IN THIS ISSUE: PAGE
@PPUGlobe April 3, 2019
5 PAGE 6 PAGE 7
Kiss performs for sold-out crowd during farewell ‘End of the Road’ tour Columnist Mick Stinelli takes a satirical look at USG legislative meetings Baseball takes two of three games from first place IU Kokomo ppuglobe.com
Covering the world of Point Park University news since 1967
Issue 12
President shuts down Students flounder amidst onslaught of phishing emails redaction resolution By Amanda Andrews Staff Writer
The phishing phenomenon has returned with a vengeance this semester. And this time, scam emails have become increasingly sophisticated. Students’ email inboxes have been inundated with emails under subject headers meant to blend in with typically received emails. These headers include things such as “Watch this…” or “Tomorrow’s class meeting in JVH!”, complete with a link in the message. While many students and faculty members choose to ignore opening these emails to begin with, there are some who fall prey to the scam. Sophomore screenwriting major Ian Thompson was briefly affected by a phishing attack when he opened what looked to be an important email. “It took me to a new page where there was an error and it didn’t open,” Thompson said. “It was like one of those virus threat alerts that pop up when you use illegal video sites.” According to IT Director Tim Wilson, the con-
sequences of these attacks can be varied. “Most of the time user credentials are compromised,” Wilson said. “This information can be used in a number of ways from attempting to infect the machine with malware or a virus to using the account for sending out other spam messages.” Senior public relations and advertising major Rachel Gates receives phishing emails in her inbox but hasn’t been affected by any yet. “A lot of them just go straight into my junk mail,” Gates said. “But yeah they’re just super annoying and just obnoxious.” The method Gates uses to filter out phishing emails mostly boils down to common sense. “I think that if you know what to look for, they’re sort of in a similar format,” Gates said. “But if you’re just not paying attention and you’re going through quick, I think it’s pretty easy to click on it.” While IT has no filter solution as of yet to completely block out phishing emails - especially as they
become more advanced Wilson’s tip to students, staff and faculty rings similar to Gates’. “My best advice is to go back and remember what your parents told you, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” Wilson said. “I just add ‘Don’t click on it!’...hey, we can learn things from our parents.” Wilson also stated that IT has tested a two-factor identification system and introduced it to faculty and staff with plans to soon turn it on for students in hopes that will solve some of the phishing issues. As of right now, IT has been sending general email messages to faculty and staff about phishing attacks and sends out emails about phishing to students “when appropriate.” For students affected by a phishing attack, they should go to the IT Help Desk to assess the damage. “I spoke to IT and they reset my password so it couldn’t be used anymore,” Thompson said. “I just don’t want anyone else to have to deal with this.”
Amanda Andrews aaandre@pointpark.edu
USG By Jordyn Hronec Co-News Editor
The United Student Government (USG) met on Monday, April 1 in the JVH Auditorium. The legislative body met to vote on a veto to Resolution 3182019.1, brought forward by President Kaylee Kearns. Also present at the meeting were two guest speakers, Library Director Liz Evans and Director of Student Life Amanda Anderson. “This Resolution is incomplete in its explanation of the entire process regarding how redactions are to be handled,” Kearns wrote in a letter to all USG members, explaining the veto. “It needs time guidelines regarding privacy rights of an individual. I am recommending a time limit of five years before information can become unredacted in regards to an individual’s rights. I want to ensure honest discussion among the organization and its members to protect a student from having sensitive information become public.” Vice President Brittany Arp stated that the executive cabinet is currently working
with Senator Hattie Charney to construct a new resolution, using the already standing Sunshine Act to ensure transparency. “Going forward, we want to eliminate having to redact things, because of the issues that we had,” Charney said. “So by setting up this process, it will be us trying to do something now, rather than looking ahead and making things better for the upcoming years.” According to Charney, her proposed resolution specifically outlines seven reasons for why a meeting may need to be closed. Senator Jake Berlin expressed concern with moving to veto the Resolution, seeing as the legislative body had previously voted unanimously to approve it. “I am absolutely not going to take heed to one presidential student over that of the entire public and the entire unanimous rules committee and senate who pushed these forward,” Berlin said. “And as someone who is a current presidential candidate, I don’t even want to give myself that much power and set that dangerous of a precedent going forward.”
USG page 3
Point Blank Live Again! streams live on campus Point Blank Comedy Collective puts on encore production Jordyn Hronec Co-News Editor
Last year, “Point Blank Live!” captivated the student body with its original comedy and Saturday Night Live-esque sketches. In fact, the event was voted “2018’s Point Park Event of the Year.” But since then, the Point Blank Comedy Collective was officially established, and they returned this year with a vengeance. On Sunday, March 31 at 8 p.m., the comedy collective performed “Point Blank Live Again!” (PBLA), both to a live audience in the library GRW theater and over livestream. According to Point Blank Comedy Collective president, Chris Copen, it was no easy feat following last year’s debut. “It was extremely difficult,” Copen, a sophomore cinema production major, said. “We had to find interesting ways to tie in last year, but make it so that if you didn’t see last year, you still knew what was going on.” According to Copen, Sunday night’s live audience consisted of over 140 attendants. On the two nights leading up to the main show, there were preview shows that students could attend. On the first night, over 60 students at-
tended, and on the second night, over 80 students. The show consisted of both live and pre-recorded sketches, shown on monitors to the live audience. Sketch concepts included the performance of an Amish improv group at the Lancaster County Fair, an English class where students shared samples of naughty fanfiction, a group of anarchist wives in a fake book club and a parody of a typical dance class at Point Park. Throughout the series of sketches, there was also a consistent plotline. George Rowland White, the namesake of Point Park’s dance complex and the very theater in which PBLA was performed, played the role of the antagonist who hired a troupe of professional actors, keen on taking the place of the original PBLA crew in order to make more money. White was played by Jake Berlin, a junior mass communication major. Hayley Oakley, a junior sports, arts and entertainment major, is the vice president of Point Blank Comedy Collective and served as the production team executive of PBLA. According to Oakley, the collective wasn’t originally planning on putting on the production.
“We didn’t know if we wanted to do it,” Oakley said. “It was such a huge thing to take on. Originally we weren’t going to do it again. We were going to do monthly sketch comedy shows, and then people begged us to do
Point Blank Live again, and it was successful.” According to Oakley and Copen, production on PBLA began in November and took four months to put together. Logan LaMaster, a
sophomore sports, arts and entertainment management major, served as both an actor in the show, as well as a writer. “My favorite part about working on the production
POINT BLANK page 3
Jordyn Hronec | The Globe
Point Blank Live Again! actors perform a sketch involving a group of anarchist house wives who pretend to be in a book club.
Weather Forecast Today: Mostly Sunny H 61, L 41
Thursday: Showers, H 54, L 45 Friday: Light Rain, H 58, L 46 Saturday: Showers, H 64, L 47
Sunday: Cloudy H 73, L 57 Monday: Showers, H 71, L 53 Tuesday: Showers, H 64, L 45
Point Park
GLOBE