Point Park Globe Fall 2018 Issue 11

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@PPUGlobe November 7, 2018

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Campus Cursive sends written condolences to Tree of Life victims Jordan Slobodinsky reflects on how sports can heal a city struck by tragedy Men’s basketball start season under guidance of coach Joe Lewandowski ppuglobe.com

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PITTSBURGH PROTESTS TRUMP

A year later: full-time faculty union contract “amiable” By Mick Stinelli Co-News Editor

Jared Murphy | The Globe

A child sitting on a man’s shoulders holds up a sign during a march to honor the 11 Tree of Life Victims and to protest President Trump’s visit to Squirrel Hill. The march started at the corner of Beechwood Boulevard and Forbes Avenue, only blocks away from where the October 27 shooting occurred.

Issue 11

Point Park faculty and administration are still working on defining language in the union contract that was finalized in August of last year after an extensive negotiation period. Issues concerning compensation for certain faculty activities and defining key language have continued to be the subject of discussion, according to Karen Dwyer, faculty union chair and associate professor of creative writing. Paying faculty for projects like serving on graduate committees and reading theses have remained undefined by the union contract, Dwyer and Ed Meena, professor of history and union officer, said. “It’s certainly been a period of adjustment on both sides,” Meena said. It’s an issue that arises from new types of work coming up after finalizing the contract, according to Lisa Stefanko, vice president of human resources at Point Park. The Ph.D program in clinical psychology, for example, was founded within

the past year. Stefanko said the faculty and university would negotiate agreements on compensation by looking at the time and effort involved in an activity. Another point of ongoing discussion is academic requirements for new faculty. In addition to accreditation requirements, hiring committees look for potential faculty who have terminal degrees - the highest degree in a field of study. But terminal degrees vary across disciplines and universities, Dwyer and Stefanko said. A hiring committee may look for a dance professor with a master of fine arts, or they might require someone with specific experience in a certain style of ballet. “We’re not looking to lock in to something very hard and fast and rigid,” Stefanko said. “In literary arts, it’s really clear and easy to tell what degrees are needed to be a faculty member there. But others are a little less clear.” Stefanko said some potential faculty, like business professors, needed profes-

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USG debates amending LGBTQ resource fair held in Lawrence constitution, proposals USG By Amanda Andrews USG Beat Writer

The United Student Government (USG) engaged in heated debate at this week’s legislative body meeting concerning Senator Mathew Johnson’s list of proposed bylaw changes and amendments to USG’s constitution. Nearly the entire legislative body agreed in discussions over the last month that the current version of the USG constitution is in need of revision. USG’s rules committee, headed by Parliamentarian Matthew Spadaccia, oversees proposed amendments and is generally the authority on USG’s constitution. Johnson submitted his list of proposed constitutional changes to Vice President Brittany Arp, who then forwarded it to Parliamentarian Spadaccia to be reviewed by the rules committee. However, Johnson insisted on passing out copies of his proposal to the other senators during the legislative body meeting. The 13-page document is a “transition of bylaws into [USG’s] constitution” with the aim of making USG’s constitution “easier to understand,” according to Johnson. Many senators drew objections to the sweeping nature and lengthiness they felt of

Johnson’s suggestions, including Senator Alexa Lake. “As it stands, the laws that we follow are tiered and the constitution is the highest tier and everything flows under that,” Lake said at the meeting. “This change is so overarching. It not only blurs the lines between those tiers but it blocks us in. Bylaws are easier to amend, and we can change that with time.” Discussions on the issue lasted for another 20 minutes until the adjournment of the meeting, leaving no time for open floor. As the term implies, open floor is where the student body has the floor to speak and is allowed to comment, ask questions and address issues with USG directly at the end of each meeting. Parliamentarian Spadaccia insisted, despite the legislative body’s vote to table discussion on Johnson’s suggested changes, the rules committee would still review Johnson’s proposals, although it might take a considerable amount of time to do so. USG senators also heard from the Director of the Counseling Center, Kurt Kumler, at the beginning of the meeting. He described the services the Counseling Center provides, the changes that the center is implementing and addressed questions from USG senators.

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Katie Williams | The Globe

The LGBTQ+ Resource Fair was held last Wednesday in the Lawerence Hall Lobby. Organizations such as GSSA Point Park, Planned Parenthood and Pittsburgh Action Against Rape were some of the vendors present. By Sarah Gibson Co-News Editor

An LGBTQ resource fair was held in the Lawrence Hall lobby last Wednesday, with booths meant to aid LGBTQ students. Panelists dressed in Halloween costumes sat in booths that lined the walls to offer resources, pamphlets and even STI testing to interested students. The event was organized by senior Public Relations and Advertising major Autumn Barszczowski, who got

the idea to host the fair while taking an LGBTQ mental health class at Point Park. “I wanted something where students could see that there are outside organizations as well as organizations on campus that are available to LGBTQ-plus students,” Barszczowski said. Barszczowski was interested in using the mental health course to fulfill her honors requirement, and decided to orchestrate the fair to complete the honorization. While she originally

wanted to schedule a panel discussion, the more planning progressed, the more Barszczowski realized she wanted something similar to the student organization showcase done at the beginning of the year. Dr. Sarah Schulz, professor of the LGBTQ mental health class and Barszczowski’s faculty advisor for the event, aided Barszczowski with finding contacts and advised her through the process. “Autumn came up with

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Weather Forecast Today: Partly Cloudy H 54, L 33

Thursday: Partly Cloudy, H 47, L 38 Friday: Showers, H 46, L 29 Saturday: Partly Cloudy, H 39, L26

Sunday: Partly Cloudy, H 45, L 33 Monday: Cloudy, H 44, L 33 Tuesday: Snow, H 39, L 31

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