Letters to the Editor 1/29

To the editor,

I could imagine that having been a 1971 graduate of Pitt might make it seem like my remarks are born of bias. However, having been the starting guard of a summer camp team that went undefeated for four successive summers might add more credibility to my assertion.

Due to an unfortunate disability, I am unable to attend games. But since the Petersen Events Center is always sold out, most home basketball games are on TV.

More often than not, the commentators remark what a home-court advantage the Panthers have because of the fans, aka The Oakland Zoo. Our fantastic home-court record would surely bear that out.

As an aging fan who is proud to have graduated from Pitt and who claims basketball as “his” sport, I want to thank the fans and ask only that you keep doing what you’re doing.

Jody Rosenberg

Pitt grad, class of ’71

To the editor,

I spent much of last week discussing the “truce” I suggested on SGB Election Day, that not just ‘super-slates’ chose to participate in. What in actuality was an email constructed in five minutes on an iPhone in Towers Lobby, reminding candidates of the election’s purpose, has transformed into a “scandal,” complete with supposed conspiracies and intense exaggerations. Reading John Hasley’s Jan. 25 column, “Questioning the future of the slate system in Pitt’s SGB elections,” and talking with a friend caused me to further think about the truce’s effects. I proposed this agreement because I didn’t want those elected to enter their term with a sophomoric reputation already in place. What I’m realizing is that perhaps the campus needed to see not just the good, but also the downright ugly that occurred throughout election season.

But with the Jan. 23 article “Former SGB candidates object to election-day truce,” The Pitt News didn’t report a large amount — if any — of the ugly last Wednesday. Instead, they wrote an opinionated news article and attacked Annie Brown in a biased editorial. I was unhappy about the false and subjective way both the truce scenario and myself were depicted by TPN, but it doesn’t come close to the appalling portrayal of Annie. I didn’t agree with some of her decisions during election season. But it is a total lie for TPN to say Annie did not work to prevent what ended up transpiring this November.

It is time, again, to change the elections code (and SGB). The way to change it, though, isn’t to write one-sided news stories or attack someone who attempted reform. Get involved. Join the elections committee. Can we demand change if we’re not willing to be active participants?

Kate Malekoff

Former campaign manager, Forbes slate