Mangan said. "It's really getting out of hand."
Temple students fed up with crime on and around campus penned a letter to school leadership urging them to do more.
Over the weekend, police say three people were shot - including a teenage girl - when a gunman kicked open the front door of a home near Temple University's campus and opened fire. This comes weeks after Temple University students were targeted in a spate of armed home invasions.
A statement from Temple University said, in part: "The significance of an open letter like this from the very students that the university serves is not lost on us…To help address this, The Office of the President has met with Temple's Student Government and will be scheduling meetings with both TSG members and other members of the student body in the near future."
Temple Junior Adam Pyser recently felt compelled to get involved with the ‘Keep_Us_Safe_TU’ account due to the rising crime.
"It's going in the right direction, something needs to be done," Pyser said.
Mangan says he has noticed greater communication from Temple's Department of Public Safety over the last few weeks. His team is in the process of setting up a Zoom call with the director to discuss the progress, but they would still like to hear from the school's leadership.