Dan Muroff is running for Pennsylvania's 7th District House seat.

by Brendan Sample

State court finds against Chestnut Hill College

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania recently ruled that Chestnut Hill College is in fact subject to state anti-discriminatory laws. CHC had been asserting for years that, as a private Catholic institution, it was exempt from such regulations. With the Court having now made this decision, CHC will likely have to go to a hearing regarding its treatment of a former African American student in 2012.

The student in question, Allan-Michael Meads, was expelled for allegedly stealing money from a production of “A Raisin in the Sun.” After Meads, along with other students and faculty members, denied that he ever stole anything, he filed a discrimination complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. In 2015, the PRCH ended up charging CHC with discrimination based on probable cause. The commission had found a history of CHC handing out harsher punishments for non-white students than it did for white students, even when white students committed equal or worse offenses.

In response, CHC appealed the decision, which put off what would have been a likely hearing. This ultimately led to the court’s recent decision in which it found Chestnut Hill College was within the jurisdiction of the PRHC.

Unless CHC appeals the decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the case will go back to the PRCH for the previously scheduled hearing. As of this writing, CHC has not made a decision as to whether or not it is going to appeal. The college’s lawyer, Danielle Banks, confirmed this while also expressing frustration over the decision.

“Chestnut Hill College is disappointed,” Banks said. “The college sought clarification of existing law and while the college doesn’t agree with the court’s reasoning, we respect the opinion.”

Muroff announces for Pa. House contest

On April 10, Dan Muroff announced that he would be running for a seat in the House of Representatives in Pennsylvania’s Seventh District. Muroff will be challenging incumbent Pat Meehan, who has held the seat since 2011, in the 2018 election.

In his announcement, Muroff criticized Meehan’s actions in his current term, citing Meehan’s involvements in the recent healthcare and Internet browsing data votes. Muroff claims that he is the person most qualified to stand up to those in power instead of going along with them.

“Congressman Pat Meehan has proven that he’s unwilling to stand up to Donald Trump and Paul Ryan, and that he’ll go along with their destructive ideas as long as it helps his wealthy contributors,” Muroff said. “It’s time for him to go.”

Muroff’s experience includes serving as board president of CeaseFirePA and president of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. He has also been a lawyer in private practice, during which time he advocated for women’s rights, affordable housing for the disabled and secure funding for Philadelphia neighborhood improvements. Muroff was born and raised in Havertown, graduated from Drexel University and received his law degree from the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Style Camp moves around corner.

After several years of operation on Germantown Avenue, the fashion store Style Camp has officially moved to its new location on 9 West Highland Ave. The store reopened for business March 31, and it’s set to have its grand opening on April 22. Though the former location on Germantown Avenue still has an awning with the store’s name on it, it is no longer in operation.

Style Camp first opened in 2013 and is run by the mother/daughter duo of Bitsy and Natalie Rhoda, respectively. They specialize in offering unique and personalized articles of clothing, accessories and other types of gifts.

Brendan Sample can be reached at brendan@chestnuthilllocal.com