Pitt professors strategize for possible school closing during G-20 Summit

University officials say they still don’t know whether Pitt will remain open during the G-20 Summit, which will take place two weeks from now. Some professors, reluctant to await word from administrators, are devising their own plans to cope with the event and the influx of people it’s expected to bring to Downtown and Oakland.

While many instructors view the event — and the University’s delays in disclosing its plans for it — as an inconvenience, others also see the G-20 as a unique learning opportunity.

Gerald Shuster, a visiting lecturer in Pitt’s communication department, plans to offer extra credit to some of his students participating in the Summit, for which the Pittsburgh public schools, Duquesne, Robert Morris and Carlow universities, among other places, have cancelled classes.

“For any political events, students are always informed whenever possible, and they can choose to participate on whatever level they wish,” he said. “While I feel civic involvement on any level is everyone’s responsibility, I urge students to actively participate in ongoing political campaigns to learn the mechanics of [them].”

Shuster said he’ll give extra credit to students covering the Summit as members of the media or to students involved in the local planning of the Summit.

“While I would not oppose any student’s participation in protesting the event, given the nature of my class and its objectives, doing so would not merit extra credit,” he said.

Pitt history professor Tony Novosel said he hopes to hold class during the Summit, but he’s making a video podcast of his lecture as a precaution. “That means that if we have class, the video podcast will supplement, and if it is canceled, we have class taken care of,” he said.

Assistant professor Roberta Hatcher plans to make her evening class optional Thursday, Sept. 24, and to arrange for students to make up the work.

“If I do determine that access will be difficult enough to merit canceling class, I will do so shortly before and announce it to students by e-mail and by posting the cancellation by an agreed time on the class Courseweb site,” she said.

Hatcher said she’s chosen this approach because she, like most other people in the city, doesn’t know what security measures will be in place during the Summit. She also said she “anticipates that students might want to be involved in various ways in this historic event, whether as volunteers, demonstrators or as student reporters.”

Despite traffic delays, detours and closings, some professors say a student’s interest in the event merits lax requirements during the week of the Summit.

Meanwhile, University administrators don’t seem to know for sure when they’ll decide whether the University will remain open for the Sept. 24-25 summit.

Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said in a news release that the University’s “general approach will be to maintain operations that are as close to normal as possible” and that the University will disclose its plans for the Summit this week.

But when asked about rumors that the University was waiting until after the White House holds an informational meeting today to decide about the Summit’ssecurity operations, Pitt spokesman John Fedele said he wasn’t sure when the University would release its plans and that he’s heard nothing about this “official statement” from the White House.