Letter to the Editor 1, 2/26

To the Editor, I am writing in response to Tuesday’s article and editorial about the Pitt… To the Editor, I am writing in response to Tuesday’s article and editorial about the Pitt Program Council. The coverage on Tuesday was extremely disappointing for various reasons. The overwhelming support we received in response told me that those who have taken the time to learn how PPC really works understand our role. These were current and former students, administrators and even a former editor in chief of The Pitt News. I believe that if you had taken the time to research our organization as a whole, you could have seen the same. Your description of my role was inaccurate and sensationalized, seemingly in attempt to make more out of a story. Without our committee members, we could never be as successful as we are. We rely on them immensely for their influence and hard work. Our work is very much a collective effort by our committee members, executive board and advisers. As a group, we pick, plan and execute our programs. To misrepresent PPC as an autocracy discredits the hard work of so many people. To then criticize us on this inaccurate perception is wholly unfair. We work hard to live up to expectations put on us by students and administrators. Our track record speaks to this. We don’t do this for our resumes or to be ‘the richest students on campus,’ but because we love doing it. Any student can share this experience, and I invite every Pitt student to actively participate in PPC. I am writing to you today as a student who reads your paper every day. Just as PPC is the students’ programming board, this is the students’ newspaper. We look to you for accurate information about others’ experiences and ways to impact our own. Representing students and organizations fairly and accurately should be of the highest priority. JJ Abbott, executive board director Pitt Program Council