O’Connor Plaza and the Boys’ Club
By: Mya McKeown
Almost every Temple student knows that convicted rapist and former actor, Bill Cosby, was a Temple alum. However, many do not know his implicit connections with Temple University. One of these connections includes the current name of the Founder’s Garden: O’Connor Plaza.
The #MeToo movement started in 2006 by Philadelphia native Tarana Burke but gained major traction in 2017 to help women come together and heal from sexual violence. As a result, almost 60 women came out and accused Cosby of attacking them. One of those women included a former Temple faculty member, Andrea Constand, who coached Temple’s women’s basketball team.
Her case was the only public accusation that was within the statute of limitations. In 2018, Cosby was convicted and in 2021 his conviction was overturned on a technicality, but he was not exonerated.
Patrick O’Connor was a board of trustees member here at Temple and even climbed to the position of chairman. In 2017, Temple renovated the Founder’s Garden to rename it O’Connor Plaza since Patrick O’Connor and his wife made a seven-figure financial contribution to support renovations.
Bill Cosby was a fellow trustee member when he was put on trial, and O’Connor agreed to defend him. Despite their friendship, status, and accusations coming from Temple alumni and faculty, Temple and O’Connor claimed that there was no conflict of interest between O’Connor representing Cosby against a former Temple faculty member.
The Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (now the Feminist Alliance) is a student organization dedicated to advocacy and activism for the equality of all people. In 2018, they led protests to change the name of O’Connor Plaza. However, the university president at the time, Richard Englert, said that the O’Connors impacted Temple’s campus in many ways and deserved the recognition placed on them from O’Connor Plaza.
“It shows [women] don’t matter,” Elizabeth Jackson, Vice President of the Feminist Alliance, said.
After Cosby’s conviction in 2018, the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance protested for the removal of O’Connor’s name from the Founder’s Garden and his removal from the board of trustees. The current president of the Feminist Alliance, Layah Taylor says that the initiative also was to gain more resources for sexual assault survivors and prevention.
The protests were successful in removing O’Connor from his position and he retired in July 2019.
“Our initiative of ‘O’Connor Step Down’ was to call out the toxic masculinity that Temple was allowing,” Taylor said.
However, the plaza’s name remains, and it shows that Temple’s response was and is not good enough. Cosby has gotten out of jail after less than three years in prison. His defense lawyer is also celebrated in the Founder’s Garden with his name on a water fountain wall and at the entrance of the Garden.
“It’s interesting that they removed all the explicit references to Cosby but not [O’Connor Plaza],” Jackson said.
The fight to change the name and demand more resources is far from over. Baylee Schultz, Director of Student Affairs with Temple Student Government (TSG), talks about the number of initiatives put forth by TSG and how they plan to keep the fight going. While TSG has yet to bring up changing the name, they are pushing for mandatory consent workshops through an organization called the Green Dot for greek life and student organizations in hopes of ending rape culture on campus.
Schultz, who transferred to Temple during the 2018 protests, still wants the name to change. She believes a change in presidents from Richard Englert to Jason Wingard will help pave the way for a name change.
“We could see a lot of change since he is in the mindset of moving Temple in a progressive way,” Schultz said.
To support TSG’s policies, Schultz says students need to speak up as much as possible. TSG works on issues that are pressing and want major support from students, so demanding action from them is essential in moving initiatives forward. Their Instagram is @templetsg and you can look up their website for all of their emails and contact information here.
You can find the Feminist Alliance on Instagram @feminist_alliance. They hold regular meetings on Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. Throughout the year they work with Planned Parenthood and participate in the March to End Rape Culture each year, according to their president and vice president.
For sexual violence victims at Temple, you can find therapy at Tuttleman Counseling Services and their website here. The Wellness Resource Center also provides many resources relating to mental wellness. Their office is on the second floor of the student center and their website can be found here. The Title IX coordination is where students can report their experience if they’d like. Their offices are located in Sullivan Hall. The website can be found here with all relevant contact information.