SIDEBAR: Breathe in, breathe out: Mindfulness practices find focus at Pitt
By Erin Hare / For The Pitt News
March 14, 2016
Mindful meditation can relieve chronic, debilitating pain in older adults, according to a new study from Pitt researchers. Researchers from UPMC published the study, which showed the effects of meditation on chronic pain, in the American Medical Association’s journal of internal medicine in March 2...
Breathe in, breathe out: Mindfulness practices find focus at Pitt
By Emily Brindley / Staff Writer
March 14, 2016
Cross your T’s, dot your I’s, mind your manners as well as your inner self — or so says a wave of recent research and an increased focus on being present. In the midst of some 28,000 students with racing, cluttered thoughts, the Center for Mindfulness and Consciousness Studies opened last semeste...
Pitt study finds overdose deaths rise in Pa.
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
March 14, 2016
As the country sees a nationwide rise in heroin use, as well as deaths and legal issues surrounding the drug, Pitt researchers found the rate of overdose deaths in the state has increased since 1979. Drug overdose deaths in Pennsylvania increased 14-fold over the last four decades, according to a study Pitt ...
Students speak at ‘safe space’
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
March 4, 2016
Just because Abby Meinen and Marcus Robinson are different people with different experiences, that doesn’t mean they can’t talk about sensitive and controversial topics together. But when they do, Meinen said, they need to respect each other — something she didn’t see at Milo Yiannopoulos...
Lists, meetings and 40,000 meals: A day in the life of Market’s executive chef
By Alexa Bakalarski / Staff Writer
March 4, 2016
Mid-morning Wednesday, Chris Cox looked down at one of his three notepads. He knew he had to fill and send out two or three large food orders, with the help of a few student workers. And write the Food Committee meeting menu. And meet with his three sous — French for “under” — chefs to figure...
Pitt adds environmental science major
By Lianna Rana / For the Pitt News
March 4, 2016
Pitt students can now study the environment through the lens of human influence on the earth. Starting this semester, students can officially declare environmental science as their major after the Department of Geology and Environmental Science announced the new major in a release Feb. 17. The progr...
PPC announces Bigelow Bash headliners
By Lauren Rosenblatt / Assistant News Editor
March 4, 2016
This spring, two headlining artists will claim the street and the stage at Bigelow Bash. On Thursday at 11 p.m., Pitt Program Council announced Bigelow Bash, the annual outdoor spring concert, will feature two headliners — X Ambassadors, an alternative rock band, and B.o.B., a hip hop artist — ...
Pitt to host course on Muslims in America
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
March 3, 2016
Pitt’s ninth installment of its series on Muslims is turning its focus to Islam’s role in the United States. Coming the weekend after spring break, “Muslims in a Global Context” — a free, biannual, one-credit course — is the result of a partnership between Pitt’s Global Studies Center ...
Gallagher calls on state legislators to pass budget
By Zoë Hannah / Assistant News Editor
March 3, 2016
After eight months of impasse, Chancellor Patrick Gallagher has united with the presidents of three state-related universities in Harrisburg to urge state legislators to pass a budget. A statement Gallagher released Wednesday morning was his latest request for state lawmakers to restore Pitt’s state fun...
University renews PittPerks benefit program
By Alexa Bakalarski / Staff Writer
March 3, 2016
Pitt’s Senate Committee on Benefits and Welfare decided Tuesday to continue and improve PittPerks, the program implemented to give employees discounts at local businesses, for another year. The free employee discount program is available to all faculty, staff, research associates and post-doctoral as...
Students speak out against Yiannopoulos
By Lauren Rosenblatt / Assistant News Editor
March 2, 2016
In the spirit of free speech, Pitt’s Student Government Board passed the microphone Tuesday to a line of students speaking out about a controversial speaker whose visit SGB partially funded. At its public meeting in Nordy’s Place, students packed the William Pitt Union’s multipurpose room to ...
Conservatism and controversy: Milo Yiannopoulos speaks at Pitt
By Albert Giovanazzi and Zoë Hannah / The Pitt News Staff
March 1, 2016
With shouts of support for Donald Trump intermixing with middle fingers raised in silent protest, Pitt students both applauded and decried Milo Yiannopoulos’ meditation on free speech Monday night in the William Pitt Union. College Republicans brought the gay, British sociopoliti...
Presidential snapshot: Matt Sykes
By Leo Dornan / Staff Writer
March 1, 2016
With five semesters of Student Government Board under his belt, Matthew Sykes has his eyes on the President’s gavel. Starting in his first year of college, the senior industrial engineering major first helped his Resident Assistant run for a Board seat and later ran for a seat on the Allocations C...
Candidate count: As the number of SGB candidates dwindles, students are left without a choice
By Lauren Wilson / Staff Writer
February 29, 2016
For the third year in a row, Student Government Board elections aren’t much of a competition. Tuesday’s ballot will show only eight candidates running for eight Board seats and two candidates vying for the presidential seat. The last year more than 10 candidates ran for Board positions was 2012, ...
Hayes receives honorary doctorate at Honors Convocation
By Josh Ye / Staff Writer
February 29, 2016
In the eyes of Terrance Hayes, language is a feisty animal, and he is just a student who wrestles with it. In honor of Hayes’ success in taming that beast, Chancellor Patrick Gallagher awarded the poet and Pitt professorwith an honorary doctorate of fine arts at this year’s Honors Convocation. P...
Students, community members march to raise minimum wage
By Andrew O'Brien / Staff Writer
February 29, 2016
Pitt students and community members marched through campus to protest minimum wage and student debt Friday. United Students Against Sweatshops, a nationwide student-led labor activism group with a chapter at Pitt, hosted the “March to Take Back Our University” on Friday, Feb. 26, to advocate increasin...
Sanders supporters rally in Oakland and Downtown
By Josh Ye / Staff Writer
February 29, 2016
Pitt senior Sisto Campana and his parents showed support for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Saturday morning, the same day of the South Carolina Democratic primary. The March for Bernie started at about 11 a.m. in front of the Cathedral of Learning, where attendees could register to vote in pop-u...
Sociologist explores gender at high school
By Lianna Rana / For the Pitt News
February 26, 2016
`In a Pittsburgh public high school, girls and boys spent a school year segregated. Sara Goodkind, a sociology professor in the Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies department at Pitt, learned through student interviews that the gender-segregated classes led to internalized sexism and inappropria...
The Pitt News wins Keystone Press awards
By Zoë Hannah / Assistant News Editor
February 24, 2016
The Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association awarded The Pitt News top prizes and honorable mentions for seven stories and design pieces published in 2015 in six categories Wednesday. The PNA’s 2016 Student Keystone Press Awards recognized “high school and college journalism that provides relevance,...
Dove model brings ‘real beauty’ to Pitt
By Danni Zhou / Staff Writer
February 24, 2016
Former Dove Real Beauty Campaign model Stacy Nadeau was shocked when a reporter from the Chicago Sun-Times wrote in reference to her body that “the only time I want to see thigh that big is in a bucket with bread crumbs on it.” After he called all six Dove models “fat and ugly,” he received ...
SGB proposes changes to constiution
By Lauren Wilson / Staff Writer
February 24, 2016
Students may get to make Student Government Board’s constitution gender-neutral in next week’s election, the Board announced Tuesday night in the William Pitt Union. President Nasreen Harun announced at SGB’s weekly meeting that the Board would establish a review committee to propose changes to...
Dall, Sykes debate for presidency
By Saskia Berrios-Thomas / Staff Writer
February 23, 2016
With only one chance to face their competitors head-on, Student Government Board presidential candidates Matt Sykes and Natalie Dall faced off during the election debate in Nordy’s Place Monday night. With eight candidates running for eight open Board seats, current Board members Sykes and Dall de...
Paper pledges: Pitt unveils It’s On Us project
By Alexa Bakalarski / Staff Writer
February 23, 2016
Colorful slips of paper were draped over walls, coat racks, chairs and a podium Monday afternoon, symbolizing the pervasive nature of sexual assault on campus — but also the united fight to stop it. Kristine Irwin, a Pittsburgh Action Against Rape volunteer, spoke about her assault and changing ca...
Author calls for income equality
By Albert Giovanazzi / For The Pitt News
February 23, 2016
Robert D. Putnam’s daughter raised his granddaughter, Miriam, in a privileged, upper-class home. Miriam graduated from high school, is on her way to college and has never used drugs. His friend’s granddaughter, “Mary Sue,” grew up in a lower-income area, where she sold marijuana, went to a j...
Students text and drive in simulator
By Andrew O'Brien / For The Pitt News
February 21, 2016
Students rolled through stop signs and nearly hit bicyclists in an indoor texting-and-driving simulation Friday in Posvar Hall for AT&T’s It Can Wait campaign. The company partnered with the Phi Delta Theta social fraternity to bring a virtual reality texting-and-driving simulator to the first floor of...
Dhirana yields biggest donation yet
By Tomasz Swierzewski / For The Pitt News
February 21, 2016
Dressed in traditional garb and telling religious stories through Indian dance, eight teams raised more than $10,000 for a local health clinic at Pitt’s annual Dhirana competition this weekend in Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum. On Saturday night, eight Indian dance teams from around the c...
University Senate talks tech with CSSD
By Emily Migdal / Staff Writer
February 21, 2016
The University Senate Computer Usage Committee met Friday to begin planning for technology improvements in Pitt’s five-year strategic plan. Eight committee members and two members of the Office of Computing Services and Systems Development met in Room 717 of the Cathedral of Learning at 10 a.m. to d...
Student dies in South Oakland house
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
February 21, 2016
This story has been updated. A 21-year-old male Pitt student was pronounced dead Sunday morning at a South Oakland residence, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. Rick Lorah, a forensic supervisor for the office, said the student, Chase A. Longo, a mechanical engineeri...
Keeping the peace: How Pitt police use community policing to bridge the gap between students and Oakland residents
February 18, 2016
Keeping the peace: How Pitt police use community policing to bridge the gap between students and Oakland residentsSaskia Berrios-Thomas / Staff WriterFeb. 18, 2016As Pitt Police Officer Charles Welsch approached the South Oakland porch, the students who saw him started to run.He walked past those who ...
University Senate talks diversity, assaults and budget impasse
By Leo Dornan / Staff Writer
February 18, 2016
Pitt’s graduate and undergraduate student governments, along with other members of a working group, have called on the University Senate Council to commit to focusing on diversity and inclusion in the 2016-2017 school year. At Wednesday’s monthly Senate Council meeting, council members listened and re...
Pitt Sodexo employees start negotiating new contract
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
February 18, 2016
Sodexo employees who work at Pitt began negotiating a new labor contract with the company Wednesday. 32BJ, the local branch of the Service Employees International Union, represents the 230 Sodexo employees who work primarily in Pitt’s two dining halls — Market Central and The Perch — and is negoti...
Pitt releases fossil fuel investments, students call for divestment
By Zoë Hannah, Dale Shoemaker and Lauren Rosenblatt / The Pitt News Staff
February 17, 2016
Nine months after they promised to do so, Pitt administrators have revealed that the school invests $26 million in the fossil fuel industry, information requested by a student group that wants Pitt to divest such holdings. The group, the Fossil Free Pitt Coalition, requested the information last year and w...
Students learn about consent
By Andrew O'Brien
February 16, 2016
College students are drilled on the definition of consent over and over — but many of them don’t understand how to apply these lessons to their daily lives. On Monday, Mike Domitrz, founder of The Date Safe Project — an organization that dedicates itself to educating people about consent as well as suppo...
Pitt to grant Hayes honorary degree
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
February 16, 2016
At its 40th annual Honors Convocation at the end of February, Pitt will award poet Terrance Hayes an honorary doctorate in fine arts. Chancellor Patrick Gallagher will award Hayes the degree at the ceremony at 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26 at the Carnegie Music Hall on Forbes Avenue. “[Hayes’] contribut...
“Vagina Monolouges” spotlight ASL
By Lianna Rana / For The Pitt News
February 15, 2016
In its 12th year, Pitt’s version of “The Vagina Monologues” went silent for the deaf and partially deaf. About 200 people gathered in the William Pitt Union at 7 p.m. Saturday to watch Pitt’s Campus Women’s Organization’s annual performance of “The Vagina Monologues” — an episodic collec...
Pitt tour highlights black history
By Emily Brindley / Staff Writer
February 15, 2016
On Martin Luther King Jr.’s first birthday after his assassination, the students who would later form Pitt’s Black Action Society locked themselves in a computer lab. On Jan. 15, 1969, the group of about 30 black students used a chair to lock themselves up in protest and demand more opportunit...
Students dance to protest violence against women
By Saskia Berrios-Thomas / Staff Writer
February 15, 2016
When Pitt students want to fight an injustice, they usually make signs, march and protest. But Saturday, they danced. To raise awareness of the worldwide violence against women, Pitt’s chapter of Amnesty International, an activist organization working to end discrimination, hosted its fourth annual O...
No love for women fishing for women
By Alexa Bakalarski / Staff Writer
February 12, 2016
When Estizer Smith logged into her dating accounts, she expected coffee date invites from other women. But instead, her inbox was filled with men — more specifically, men asking her for threesomes. Smith, a bisexual senior at Pitt, used Tinder for a year and Bumble for eight months before growing tir...
Trans students outsourcing for healthcare
By Josh Ye / Staff Writer
February 12, 2016
Rather than get trans health care on campus, Pitt students travel to Edgewood Every morning and night, Summer Wright takes two pills. The first is her daily dose of estrogen. The second blocks the testosterone her body produces. When her insurance plan expires in a few months, Wright, a transgender woman and...
Pitt to merge SIS, CS department
By Taylor Mulcahey / Staff Writer
February 11, 2016
Within the next year and a half, Pitt’s computer science department and school of information science will become one. The new undergraduate school, the School of Computing Informatics, is slated to accept its first students in the fall of 2017 and will combine the 32 SIS faculty with the 18 CS f...
SGB officially launches call for state budget
By Lauren Wilson / Staff Writer
February 10, 2016
Using pen, paper and Twitter, Pitt’s Student Government Board is appealing to Pennsylvania legislators to please — after seven months — pass a state budget. At SGB’s weekly meeting, Board members approved a resolution to officially insist that lawmakers pass a budget through letters and a so...
Less cell time, more discounts with Pocket Points app
By Leo Dornan / Staff Writer
February 10, 2016
Students finally have a tangible incentive for staying off their phones in class — discounts on local bites and coupons for stores around campus. Pocket Points, a free app two California State University, Chico students invented and launched in late 2014, awards users one point for every 35 minutes ...
SGB Election 2016: A Student’s Guide
By Lauren Wilson / Staff Writer
February 9, 2016
Pitt’s Student Government Board elections this March will mark the end of the longest SGB term in recent history. After passing a referendum in October 2014 to align its term with the academic year rather than the calendar year, the current Board took office in January 2015 and will serve until May. ...
Pitt offers first trans studies course
By Danni Zhou / Staff Writer
February 9, 2016
It’s too far past add/drop to get a seat in Pitt’s first transgender studies course, but there wouldn’t be room for newcomers anyway. As soon as Pitt’s Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies announced Special Topics: Transgender Studies, 25 students rushed to fill all of the open seats. The Monday ...
Pitt interviews fourth dean of students candidate
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
February 8, 2016
Editor's Note: This story has been updated When a student came to her office with mental health concerns and asked to withdraw from her classes, Cara Appel-Silbaugh used her position to ease the transition. The student was set on moving back home, so Appel-Silbaugh, the associate dean of students at the Georg...
Clitoris Talk: Pitt hears history of female sexuality
By Emily Migdal / Staff Writer
February 8, 2016
With a discussion on sex and anatomy, Susan Wells documented the history of female empowerment in a lecture this weekend. On Friday, Feb. 5, about 75 students, graduates and faculty members gathered in the lower lounge of the William Pitt Union to hear Wells’ “In Search of the Clitoris.” Well...
Bernice King visits Pitt
By Andrew O'Brien / For The Pitt News
February 8, 2016
Martin Luther King Jr.’s life may have been cut short by an assassin’s bullet almost 48 years ago, but his youngest daughter has picked up his fight for equality. On Friday, Bernice King, carrying on her father’s beliefs and legacy, brought that fight to Pitt. Bernice King, one of Martin Lu...
The Dean search: A student’s guide
By Dale Shoemaker / News Desk
February 8, 2016
A group of eight faculty, staff and students — all a part of a search committee — will make its recommendation to Pitt’s Provost Patricia Beeson and Chancellor Patrick Gallagher sometime today for who the next vice provost and dean of students should be. Last week, four candidates interviewed for...
A startup that suits: Pitt student starts fashion consulting company
By Zoë Hannah / Assistant News Editor
February 5, 2016
Tom Yanez boarded the Shanghai Metro in search of a custom-made suit, but ended up forming a friendship that would stitch together a startup business. Yanez, a junior marketing and Mandarin student at Pitt, was studying abroad in China in fall 2014 and went to see a tailor, Youzhi Hao, for a custom...
Oakland considers housing projects
By Casey Schmauder / Staff Writer
February 4, 2016
If approved, a new Oakland apartment building could house 489 students by the start of the 2018 school year. But not everyone is happy about this news. At a community development meeting Wednesday, representatives from Campus Advantage outlined their plans to bring a new 10-story building with one, t...
Texas dean interviews for Pitt job
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
February 4, 2016
Last year, when the Ebola virus terrified the United States, two students from Southern Methodist University worried they might be infected. The students had flown back to their campus in Dallas with two volunteer nurses who had shown signs of the disease. Amidst their fear, Joanne Vogel got to work....
Bullying hurts LGBTQ+ youth, study finds
By Saskia Berrios-Thomas / For The Pitt News
February 4, 2016
Alexander McCarthy can still feel his palms sweat and his chest clench when he recalls the rumors about his relationship with another student at his all-girls Catholic high school. McCarthy, a transgender man and former president of Rainbow Alliance, an LGBTQ+ student group at Pitt, did not experien...
Pitt police report three assaults
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
February 1, 2016
Pitt police are investigating three assaults that occurred over the weekend in Oakland. According to a crime alert, an unidentified man told police that an unknown person assaulted him around 1 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 31. The victim told police he was assaulted and injured on the 3400 block of Saint James P...
SEASA celebrates Aguman Sanduk and gender identities
By Amanda Halili / For The Pitt News
February 1, 2016
Pitt students celebrated gender identity and optimism with their version of a traditional Filipino cross-dressing festival Saturday in the William Pitt Union. Southeast Asian Student Alliance and Global Ties, a program that aims to facilitate cultural awareness in the Pitt community, hosted its versi...
Provost hosts conference for assessment
By Zoe Hannah / Assistant News Editor
January 29, 2016
At a conference devoted to improving student engagement outside of the classroom, Pitt faculty acted as students for a morning. After an 8:30 a.m. breakfast, around 100 Pitt faculty members met in the University Club Ballroom Thursday for Pitt’s Provost’s annual Assessment Conference. The provost, Patr...
Students found startup to trade books
By Casey Schmauder / Staff Writer
January 29, 2016
By the time Carey Wasa graduated Pitt in 2013, he had a stockpile of textbooks sitting on his windowsill that weren’t worth even trying to sell. “It hit me that there are students who probably need these books for classes, and I have them right here,” Wasa said. Wasa pitched the idea of star...
‘Full House’ star Jodie Sweetin visits Pitt
By Taylor Mulcahey / Staff Writer
January 28, 2016
Portraying Stephanie Tanner on the show “Full House,” Jodie Sweetin struggled to discover her identity as a child star. When the show ended, she still felt alone. She turned to alcohol and found “the key to fitting into [her] skin.” “When I was 13 years old and I picked up my first drink, I f...
The myth of the unbiased judge
By Leo Dornan / Staff Writer
January 28, 2016
Because judges are humans, they are biased based on their experiences and lives — and that’s okay, said law professor Pat K. Chew said at her Wednesday afternoon lecture. “We anticipate the insights a judge’s life experience brings as positive,” Chew said. “We should do the same with their ex...
Student groups host ‘Condom Casino’
By Elli Warsh / Staff Writer
January 27, 2016
On Tuesday night, the O’Hara Ballroom filled with music, dance, chatter and free condoms. The Campus Women’s Organization sponsored Condom Casino, an event that about 200 Pitt students and about 10 campus organizations attended, including the Title IX Office, Hillel, Healthy U and SHARE. Amid music...
Pitt, SGB to rent compost dumpster
By Lauren Wilson / Staff Writer
January 27, 2016
This week, Pitt will install its first long-term composting dumpster outside Posvar Hall, Student Government Board environmental chair Joe Streets announced Tuesday. At its weekly public meeting Tuesday night, Streets announced that Facilities Management, along with PittServes and his committee, would place ...
Pitt forms consent, sexuality group
By Danni Zhou / For The Pitt News
January 26, 2016
Jillian Bunis wasn’t satisfied after she heard Pitt’s Greek Life lecture on consent and sexual misconduct. Bunis, a junior studying nursing, wanted every student — not just those in Greek Life — to have a more personal sexual assault education. She felt that a more intimate setting would yi...
Filmmaker, students talk poverty
By Leo Dornan / Staff Writer
January 25, 2016
.After watching “Poverty, Inc.,” a group of Pitt students learned their charitable efforts may not be as helpful as presented. More than 150 students gathered in the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium for a screening of “Poverty, Inc.,” a film that critiques aid initiatives that neglect the complexities of i...
Students battle in alumni’s snowy game
By Emma Solak / Staff Writer
January 25, 2016
Charles Ireland was “frozen” on the Cathedral Lawn this weekend — but not because of the frigid temperatures. “SOS, medic — I’m frozen,” Ireland cried out for one of his teammates to rescue him in the middle of the snow-covered lawn, playing in a snowball-filled version of capture the f...
Photo essay: Pittsburgh’s First Class Bhangra performs at Pitt
By Casey Schmauder and Wenhao Wu / The Pitt News Staff
January 21, 2016
First Class Bhangra members took off their shoes and helped tie each other’s colorful costumes firmly in place as they prepared for their critique night in Posvar Hall. Wednesday, dance team First Class Bhangra performed in front of peers in preparation for Saturday’s Buckeye Mela at Ohio St...
Police, students focus of Oakwatch
By Emily Brindley / Staff Writer
January 21, 2016
At this month’s Oakwatch meeting, Oakland residents reviewed the neighborhood’s improvements in community policing and frustrations with transparency over the fall semester. Oakwatch members, who identify and attempt to resolve code violations in Oakland, held their monthly meeting 3 p.m. Wednesday ...
Pitt powers through state budget impasse
By Emily Brindley / Staff Writer
January 21, 2016
While the state scrambles to pass the 2015-2016 budget, Chancellor Patrick Gallagher refuses to let the financial crisis thwart the University’s excellence. On Wednesday afternoon, Gallagher and the University Senate Council addressed the continuing state education budget impasse and the accompli...
From storage to snapshots
By Alexa Bakalarski / For The Pitt News
January 20, 2016
Deep underground, in the basement of the Cathedral of Learning, a Lithuanian string instrument has been silent in storage for more than 80 years. Larger than a violin but slightly smaller than a guitar, the kanklès has 12 strings, including a broken one that swings out from the instrument. Pitt receive...
Movement leader speaks at Pitt
By Saskia Berrios-Thomas / For The Pitt News
January 20, 2016
Opal Tometi remembers exactly where she was and how she felt the day George Zimmerman’s “not guilty” verdict came in. “I had just watched [the movie] ‘Fruitvale Station,’ and when I walked out of the theater, my phone was blowing up with texts about the acquittal,” Tometi said. Tometi, ...
University Senate committee discusses alcohol education, upcoming panel
By Lauren Rosenblatt / Assistant News Editor
January 20, 2016
Pitt will roll out a survey on student drinking habits this semester and host a panel to teach other universities about easing tensions between students and nearby permanent residents. The Community Relations Committee of the University Senate announced these projects Tuesday in the Hillman Library at its fi...
Students serve for MLK Jr. Day
By Josh Ye and Emily Migdal / The Pitt News Staff
January 18, 2016
Rather than sleep in on Monday, Josh Hanley bundled up and boarded a bus to North Hills to care for abandoned animals. Similarly, Courtney Noeth and Michelle Hayner stitched patches of old T-shirts together to make blankets. The trio joined about 650 students who braved below-freezing temperatues to s...
Photo essay: Students gather to pray for south Asian flood and earthquake victims
By Leo Dornan and Nikki Moriello / The Pitt News Staff
January 18, 2016
In the wake of recent floods and earthquakes across South Asia, a circle of Pitt students gathered to pray together Friday night in the William Pitt Union. About 28 students from the Muslim Student Association, the Hindu Students Council, the South Asian Student Association and Asha for Education sat in a...
Students peruse winter community service options
By Elli Warsh / Staff Writer
January 14, 2016
Anxious to recruit members for her new service club, Raechel Heil stood at her volunteer fair booth with flyers and an ambitious smile. Students congregated at the booths of 72 organizations around Pittsburgh for PittServes’ Winter Volunteer Fair. In celebration of January as the Global Month of ...
Out of the darkness: Sorority hosts mental health discussion
By Leo Dorman / Staff Writer
January 14, 2016
In high school, Morgan Cooper-Okerchiri was known as “the funniest black girl you’ll ever meet.” To her, that wasn’t a compliment. With nobody else that looked like her at her predominantly white school, she felt isolated, ugly and depressed. If people could not see her beauty on the outside, Coope...
Pitt bans hoverboards
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
January 13, 2016
Pitt put its foot down Tuesday with a new rule that bans hoverboards from campus housing. Panther Central said in an email to students that it is banning hoverboards, which are self-balancing electric scooters, from University housing following consumer reports that some boards malfunctioned and ca...
Students teach study abroad safety
By Taylor Mulcahey / For The Pitt News
January 12, 2016
Amber Montgomery felt safe when she studied abroad in Jordan in the summer of 2015 except when she went to a pool house. When Montgomery, a junior history and political science major, retreated to the locker room after spending the day swimming with her host family, she smiled at a man who handed he...
Pitt student kicks off wushu club
By Emily Migdal / Staff Writer
January 11, 2016
Before she had ever attended class, had midnight fries at market or swiped her panther card, Gina Bao had already written the constitution for her wushu club at Pitt. Bao, a first-year student studying neuroscience, started the club in December 2015 to teach students about wushu, a modern version...
Allocations Committee loses two members, replaces one
By Lauren Rosenblatt / Assistant News Editor
January 10, 2016
Student Government Board announced Friday, Jan. 8, that two Allocations Committee members resigned. Allocations Committee member John Garry resigned to study abroad and Allocations Committee member Joelle Smith stepped down to pursue an internship with KDKA. Allocations Committee alternate member...
Pitt students complete DIY service projects
By Zoë Hannah / Staff Writer
January 7, 2016
In less time than it takes to catch a Cathedral elevator, students transformed ripped up jeans, construction paper and old T-shirts into blankets, letters and rugs Thursday at the PittServes Do-It-Yourself Service Fair. A handful of students gathered in the Kurtzman Room on Thursday evening from 7 to 9...
Marijuana decriminalization won’t affect Pitt policy
By Dale Shoemaker and Elizabeth Lepro / News Staff
January 7, 2016
Rather than arresting people on minor marijuana offenses, Pittsburgh police now have the option to fine offenders up to $100 for having 30 grams or less of marijuana or eight grams or less of hashish, according to a Pittsburgh City Council law Mayor Bill Peduto signed Dec. 22. Kenyon Bonner, interim vic...
Kickin’ it with martial arts club
By Alexa Bakalarski / For The Pitt News
January 6, 2016
On the ground floor of Trees Hall, students dressed in a mishmash of karate uniforms, T-shirts and multi-colored belts kick furiously into a punching bag without breaking concentration. Smack! Whop! The blow of the kicks hitting the bags disrupts the fast-paced pop music pulsing through the room. O...
The Pitt News’ 2015 Year in Review
By The Pitt News Staff
December 31, 2015
A crackdown on overcrowding, the Student Government Board president's resignation, and pushes for bike lanes and a professors union — it's been a busy year for Pitt, and The Pitt News has been there for it all. While we have been making our New Year's resolutions to make your student newspaper even...
Light-years of learning: Pitt students, learn stars, history at Allegheny Observatory
By Zoe Hannah / Staff Writer
December 14, 2015
Though it started out as a recreational observatory for the rich men who founded it, the Allegheny Observatory became the home of research that changed the world and our thoughts on what surrounds it. Since 1859, researchers at the regal, tri-domed observatory in Riverview Park have made world-renow...
Blasting gender barriers: There aren’t many, but more and more women are studying the stars at Pitt
By Josh Ye / Staff Writer
December 14, 2015
Pitt graduate student Kara Ponder studies exploding stars to find critical distances in the universe, yet some people question why she didn’t pick a more “feminine profession.” Once, when Ponder told a cab driver she was on her way to the observatory to use the telescope, the driver responded...
Spinning wheels: Though the city has answered calls for safer streets, Pittsburgh remains stalled on bike lanes in Oakland
By Elaina Zachos and Zoë Hannah / The Pitt News Staff
December 11, 2015
First, a black Jeep crashed into cyclist Dan Yablonsky in Lawrenceville in 2012, shattering his hip, arm and leg and sending him into a five-month-long coma. Then, a mini-van hit and abandoned biker Sage Ziviello, a student at Chatham University, in Shadyside in 2013, leaving her with hip injuries ...
Despite resignation, classes at Pittsburgh Filmmakers will roll on
By Rio Maropis / Staff Writer
December 11, 2015
Though the executive director of Pittsburgh Filmmakers and Pittsburgh Center for the Arts has resigned from his post, classes for Pitt film students at the nonprofit will roll on. Charlie Humphrey, who was the executive director of Filmmakers for 23 years, also has overseen activities at Pittsburgh Ce...
Tired of taking it easy
By Annemarie Carr / Staff Writer
December 10, 2015
Most students take time over school breaks to recover from the high-stress of a chaotic semester — but Christine Chau often finds herself fending off a fever in bed. “Getting out of bed when I’m sick is the hardest thing to do. I feel like there’s a huge brick on my body preventing me from...
At last meeting of term, SGB looks to amend election code
By Lauren Wilson / Staff Writer
December 9, 2015
Looking to safeguard against one slate of candidates taking over the board, Pitt Student Government Board proposed revisions to its election code Tuesday night in the William Pitt Union. Celia Millard, Elections Committee Chair, introduced a bill to update SGB’s 2015-2016 elections code, which she hopes...
SGB reflects on fall term
By Lauren Wilson / Staff Writer
December 9, 2015
With one new board member and a handful of new committee members joining Student Government Board, the Board took on projects as small as sandwiches and as big as mental illness. From food, laundry and public health to human rights, diversity and transparency, the nine members of SGB faced the semest...
Lawyer educates student activists
By Zoë Hannah / Staff Writer
December 8, 2015
During protests about student debt and fossil fuels throughout the semester, senior Kai Pang prepared himself for potential run-ins with law enforcement. “I don’t think there’s ever a point where I feel 100 percent comfortable [protesting] out in the streets,” Pang said. “There are a lot of mis...
SGB, Pitt host student tenant workshop
By Emily Brindley / Staff Writer
December 8, 2015
Before Kevin Kerr graduated from Pitt in 2014, he said he had to duct tape a light switch in his off-campus rental to keep the outlet from catching fire. Now, as chief of staff for City Council President Bruce Kraus, Kerr helps inform Pitt students about their rights as tenants. “That stuff is n...
Students, community kick off Hanukkah in Oakland
By Emily Migdal and Lauren Rosenblatt / Pitt News Staff
December 7, 2015
In two separate Hanukkah celebrations that spanned Oakland, Pittsburgh’s Jewish community honked, cheered and danced its way into the first night of this year’s Festival of Lights. Starting at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, a police-escorted motorcade of about 100 cars and 50 bicycles — many adorned with hanukk...
Police clear owner of detonated suitcase in Oakland
By Dale Shoemaker and Sydney Harper / The Pitt News Staff
December 4, 2015
Pitt police have cleared the man who left a suitcase chained to a railing in Oakland, prompting the Pittsburgh bomb squad to detonate the suitcase and close traffic lanes this afternoon. Pitt spokesperson Joe Miksch said he didn’t know the man’s name, but said Pitt police had confirmed he owned the...
UPDATED: Police questioning a man after explosion in Oakland
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
December 4, 2015
The most recent version of this story can be found here. Pitt police said they are questioning an unidentified man who they believed owned a suspicious suitcase the bomb squad detonated around 3 p.m. in Oakland. The Pittsburgh bomb squad detonated a suitcase found chained to a guard rail outs...
The male brain on porn: Wheaton researcher speaks at Pitt
By Casey Schmauder / Staff Writer
December 4, 2015
William Struthers left the rat race of rodent research and started studying the brains of male porn addicts in 2004, delivering his findings to students Thursday night in the William Pitt Union. Struthers, a psychology professor at Wheaton College in Illinois, was initially an animal researcher, stud...
Pitt names SHARE coordinator
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
December 4, 2015
After a month-and-a-half-long search, Student Affairs has installed a new coordinator for its Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Education office. Michele Welker, who took over 47 days after former coordinator Mary Koch Ruiz retired on Sept. 30, will head the SHARE office. Welker started in ...
Researcher texts to curb drinking
By Zoe Hannah / Staff Writer
December 3, 2015
To recover from the stress of a busy week, Shaina Pomerantz and her friends let loose on the weekends, beginning at home and ending the night at an Oakland bar. Pomerantz, a 22-year-old senior sociology major, said she knows binge drinking is unhealthy, but that it’s an inherent part of the college e...
Students back union push at panel
By Emily Brindley / Staff Writer
December 3, 2015
When Sarah Leavens got a teaching job at Pitt, she thought it was a good fit. Three years later, she felt constricted. “I got into teaching because I’m a writer and I love teaching and I love writing,” Leavens said. “It seemed like a dream, and it seems like I should be living the dream.” ...
City starts plans for safer streets
By Elaina Zachos / Staff Writer
December 2, 2015
Amid a citywide debate on how to safely share roadways between pedestrians, cyclists and motorists, Pittsburgh officials discussed plans to improve the city’s roadways Tuesday night in Alumni Hall. More than 200 community members congregated from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Connolly Ballroom for a public me...
Students climb “FoodChain” with new app
By Lauren Wilson / Staff Writer
November 30, 2015
When Pitt senior Justin Ruoff went out to eat with his then-girlfriend in the summer of 2014, they had very different meal experiences. Ruoff ordered a burger and said it was delicious. He said his companion’s salad, however, was awful — the lettuce was brown and inedible. The couple didn’t w...
Susan Hicks Memorial Fund passes $10,000 goal
By Elizabeth Lepro / Assistant News Editor
November 23, 2015
Pitt students can help carry Susan Hicks’ legacy and passion for traveling by studying abroad with a scholarship in her name. In the weeks immediately after a car hit and killed Hicks, a Pitt adviser, while she was riding her bike on Fifth Avenue, her friends and family decided to set up an endowe...