The decade of Pitt: Stories throughout the 2000s

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Posted on 14. Dec, 2009 in News

The following article ran in a prior edition of The Pitt News. It has not been edited or updated from how it was originally published.

Pitt to launch Capital Campaign

Rehan Nasir

Editor in Chief

Oct. 24, 2000

The huge vinyl tent in the Cathedral of Learning lawn isn’t for an arts and crafts show, book sale or ordinary picnic lunch. Instead, the tent will be used Saturday night to host 1,500 prominent alumni, donors and friends of Pitt as they partake in an international buffet.

Following the buffet, the Cathedral will be illuminated by a spectacular light show.

The buffet is just part of the Discovery Weekend, which begins Friday at 10 a.m. with a presentation by Pitt alumnus Pat Croce, president of the Philadelphia 76ers.

The mission of the Discovery Weekend is to announce Pitt’s Capital Campaign, which will attempt to raise $500 million for the University.

The invited guests — mostly Pitt alumni — have a full schedule for the weekend, including a state of the university address by Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, political impersonator Jim Morris and presentations from faculty showcasing research and innovations.

Before the light show, guests will attend an entertaining announcement event at Carnegie Music Hall which will combine theater, music, comedy and film.

“We want to thank the donors for their support and let them see firsthand what’s going on here at Pitt,” Pitt Spokesman Ken Service said.

Service added that students will directly see the impact of the donations, in terms of endowments for scholarships.

“We’d like to increase the number of scholarships by 50 percent,” Service said. “We’d also like to increase the number of endowed chairs and professorships. This will allow the University to continue to recruit and retain the best faculty.”

An institution invests endowment money and uses the income to fund programs and scholarships.

Students will also benefit from the Petersen Events Center and Pitt’s new Multi-Purpose Academic Complex being built across from the law school building. Several classrooms in Benedum Engineering Hall have also been renovated and fitted with computers and advanced learning aids.

Since last spring, the office of student activities has been working with the office of institutional advancement to plan events that allow students to interact with this weekend’s guests.

From 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Friday, guests will be able to visit the William Pitt Union for an open house with student groups and organizations including Semester at Sea, Student Government Board, Black Action Society, Interfraternity Council, National Panhellenic Council and the Panther Prints Yearbook.

“We want to see the campus leaders of today,” said Joe Cavalla, director of student activities. “They’ll be able to see and talk to groups that they may have been involved in when they were here.”

According to Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, Discovery Weekend’s main goal is to “remind people that Pitt is a University with a proud past, an exciting present and an even brighter future.”

“This promises to be an inspiring and festive weekend,” said Suzanne Broadhurst, a Pitt trustee and the Discovery Weekend co-chair. “The participants will meet a diversity of people, eat great food and enjoy new educational experiences. They will gain insights about the campus today and learn the important role they can play in its future.”

“I’m glad the committee thought it important that the visitors get to meet the leaders of tomorrow,” Cavalla said.

The following article ran in a prior edition of The Pitt News. It has not been edited or updated from how it was originally published.

Community unites to fight racism, ignorance

Shannon McLaughlin

Editor in Chief

Sept. 14, 2001

Students — graduate and undergraduate — allied with faculty and administrators last night in a think tank designed to find solutions for reported racial tension on campus in the wake of Tuesday’s tragedies.

After meeting with the Vice Provost and Interim Dean of Students Dr. Jack Daniel on Wednesday, Hindu Student Council President Ashish Mitra organized a meeting of campus leaders, students and representatives. There was little more than 24 hours notice.

Mitra cited the crowd of approximately 50 as a sign of the campus’ ability to communicate and the “seriousness of the situation.”

“People are feeling uncomfortable,” he said.

Students in the crowd shared their own experiences and their friends’ experiences since Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. They reported uncomfortable staring, “ignorant” comments muttered or written on residence hall wipe-off boards and even spitting. Students reported being harrassed simply for appearing to be of Middle Eastern descent while the media projects Saudi ex-patriot Osama bin Laden as the possible culprit in Tuesday’s assault.

“Our campus needs to be safe for all students,” Mitra said. “The last thing we need is for more people to be feeling ... unsafe or to get hurt.”

Pitt police chief Tim Delaney said the University police have received no formal complaints from students, but urged victims to come forward.

“You don’t have to put up with this,” Delaney said of the various forms of harassment. “You have our support.”

While staring is not a punishable crime, Delaney and officers Kathy Schreiber and Debbie Walker emphasized that students must report all incidences. Even staring can amount to harassment, Delaney said.

“We want you to get control back in your life,” he said.

Director of Residence Life Denine Rocco reported that her office has not been officially notified of instances of harassment.

“We have seen thus far very little evidence of that kind of thing,” she said.

But she urged students to come forward and told the crowd that Residence Life was planning building-wide and floor-wide discussions to be led by members of the Counseling Center about ways to cope with the crisis.

Mitra, who moderated the informal gathering, collected suggestions from students about how the University can better attack these problems. He suggested a student volunteer escort service to accompany worried students. He also suggested campus “safety zones” where victims of harassment could report incidents and escape.

Other students suggested widening shuttle routes and establishing a safety zone-specific Van Call van.

Director of Student Activities Joe Cavalla volunteered the William Pitt Union’s information desk as an immediate safety zone. Student Government Board President Jeff Alex said zones could be set up in public places such as the Towers lobby or the Ashtray to serve as escapes and means of education for students who might be quick to stereotype. Two other members of the eight-person board, Michelle Agostini and John Algie, joined Alex at the meeting.

Promises were made to look into the feasibility of these solutions, and students were encouraged to attend today’s open forum at 3 p.m. in 2K56 Posvar Hall. Alex reported that SGB is attempting to schedule a vigil for Tuesday morning.

“It’s only gonna be this tense for a little while,” Mitra assured the group as it dispersed.

The following article ran in a prior edition of The Pitt News. It has not been edited or updated from how it was originally published.

Hoops ticket confusion continues

Greg Heller-LaBelle

News Editor

Sept. 14, 2002

When Steve Blahovec arrived at the William Pitt Union at 7 a.m. Friday, he figured he was in luck. There was no one camped out on the porch, there were two people in front of the ticket office and the 97 remaining student season tickets for basketball were going on sale in two hours.

He had no idea that there were officially more than 100 people in front of him. Then, as the crowd from the Lower Lounge of the Union emptied into the lobby, bleary-eyed and clutching pillows, they saw about 10 people waiting in the front of the ticket window. Many were not pleased.

The last battle in the basketball ticket war was about to be waged between a tired mob of screaming campers and a small group of confused early-risers.

Blahovec said he had heard tickets were going on sale, first come, first serve, at 9 a.m. in the Union, and hadn’t found out about the camping in, the wristbands and the already-established line until after he was standing in front of the ticket window.

“If I had known that I could have stayed inside, I would have been here yesterday afternoon,” he said. “They should have issued a statement saying that they were gonna do that. The athletics department screwed up.”

By 8 a.m., the screaming had subsided and the tempers cooled to a point of resignation.

Jon Wietholter had the first wristband. It was his poster-board list, originally designed to ensure his place as the first to camp out on the Union porch, that began Thursday night’s administrative improvisation. He had arrived at 1 p.m. Thursday, prepared to stay out in the cold overnight for tickets. After speaking to an administrator, whose name he did not know, on a speakerphone later that afternoon, he said he was told to continue keeping track of people who came for tickets. According to Wietholter, he was also told the group of people on the porch would be moved inside to the Lower Lounge.

The sign, with the original list, which read, “Line For Tix Starts Here,” was moved to the lobby with the rest of Wietholter’s overnight supplies. It sat in front of Wietholter, silently echoing the sentiments of the 100 wristband-bearing people behind him.

Still, Wietholter said he felt sympathy for the 10 people left in line ahead of him.

“I know where they’re coming from,” he said. “If I was in their shoes, I’d probably feel the same way.”

Sophomore Jeff Bennett, another camper, said the process still made sense to him.

“My whole theory is: it was first come, first serve. We were here at 1 [p.m. Thursday], and we were prepared to camp out all night,” he said.

But Junior Lindy Grone, who arrived at the Union at 6 a.m. Friday, said she felt the point was that the 100 people behind her hadn’t camped out.

“If they spent 12 hours in 30-degree weather, I would have said ‘fine,’” she said. “Nothing was advertised about people being able to stay at the Union ... If that’s how it was gonna be, they should have told everyone that.”

According to WPU manager Chris Chergi, the decision to move people inside was made early Thursday afternoon when the growing group of people on the porch gave her concerns about both the inclement weather and the blocking of the porch.

In an attempt to “organize the chaos that could have come out of the lineup,” she said she arranged the speakerphone call, which she said was with Jason Heggemeyer, director of sales and ticketing.

Chergi said, after clearing a room and moving people inside, signs were posted on every door to the Union that the line for basketball tickets was in the Lower Lounge.

When asked about students who said they did not see the signs, she said, “they look but they don’t see sometimes.”

Chergi said it was also her decision to request Pitt police in the Union lobby, although she said there was no extra security.

“They would be around to make a presence in case there was a problem,” she said, but added, “everybody was very nice and very patient.”

It was those police who, at about 8:50 a.m., asked the group of 10 people at the front of the line to move, which they did as applause and cheers came from the mass of people behind Wietholter.

Grone, Blahovec and the others were all given wristbands numbered in the 7140s, well behind the number 7097 that marked the last person who would get tickets.

“A wristband means nothing to me,” Blahovec said. “They said they were handing them out once, why are they handing them out again?”

Blahovec referred to the Pitt Men’s Basketball Student Ticket Plan pamphlet which reads: “Make sure you make plans to join us for Midnight Madness, as this will be the only chance you have at getting your prenumbered wristband.”

Blahovec said the officer who asked him to move did not give a specific reason for removing them.

“They had no reason, they just said ‘refer to the athletics department,’ who knows nothing,” he said.

Some in line, such as junior Dave Hofman, had little sympathy for Blahovec and company.

“Ignorance isn’t an excuse,” Hofman said.

But Blahovec said he didn’t feel like ignorance of the overnight line was his fault.

“For the Pitt-Penn State game, people lined up here in the morning two years ago,” he said. “There wasn’t a problem then, but there’s a problem now. I’ll tell you why because [athletics director] Steve Pederson sucks.”

“It might not be his fault,” Blahovec added, “but he’s the athletics director, he has a say.”

Blahovec and several of his displaced companions left the Union, saying they were going up to Pederson’s office.

Pederson was out of his office Friday. Neither he, Heggemeyer nor anyone else in the athletics department could be reached for comment this weekend.

The following article ran in a prior edition of The Pitt News. It has not been edited or updated from how it was originally published.

My challenge for the chancellor

Dave Hartman

Editor in Chief

Friday, Jan. 10, 2003

Chancellor Mark Nordenberg: You’ve got a problem.

Things have been going pretty well up until now. Under your very capable direction, Pitt has upped its applications and its average SAT scores, significantly increased enrollment, beautified its buildings and grounds, and greatly improved its sports teams.

And all of that spells good news for any university. Pitt is earning a certain prestige that it definitely lacked 10 years ago, and many would argue that you’re the man to thank.

So thank you: Because of your leadership, my diploma will continue to become more valuable even after I graduate, and as the improvements continue.

But with the good comes the bad, and you’re also the man who must take the blame when it’s due. Like when the Princeton Review ranks Pitt 11th worst for racial interaction. Or when tuition increases during my college career here have averaged 9 percent yearly — almost three times the rate of inflation. Or when both of the major newspapers serving the Pittsburgh area criticize you in print for receiving a pay raise that amounts to an extra $122,500 yearly in your already well-lined pocket.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a paper that leans just slightly right of staunchly conservative, write in its Dec. 26 editorial, “We’re certainly not members of the class-envy crowd ... but even we thing [Nordenberg’s] new pay package is a but much.”

And most people are saying the same thing. Students wonder at the fact that your pay increase — not counting the $75,000-per-year bonus just for sticking around — is the same 14 percent as last year’s tuition increase. Staff members wonder how the University can cut several jobs in the name of saving money, and then award the chancellor and five top-level administrators a salary increase that approaches a combined half-million dollars per year in spending increases.

And outsiders — Pittsburgh residents who have never even stepped foot on Pitt’s campus, but have read one of these newspapers — wonder how their children will ever be able to afford college in an academic setting which is increasingly focused on wealth over knowledge. If the tuition continues to grow as it has since I arrived here, students can expect to pay upwards of $20,000 per year, plus room and board, before a dozen years have passed.

So Chancellor Nordenberg: You’ve got a real problem on your hands. In a University community that already lacked any sense of unity, you’ve not succeeded in disenfranchising and enraging both your students (your customers) and your staff (your employees). Almost anyone could tell you that amounts to bad business.

But I don’t want to see the University suffer from bad business practices any more than you do, so I’m ready to look beyond these transgressions of the past. And I’m ready to propose a plan for the future. It’s up to you and me, chancellor. We can form a partnership for progress.

My proposal

Chancellor Nordenberg: You and I are in far different financial situations. Your yearly salary for your impressive work at Pitt is about $465,000, plus benefits and perks such as the use of a beautiful home between North Oakland and Shadyside. Rumor has it that you work a great deal — sometimes upwards of 10 hours a day. And I’m sure that with three children — two of whom are college-age — you’re no stranger to paying bills. Still, though, it seems like you might have at least a little extra spending money.

I, on the other hand, am compensated just under $8,000 for my one year as editor in chief, though the only perk that accompanies this job is my own office. My job is also demanding — I work until almost midnight each day — but because the newspaper does not provide a home for me, I pay for housing, food, and tuition by myself.

Nonetheless, I realize the importance of education for all people, and I’m ready to put my money where my mouth is — but only if you are.

Chancellor Nordenberg, I respectfully request that you return your salary increase to the students at the University of Pittsburgh. A modest donation would be the 14 percent increase — or $47,500 — that was recently tacked onto your salary. A more generous donation would include the $75,000 bonus, increasing the value of the donation to $122,500, or 26 percent of your new salary.

And I will match your donation, percent for percent. If you donate 14 percent of your salary, I will take a 14 percent pay cut in order to make my own donation. In fact, should you decided that, with minimal living expenses, you are able to donate your entire yearly salary to endow something truly great, I will continue to work as editor in chief for no pay at all.

You and I could get together to discuss what great things our money could do for the students here. My personal preference would be to endow a scholarship, though I’m open to other suggestions.

And maybe we could get other students and administrators in on this. It could be a united student-administrator initiative, with both sides finally striving for the same common goal: improving education through generosity and dedication to Pitt.

Or, maybe you’ll just ignore this silly proposition and move forward, eventually learning to enjoy the comfortable life of the out-of-touch upper class.

Dave Hartman is the editor in chief of The Pitt News, and if he received a 14 percent salary increase he could buy one additional textbook.

The following article ran in a prior edition of The Pitt News. It has not been edited or updated from how it was originally published.

Pitt extends benefits

Staff report

Sept. 2, 2004

In a University Update issued Wednesday, Chancellor Mark Nordenberg announced that Pitt would join the two-thirds of Fortune 100 companies and the nearly 80 percent of Association of American Universities members that offer domestic partner benefits.

Beginning January 2005, Pitt will offer domestic partner health insurance benefits for eligible employees. The benefits, which will be available to both same-sex and opposite-sex partners, herald the beginning of the end to a battle that has spanned the coming and going of chancellors, Pitt professors, students activists and Pitt spokespeople.

“I’m totally excited. It’s about time Pitt decided to do the right thing and catch up with the rest of the world,” said Josh Ferris, former president of Rainbow Alliance, Pitt’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered and Queer organization. Ferris devoted much of his time as a student leader to activism and education about the the case.

“I feel like I could give money to Pitt right now. Well, if I had money, I could give them money,” Ferris added.

Although the eight-page University Update was distributed throughout campus in University media boxes, the health insurance coverage issue was not addressed until the fifth page. Preceding the topic were sections addressing individual achievements of students, faculty members and alumni; governmental support; meeting challenges; and building Pitt’s collective strength.

Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Robert Hill said the timing of the announcement affected how the chancellor chose to present it.

“He thought that it was a good time to reflect on the accomplishments of the previous year,” Hill said of the chancellor’s use of the University Update. “And it’s also a good time to indicate important news.”

Hill said the three pages of text surrounding the announcement and providing background on the case and debate were included “so the people would have a full understanding of what brought us up to that moment.”

In the past, Pitt’s argument for not providing the benefits depended largely on the fear that state legislators might react negatively to a same-sex benefits decision and cut Pitt’s appropriations. Pitt discussed the issue with many state lawmakers as the University moved toward the decision, Hill explained, saying he hopes legislators will recognize that “this is an appropriate action for Pitt at this time.”

But not all readers found the presentation appropriate, and most student leaders on campus still did not know about the decision by Wednesday afternoon. For Ferris, the experience reading the letter was bittersweet.

“You sneak it in there, and you sound like the good guys,” he said of the letter. “Why couldn’t this have been accomplished eight years ago?”

On campus, student opinion was largely in favor of the provision, even among those, such as freshman Amar Mehta and Dan Sheidy, who personally oppose homosexual relationships.

“I can’t say that I would view a heterosexual marriage and a homosexual marriage under the same terms,” Mehta said, but added, “I’m not against gays having the same rights.”

Sheidy also voiced concerns over eliminating differences in treatment of different sexual orientations.

“I think, stereotypically, [homosexual relationships] are less monogamous,” he said, but added that, if a couple could prove their monogamy, as in the case of a signed affidavit like the one Pitt will require, they should be granted benefits.

Sophomore Jennifer Hopkins went further.

“We are all humans and we have equal rights,” she said. “Maybe this will bring more and better faculty to the University — insurance benefits are important to people.”

Although the announcement pleased Rainbow Alliance President Monica Higgins, she pointed out that the process of obtaining domestic partner benefits will probably still prove tricky to navigate.

“I figure it will be a fairly difficult process, but they are making concessions,” Higgins said, noting that applying for any benefits at Pitt entails a complicated process, and that she doesn’t expect Pitt to change that process.

Gary DiNardo, who is also involved in Rainbow Alliance, believes Pitt’s decision marks a victory, regardless of complications that might arise in the coming months.

“No matter what this includes, it’s a step up,” DiNardo said.

Addressing fears that Pitt’s offering might be as disappointing to supporters as Temple’s 2002 benefits deal, former Pitt student Cecilia Frerotte suggested that Pitt would not offer an unrealistic solution after such a long battle.

“I can’t imagine that they would make this concession, then go only one-fourth of the way,” Frerotte said of Pitt’s effort to meet the demands for domestic partner benefits.

The following article ran in a prior edition of The Pitt News. It has not been edited or updated from how it was originally published.

Sources confirm secret society exists

Jessica Lear

Editor in Chief

Nov. 8, 2005

A rented Cadillac Escalade, a dance marathon meeting, a bunch of student leaders, some strange rumors and the number 87.

But what does it all mean?

Investigation and interviews with anonymous sources point to a new secret society on campus called The Order of the 87.

Said to be founded sometime last year by Student Government Board President Brian Kelly, the organization’s name comes from 1787, the year Pitt was founded.

Kelly denies existence of the group, saying that he’s busy preparing for graduation and job interviews.

“I think it’s kind of funny that people are so paranoid,” Kelly said.

But more than one source has verified Kelly’s participation in the group, including one source who claims to have firsthand knowledge of 87.

Kelly said that he suspects the rumors are the work of the Druids, a known secret society at Pitt.

“I would assume all this nonsense is coming from the Druids,” Kelly said.

An anonymous tip to The Pitt News said that the group planned on holding its initiation meeting to induct new members — including SGB presidential candidate Zach Ransom — Oct. 20 in an event that would include the use of a Cadillac Escalade rented by Kelly.

When asked about the car rental, Kelly — who drives a Honda Accord — said it was to celebrate a job interview with Lord & Taylor.

“Me and some friends rented it and drove around obnoxiously because we were in a great mood,” Kelly said.

In what is believed to be one of the group’s gatherings, student leaders met in a classroom on the fourth floor of Posvar Hall at about 11 p.m., Oct. 26.

When Ransom and slate mate Joe Leinbach were asked what they were doing as they exited the meeting, Ransom said it was a campaign meeting. Jen Anukem, who is also running on their slate, was not present.

As SGB allocations chair Michelle Turbanic left the room, she said that it was a planning session for a Greek Week dance-marathon event to take place in December. She soon reentered the meeting.

When The Pitt News entered the room and asked what was going on, participants maintained that it was for the dance marathon.

Greek adviser Chris Meaner, who is helping organize the dance marathon, was not at the meeting. Students at the meeting said this was because he doesn’t attend meetings at night.

Also absent from the meeting were dance marathon chair Kate Brown, co-chairs LeighAnn Smith and Joe Ebner, activities chair Kate Carpenter, fundraising chair Kristyn Stewart and Greek Week chair Brian Schopfer.

Students present at the meeting explained that they needed to have this meeting late at night to accommodate busy student leaders’ schedules. They said it was in Posvar Hall because they would have had to go through Facilities Management to reserve a room in the William Pitt Union.

The following morning, in a phone interview with The Pitt News, Meaner said that there had been a dance marathon meeting the night before — from about 9:30 to 10:15 in 630 William Pitt Union — and he had been present.

Turbanic and Kelly both said yesterday that the meeting was “very preliminary” but focused on recruiting volunteers and planning the setup for the dance marathon.

Also present at the Oct. 26 meeting were Pitt Program Council Executive Board Director Andrea Youngo, Blue & Gold members Emily Guzan and Lauren Feintuch, SGB board member Dilinus Harris, Panhellenic Council President Lauren Cavallaro, President of the College Democrats Noah Dougherty, Pathfinder Deidra Dunhoff and Delta Delta Delta President Allison Marino.

The following article ran in a prior edition of The Pitt News. It has not been edited or updated from how it was originally published.

Steelers win leaves Oakland a mess

Konrad Klinkner, Andy Medici & Annie Tubbs

Staff Report

Feb. 7, 2006

Monday night was a hangover.

The night before, rioters and harmless revelers alike flooded the streets of Pittsburgh to celebrate the Steelers’ 21-10 defeat of the Seattle Seahawks in Superbowl XL.

Hordes of people gathered in front of the Cathedral of Learning for a raucous hour of joyous screaming and rioting. Bigelow Boulevard was packed tight enough that a few people started crowd surfing, while a mob of students and Oakland residents flipped a parked car before dancing on top of it and trying to light it on fire.

One student yelled to the assembled crowd, “This car likes the Seahawks!”

Some people kicked in the windows of the car and grabbed whatever they could from the inside. One person held up a blanket like a trophy.

All told, 34 people were arrested Sunday night, according to a release from the city police. Three of the people arrested were juveniles. The majority of arrests, 21, were for failure to disperse.

No personnel from the Pittsburgh Police Department were available to comment because of the preparations needed for today’s Super Bowl parade — which is Downtown and starts at 11 a.m.

Pitt Police partnered with the city police to help control the crowd.

Pitt Police Chief Tim Delaney said that there were very few arrests and citations considering the size of the celebration.

“You have a thousand people standing there and two people will do something stupid,” he said.

Delaney said that there were, to the best of his knowledge, a total of four cars overturned.

On Forbes Avenue Sunday, people were tearing down street signs and carrying them like the standard of a drunken medieval army. Following them down the street was a keg carried by the combined efforts of another crowd.

On Semple Street, a group of fans lit a couch on fire. They added a tire, wooden planks and a dumpster to the blaze, but firefighters responding to the scene put it out in a flash of steam.

Some members of the crowd took to chanting “Firefighters,” in a way that sounded suspiciously similar to the tune “Let’s go Steelers.”

Delaney said that building owners in Central and South Oakland were told before Sunday to have their tenants remove any furniture from porches. In the event of a couch fire, however, there were extra fire trucks dispatched to Oakland.

The police closed Forbes Avenue between McKee Place and Bigelow Boulevard in preparation for the celebrations. At about 11 p.m., officers cleared out the front steps of the Cathedral of Learning when they discovered that students were enjoying a keg right in front of the building’s doors.

“I expect nothing less from the city of Pittsburgh,” student Lauren Judy said of the night’s revelry and spotted destruction. “I love it, it’s just crazy. People were uprooting trees in front of the Cathedral and passing them around, and they had a keg up on the Cathedral front balcony and people were doing keg stands. It was awesome.”

Police in riot gear eventually marched through the crowd on Bigelow Boulevard and forced people to leave the street.

The party continued on Forbes Avenue, where students ¬— many of them clad in black and gold and a few of them shirtless ¬— ran amok, shouting Steeler slogans.

Rioters knocked over newspaper stands and trash receptacles, tearing them apart and setting fire to the waste. Streaming toilet paper rolls were flung across Forbes from the Litchfield Towers patio.

Parts of Forbes Avenue were soon covered with trash and debris, as some people emptied out rubber trash bins and kicked them around like beach balls. One trio of students uprooted a post with an emergency phone booth on it and disappeared with it down Atwood Street.

When there was nothing left to knock over, rioters tossed the toppled newspaper stands around while a pile of trash was lit aflame in front of Joe Mama’s.

“I think this is great,” student Brian McGuirk said. “I wish they hadn’t messed with the cars though. My car caught on fire a little bit from a nearby bonfire.”

At one point in the night, people piled onto the back of a WTAE van on Bellefield Avenue. The people inside the van shook the unwanted passengers and quickly drove away.

While there were many students rioting, there appeared to be an equal number of students who were out simply to watch the havoc unfold ¬— many of them holding up cameras and camcorders to capture the moment.

“God bless Pittsburgh,” Pitt Greensburg student Aloysius Leap said. “Oakland is a zoo. I think it would’ve been like this whether we’d won or lost. I came all the way from Polish Hill to see the riots here. I think a lot of people have come down here from other parts of Pittsburgh. We came down to Oakland just to see the chaos.”

Only six of Sunday’s arrestees were Pittsburgh residents, according to the city police’s release. Twenty were from other parts of Pennsylvania and eight were from other states.

By midnight, Forbes Avenue looked like it was hit by a tornado. Tension between police and the remaining rioters grew worse as the state troopers and mounted police began to systematically clear people out of Forbes and Fifth avenues from Oakland Avenue to Bigelow Boulevard.

One man got into a struggle with police outside the William Pitt Union’s main entrance. The man was shoved onto a bench, handcuffed and arrested. A group of students and onlookers cursed at the police until officers shooed them away.

Elsewhere, however, the atmosphere between police and celebrants was decidedly less tense.

“People are coming up saying, ‘You guys are great,’” Delaney said. “It went well. It was a celebration.”

The following article ran in a prior edition of The Pitt News. It has not been edited or updated from how it was originally published.

Workers, Pitt clash over treatment

Employee files complaint against the University

Katelyn Polantz

Contributing Editor

April 3, 2007

A Pitt night-shift custodian filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Feb. 27 against Pitt’s Facilities Management department.

Anette F. Butko’s complaint of racial and sexual discrimination resulted from, what she claims, was her wrongful termination on the morning of Thursday, Feb. 22.

She did not work Monday, Feb. 19, because she had requested the day off more than a month in advance, according to her EEOC complaint.

Within the next two days, Judith L. Macey, an administrator in the department of religious studies on the 26th floor of the Cathedral, lodged a complaint with Facilities Management senior coordinator Philip C. Hieber III. Macey said that room 2628, a classroom in the department, had unacceptably dirty doors and walls, and that the restroom was too dirty to use.

“The bathroom hadn’t been cleaned in weeks, and the classroom hadn’t been cleaned in a year,” Macey said. “If she was doing any cleaning up here, there were no signs of it.”

On Wednesday night, Feb. 21, custodial supervisor Randy S. Schmotzer approached Butko, who was assigned to clean the 21st to 37th floors, about Macey’s complaint.

According to Butko’s EEOC filing, she and a fellow employee cleaned the classroom and bathroom despite the late-night presence of a faculty member on the floor.

Later that night, Butko says Schmotzer told her that the bathrooms were still filthy, then fired her for not completing her work. Butko said she was told that she had passed her work evaluation just two weeks before.

Upon termination, Butko took nine photographs of the restroom in question on the morning of her termination, and no excessive filth can be seen. The photos, which Butko gave to The Pitt News, show a clean toilet, floor and walls, filled paper towel and toilet paper holders, and clean water fountain and sink.

“After I complained they cleaned it,” Macey said. “But do they maintain it? No.”

Butko said she never received any written confirmation of her release, nor was she told the specific reason why she was let go.

Schmotzer would not comment on the incident.

“You want to talk about cleaning, I’ll talk about cleaning, that’s it,” he said.

Butko said she contacted Pitt Labor Relations through the University AlertLine, a 24-hour hotline for faculty and staff to report illegal or unfair practices in the workplace, on the same day she filed with the EEOC. She said she has yet to hear a response from the University.

Ronald W. Frisch, associate vice chancellor of human resources, would not comment specifically on the incident.

“I don’t think we pass over people just to pass over people. We hire the best people to do the job,” he said. “A temporary assignment is an opportunity to asses someone and give them an audition on the job.”

The EEOC also would not confirm Butko’s filing. Kurt Jones, a spokesperson for the EEOC, said that all complaints remain confidential unless they reach arbitration.

The EEOC, to resolve a case, investigates the person’s claim and will then decide whether or not there is a violation of the law. The commission can then mediate an agreement or settle the case between the employee and employer, dismiss the case, or try to conciliate the case, unless one of the parties chooses to take it to federal court.

Former temporary employee questions protections

Butko, a former temporary custodian on the night shift in the Cathedral of Learning, has no protection under the University’s contract with the Service Employees International Union, Local 3. Facilities Management’s full-time custodians must belong to the SEIU3 and work under contract.

The current union contract went into effect on Jan. 1, 2006, and remains valid until Dec. 31, 2010.

Yet the contract states: “The University agrees that in hiring temporary workers or new employees to fill vacancies, it will give first consideration to individuals who have previously performed work for the University.”

Butko, whose sister and mother worked as a custodian and in housekeeping for Pitt in the past, claims Facilities Managements repeatedly passed her over for a full-time, non-temporary position, while they did hire other employees like fellow custodian Sandra M. Grissom, who works on the second floor of the Cathedral cleaning classrooms and the women’s restroom.

Grissom said she was hired on the same day as Butko, Aug. 14, 2006, and was given full-time status on Nov. 16.

“I thought, how can they hire her and not me?” Butko, who is white, said in her written statement to the EEOC. She claims that not one white female has been given a full-time custodial position in Facilities Management since she began work at Pitt.

Pitt spokesperson John Fedele said the University cannot comment on matters of personnel.

In the six months Butko was employed by Facilities Management, her wage increased from a starting salary of $10.74 per hour to $11.03 per hour without benefits.

Full-time Facilities Management cleaners in school buildings at Pitt receive a 2007 starting wage of $15.48 per hour, according to the SEIU3 contract. They also receive medical insurance coverage, retirement plans, sick leave and paid holidays and personal days.

The SEIU3 contract protects temporary employees working on summer projects in the Housing Division of Facilities Management from prolonged non-unionized work at the University. The contract states that these employees may not work as temporaries for longer than 750 hours.

Nothing in the contract protects temporary employees, like Butko, outside of the Housing Department. Butko was a temporary employee since her Aug. 14, 2006, hire date, and she worked an eight-hour shift five days a week. She logged a total of 1,020 non-unionized hours.

“The spirit of this is you don’t have people classified as temporary forever,” Tom Hoffman, an SEIU3 spokesperson at the union’s Pittsburgh office, said. “They’re not receiving benefits; that’s just not fair.”

But Frisch said that the University never guarantees permanent jobs to temporary employees.

“Our preference would be that no temporary employee would work more than 1,000 hours on an assignment,” he said.

William O. Beu represents full-time union members at Pitt as a shop steward. He also works as a groundskeeper on campus.

“I think in life, nothing’s fair,” he said. “But I think Facilities Management is doing the best job they can in dealing with employees.

“There’s going to be some bias, but that’s human nature.”

The following article ran in a prior edition of The Pitt News. It has not been edited or updated from how it was originally published.

Millions joining the youth vote movement

Justin Jacobs

Contributing Editor

Nov. 4, 2008

Pitt sophomore Rose Kalgren and senior Yanni Hronas are bobbing in the deep end of the Trees Hall pool waiting patiently for Intermediate Swimming class to end. Four minutes left. The rest of the class has already quit treading — the final exercise of the day — and hangs, near-silently, onto the side.

“Trickle down economics is the only plan that’s ever worked in this country,” says Hronas, his right arm coming out of the water to emphasize his point.

“But the wealthy can afford a few thousand more in taxes that are going to be cut from the middle class,” retorts Kalgren. “They need that extra money so much more.”

The discussion escalates, but only a bit; it’s hard to carry on a full economic debate while treading water.

“Alright, enough with the politics,” says junior Julia Axberg. But her sentiment is in the minority here — the other student swimmers simply listen in.

With the presidential election so close, the tension and uncertainty of the future is sparking conversations all over campus, and all over the country, among the young voters of America. Even in the deep end.

The America of November 2008 is far from that of four years ago. Since November 2004, the total of student loans has bloated 900%, making college nearly impossible for many would-be students. Since 2004, the number of American troops killed in Iraq has increased three and a half times over. Since 2004, or better, since only a few months ago, the economy has plummeted to depression-like depths.

And since 2004, over 9 million young voters have registered to vote today for the first time.

That’s an interesting juxtaposition, considering today’s being touted by everyone from politicians to next-door-neighbors as the most historic election in American history. From a desperate time for the country, it seems, has sprung one of the most vibrant and energetic movements since the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s. Ours is a country of new, excited young voters creating a cultural shift to a national mindset where being politically aware and being cool aren’t mutually exclusive.

And from technological advances making the political process more accessible to a general distaste for the last eight years to faith in both Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain as ‘change’ candidates, 2008 will be historic not just for whomever is elected, but for the youth culture that helped, more than ever, to put him there.

“It’s the coolest election we’ve ever faced. The 2004 election was important, but not nearly as exciting or energizing as this one,” said Jana Stec, a senior and member of the Pitt’s College Democrats. “It’s not the idea of just old people going out to vote – it’s everyone.”

She’s right; the entire country has been engaged in this election like none before it. But no age demographic has increased in such numbers at the polls as young voters. According to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE), this year’s primaries saw increases of up to 7% in young voter (18-29) turnout from 2004. In fact, not one state’s primary reported a decrease in young voter turnout in 2008. And today’s final voter numbers are expected to be the highest since 1972, when voters were responding to the Vietnam War.

For young people in 2008 America, voting, much like Chuck Norris or ‘80s pop music, is cool again.

“There are a couple factors that have changed voting from being a taboo subject among young people,” said Heather Smith, executive director of Rock the Vote. “New technology — Facebook and social networking sites, mobile phones — give young people the ability to be way more connected to each other, allowing this huge political conversation to take place.”

This is the first presidential election when candidates have appealed so directly to young voters on their grounds, marking territory where so many young Americans come together — the Internet. Sen. Obama’s Facebook page, for example, boasts over 2.3 million supporters; over 600,000 support Sen. McCain.

“It’s the advent of technology — of YouTube, all the news outlets online. The easy access we have to knowing our rights, that’s been a big help,” said Liz Rincon, Pennsylvania state director of the League of Young Voters.

The more human push for young people to vote, however, is twofold. There is both the push from the past — the desire to break out from the shadow of the past eight years, and the pull from the future — the excitement generated by both Sen. Obama and McCain promising a better tomorrow. Whatever the motivator, the enthusiasm is getting young people talking about more than the latest episode of “The Hills.” A recent Rock the Vote poll showed that 92% of young people are talking to their friends about the election.

And they’re not just talking about Sarah Palin’s looks or Sen. Obama’s charm, either. Young people across America are hearing candidates talk about issues affecting them, and actively spreading the word.

“Students are voting because of the issues they care about, college affordability being of top concern,” said Erica Williams of the National Education Association’s Campus Progress Action. “Since 2000, the cost of an average public college tuition and fees has gone up nearly 58%.”

“These issues are personal,” said Smith. “This generation grew up at a time when we see real roles of government — from taking care of natural disasters, responding to the country being attacked or going to war. We see a need for leadership in the country… and we want to decide who’s leading us.”

In the East Liberty office of Allegheny County’s League of Young Voters, the mood is tense. Only three days left. Stacks of papers, pamphlets, bags and t-shirts lay, organized somehow, on the floor next to the half-dozen volunteers assembling them. The walls are plastered with mottos, posters, charts and maps. The voices are quiet. Everyone’s focus here is on the task at hand — to get the young voters, who’ve registered online, on paper and on the street, to the polls.

The League, dedicated to targeting young and disenfranchised voters, has been working tirelessly for months, all in preparation for a 10-hour slot when the polls are open.

Liz Rincon stands at the head of a table where three volunteers have come to be trained for Election Day.

“Usually we start at 4 a.m., but since we have so many groups helping, you guys are lucky,” she says. “We’re starting at 6!”

The League’s volunteers will spend Election Day on the streets, knocking on doors, hanging reminders and — if needed — providing rides for voters without transportation. Whatever it takes to get the youth to vote. Rincon describes the last hours of Election Day.

“I have a ton of interns, but no children. I don’t know what labor pains feel like, but this, this is the final push. It’s when you won’t even remember how hard you worked. When you see how many people turned out to vote, all the work, all the stress won’t even matter.”

The volunteers file out and Rincon takes a seat, exhausted but exhilarated. She’s hesitant to feel too accomplished yet, and the stress won’t leave until 8:01 Tuesday night, when the polls have closed.

“Being excited and being informed,” she says, “are different than actually turning out to vote.”

To those a bit farther removed from the actual voting process, though, there’s no filter on the excitement, the feeling that voting on November 4, 2008, is not only a right, but a way to be a part of one of the most influential chapters in American history.

“Working in the past few elections, it was difficult to get people to stop and talk to me,” said Megan Hite of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization’s Student Voting Rights Protection Program. “With this election cycle, I’ll be walking down the street and people are following me.”

To many students, this information-hungry attitude is necessary for an informed vote.

“Finally, people are actually realizing that if you vote, there will be a change. If you do A, B will happen,” said Pitt senior Alka Singh. “Voting isn’t even just cool, it’s a necessity to be in the know. If you’re not, it’s like ‘What’s wrong with you?’”

For young voters across the country, the concept of the youth vote transcends the candidates, the issues and politics as a whole. The youth vote of 2008 is a movement, a cultural change. Young people in America, shown by record numbers of registered voters and the undeniable fervor pulsing through campuses like Pitt, want to be informed. They want to have a say in the leadership of the country.

“It’s about being a part of this historic moment,” said Smith. “It’s the fact that on November 4, millions of young people are going to come together and really make a statement. They’re going to take back their futures.”

The following article ran in a prior edition of The Pitt News. It has not been edited or updated from how it was originally published.

Police lock down Oakland after Friday night gatherings

Staff Report

Sept. 28, 2009

Police officers arrested 110 people after a protest in Schenley Plaza Friday, leaving many students angry and confused.

At 10 p.m. Friday, about 50 people gathered in Schenley Plaza to protest the way police had acted the night before.

Some people in black clothes played a version of duck-duck-goose, replacing the words with “anarchist-anarchist-cop.” A man who was speaking into a megaphone advocated nonviolence and said that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were part of a conspiracy.

The University had sent out an Emergency Notification Service alert via text message, pre-recorded phone message and e-mail by 7:28 p.m. that warned students to exercise good judgment and be careful, as more G-20 disturbances could occur that day.

By 10:05 p.m., the University issued a second message using the Emergency Notification Service: “Conditions may be deteriorating in Oakland. Students are advised to remain near their residences.”

People attending the People’s March, which ran from Oakland to Downtown that afternoon, handed out fliers encouraging others to assemble in the plaza.

Police began to surround the park about a half an hour into the protest. The police encircled the plaza in lines that were about two or three officers deep. Police vehicles and school buses delivered more officers to the area.

They brought in a Long Range Acoustic Device, which sends piercing noises or plays pre-recorded messages. By that point, between 100 and 200 people had gathered in the plaza.

Pitt student Matt Schultz was standing in the plaza when police began closing in on it, making him nervous.

“Guys, we have to leave,” he told his friends, who said they weren’t protesting but just watching the action unfold.

Within 10 minutes, the plaza was surrounded.

At 10:42 p.m., police declared the gathering an “unlawful assembly” and told people to disperse or risk going to jail.

“We don’t think there was anything going on,” Pitt student Hannah Holland, who was in the plaza Friday night, said. “People are just playing duck-duck-goose ... We don’t know why [the police were] even here.”

The problem, Pitt police chief Tim Delaney said, was that Schenley Plaza closes at 11 p.m.

“We could not have what happened last night,” he said, referring to a demonstration-turned-riot Thursday that resulted in damage to at least 10 Oakland businesses.

He referred additional questions about why the order to disperse was given before 11 p.m. to the city police. City police spokeswoman Diane Richard did not respond to phone calls or e-mails.

Police announced nine times that people should disperse from Schenley Plaza and the surrounding area. One time, they played the pre-recording warning message in Spanish. The last broadcasted message to disperse was given at 10:58 p.m., two minutes before the plaza closed.

Crowds began to gather as students watched from the Cathedral lawn.

Many of the people gathered in the plaza exited onto Forbes Avenue, eventually turning up Bellefield Avenue.

Schultz and his friend, Justin Wasser, ran through an alley off Bellefield Avenue to avoid the police.

Four hundred officers were working that night, thus outnumbering protesters and students 2-to-1 in Schenley Plaza, according to Pitt News and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette estimates.

City police estimated in a news release that 1,000 people had gathered in Oakland Friday night.

Police shot rubber bullets at Schultz and Wasser, hitting Wasser in the chest, the men said.

“A gun was being pointed at my chest,” Wasser said.

“Not by a criminal. By a police officer,” Schultz added. “There was no guilt inside of me for what I’d done, but I was running for my life.”

Pitt student Bob Anderson said he and his friends were walking along Fifth Avenue when he saw a man on a scooter flip off police. Officers shot him with rubber bullets.

“I don’t think that anything would have gone down if there were no cops there,” Anderson said.

Police released smoke or OC vapor gas, which is similar to pepper spray, in at least seven locations throughout Oakland.

By midnight, most of the officers who had been at Schenley Plaza had moved to other areas. Still, a school bus full of officers in riot gear unloaded outside of the Hillman Library on Forbes Avenue.

Meanwhile, a K-9 unit, vans and a police line moved down Fifth Avenue toward Downtown. At least one State Correctional Institute bus went down the street, too.

Central Oakland was virtually locked down. Officers directed pedestrians to their dorms or away from campus.

Just before 1 a.m., police were questioning seven people, who had plastic zip ties — which serves as handcuffs that night — wrapped around their wrists.

Students observing the arrests said they were upset about the show of police force.

Varun Viswanathan, a Pitt sophomore, said he saw a police officer hitting one individual.

“I think they completely use unnecessary force on us,” he said. “They have no right to do that.”

Pitt senior Ken Egler called the police action “one of the crazier things” he’d seen during the protests, especially since he didn’t see many demonstrators in Oakland.

“I really think it’s ridiculous,” Egler said. “We should be allowed to protest. This is needed, and they’re just basically trying to scare us.”

Police left the area by 2 a.m.