The Pitt News
T h e i n d e p e n d e n t s t ude nt ne w spap e r of t he U niversity of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | february 2, 2022 | Volume 112 | Issue 60
NEW STORE REDEFINES OAKLAND THRIFTING Jessica McKenzie Senior Staff Writer
The secret to successfully starting your own business is simply getting the guts to do so, according to Stanton Heights resident Jessica Erceg. She opened What’s Good?, a South Craig Street clothing storefront, pretty quickly after getting the idea. Erceg said when she looks at the storefront now, she can hardly believe opening it was her doing. “The whole thing happened really fast. I just got this wild idea, and now here we are,” Erceg said. “I don’t even know how I did it, I just did before I could talk myself out of it — sink or swim.” Erceg launched the What’s Good? clothing brand online-only last February after moving from New York City back to her native Pittsburgh. What’s Good? is usually open every day at around noon except Tuesday, and the store is a cumulation of clothes that Erceg selects and purchases herself with her interns, Manny Katz and Karyn Bartosic. The clothes span from everything to edgy vinyl and leather outerwear to more traditional graphic tees. The shop even includes a
The underside of the Charles Anderson Bridge. Jon Moss editor-in-chief
OAKLAND BRIDGE PLAGUED BY ‘POOR’ RATINGS SINCE 2012 Neena Hagen and Jon Moss
The Pitt News Staff
Soaring high above Junction Hollow, the Charles Anderson Bridge ferries more than 20,000 vehicles between Oakland and Schenley Park every day. The historic bridge, which spans nearly 800 feet along the Boulevard of the Allies, has been a major artery for travel since it was built in 1938. But as recently as 2018, inspectors deemed the bridge “structurally deficient.” It is among PittsSee Thrifting on page 6
burgh’s most dilapidated bridges, receiving “poor” ratings in the National Bridge Inventory, a federal database, since 2012. As Pittsburgh politicians debate infrastructure spending, preliminary planning is underway to rehabilitate the bridge, with construction anticipated to begin in 2025. Kent Harries, a professor of civil engineering at Pitt, said the bridge’s poor condition is “concerning,” but not “terribly surprising.” “We’ve got an old structure that really hasn’t received the maintenance that it needs,” Harries said. “It is just one of many neglected structures in the City, the county, the state, the country.”
Despite Harries’ concerns, he believes the bridge “doesn’t pose an immediate threat” to people’s safety. State records show Allegheny County is home to 175 bridges rated in “poor” condition, a fact thrust into the national spotlight when the Fern Hollow Bridge in Frick Park collapsed last Friday, injuring 10 people and stranding seven vehicles. The collapse occurred hours before President Joe Biden arrived in Pittsburgh to tout his $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, and brought new attenSee Bridge on page 2
News Bridge, pg. 1
tion to the Steel City’s now 445 bridges that span rivers, highways and valleys. Local elected officials, including Mayor Ed Gainey, announced several infrastructure initiatives on Tuesday in response to the collapse. One will form a commission to provide advice on best practices for short- and long-term infrastructure investments. Another will require the City to publicly release more information about City-maintained infrastructure, such as an inspection history and risk factors. Corey O’Connor, who represents Council District 5, which borders on the Anderson Bridge, introduced legislation to implement the initiatives. The Anderson Bridge has long earned attention from community members and local politicians for its deficiencies, according to Andrea Boykowycz, the assistant director for the Oakland Planning and Development Corp. “Oakland residents have voiced concerns about the safety of Anderson Bridge for decades,” Boykowycz said in an email. “But the community wasn’t really alerted that there’s significant structural fatigue in the bridge until 2017.” According to the latest data from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, the bridge’s substructure and superstructure are in “poor” condition and the deck is in “fair” condition. An October 2018 inspection found the condition of the structure and deck to be “intolerable,” and recommended “corrective action” for the structure and a replacement for the deck. The bridge had remained in “fair” condition since the
Counseling Center, Pitt police launch collaboration pittnews.com ‘90s before slipping to “poor” in October 2012. The federal bridge database listed an estimated rehabilitation cost of about $16.3 million for the bridge. Boykowycz said the bridge’s “deficiencies” extend beyond a deteriorating structure. The sidewalks are too narrow, she said, and because of the bridge’s design, traffic tends to speed up as it enters the bridge — in both directions. The City has been working for several years on a path forward for the bridge, which was first rehabilitated in 1987. The Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, along with engineering consultants from Michael Baker International, held two public meetings in September 2019 to discuss project timelines and collect community feedback. Pittsburgh’s current capital budget shows that the City intends to spend about $23.6 million through 2026 to repair the bridge. The budget includes about $7.25 million for bridge repairs across the City in 2022. City officials ultimately decided to move forward with rehabilitating the bridge instead of fully replacing it, according to a January presentation posted to a City website. The advantages to this option, according to the presentation, include less impact to the right of way and Schenley Park, improved lane configuration for Port Authority buses as well as separate, protected lanes for bikes, pedestrians and traffic. The presentation said the project’s next steps are to hold a public meeting and complete environmental clearance by the end of 2022, finish design work by 2023 and then complete other pre-construction steps before construction kicks off in 2025.
The bridge runs between Oakland and Schenley Park. Jon Moss editor-in-chief
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Mayor Ed Gainey speaks last Friday at Mill 19. Pamela Smith visual editor When asked whether construction should be expedited for local bridges in “poor” condition, mayoral spokesperson Sam Wasserman referred The Pitt News to a Tuesday announcement from Mayor Gainey about the new infrastructure commission and reporting initiatives for the City’s aging bridges. O’Connor said in a Tuesday interview that he thinks “all timelines should be sped up” for bridge projects. He added that it is important for a body like the proposed commission to provide outside input on the City’s infrastructure. “[We’re] putting a commission together of experts to come to City Council with budgetary requests. And it takes the politics out of it,” O’Connor said. “Whatever that concern might be, from an expert commission to come and tell us that, is going to go a long way.” Pittsburghers looking for “poor” bridges don’t have to venture far — there are 29 within Pittsburgh, about 7% of all bridges within city limits. The Boulevard of the Allies, a major thoroughfare with upgrades expected to start this year, is checkered with bridges in “poor” condition — seven of its 13 bridges in the route from Schenley Park to Downtown fall into the category. As Biden surveyed the wreckage in Frick Park last Friday, he said he “didn’t realize there are more bridges in Pittsburgh than any other city in the world.” He added that “we are going to fix them all.”
February 2, 2022
The president’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure package includes $1.6 billion for Pennsylvania bridges, but PennDOT told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in mid-January that the state hasn’t decided which bridges will receive the money. PennDOT spokesperson Alexis Campbell did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday about whether the state has finalized its list of funded projects. O’Connor said the Fern Hollow collapse was a “scary thing for all of us,” and thinks it sheds light on underlying infrastructure issues seen across the City and country. “If you’re worried about driving on bridges now, I think you’re going to see a bump up in inspections, a bump up in safety conversations, in order to make sure that this doesn’t happen in the future,” O’Connor said. “Right now, in analyzing this, putting … new eyes on these situations, we can come to determinations whether the bridges need to be open, closed temporarily, rehabbed, rebuilt, whatever that might be.” Harries said he encourages people to think about the nation’s infrastructure problems as “systemic,” adding that a “paradigm shift in society” is needed to fully address the deficiencies. “We need to recognize that it is not one bridge. It is not a series of bridges. It's not one road,” Harries said. “Our nation, our society, certainly our commerce is founded on infrastructure. Not one piece of it. But all of it.”
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New CGS major focuses on importance of ethics in criminal justice
Alaina Goldberg Staff Writer
Wes Hiers spent summer 2019 researching and analyzing hundreds of law, criminal justice and society programs across the country, in hopes of developing a new major at Pitt. After looking through 670 programs, Hiers, a sociologist and administration of justice and legal studies professor, ultimately narrowed down the list to 36. After this research, he had enough information to complete his goal and create a new major at Pitt. Pitt introduced the new College of General Studies major — law, criminal justice and society — last fall as a combination of legal studies and the administrative justice majors. The University is no longer accepting people into either the legal studies or administrative justice major as of spring 2022, as the new LCJS major encom. The faculty directors for the LCJS major are Hiers and Poppi Ritacco. Hiers moved into the position of program director for the administration of justice and legal studies program in fall 2018. He was tasked to look at the ADMJ program and see how it could be improved by adding a social science component. Hiers said there are 72 students — 26 from CGS and 46 from the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences — majoring in LCJS as of the Jan. 14 add/drop deadline. He said there are 91 students who are ADMJ majors and 56 students who are legal studies majors. Hiers said a weakness he saw in the hundreds of programs that he researched were that they didn’t require students to take diversity or ethics courses. “Both a diversity and ethics course are re-
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quired in LCJS,” Hiers said. “We are among 12% of programs in the country that require these courses, and among 8% within the strategic sample of 36 programs. We are particularly proud of that.” Ritacco is a former practicing attorney hired as coordinator of the LCJS major. She said Pitt’s LCJS major stands out among similar
cally has students with more traditional academic paths of going from high school directly to college, CGS typically includes some students with more non-traditional routes to college that may include multiple gap years before enrolling. “The students at CGS may have been in the military or have families and needed to take time off to work. They are coming back with a differ-
The College of General Studies in Posvar Hall. TPN File Photo programs at other institutions because of the required ethics in criminal justice courses. “One of the driving forces behind the idea for the major was that we wanted to create a program that combined the student populations of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and the College of General Studies, since the major sits within both schools,” Ritacco said. Ritacco said while the Dietrich School typi-
ent lived experience on their academic track,” Ritacco said. “It seems particularly advantageous to have these two populations work together in the program. This creates a space for a more diverse student population learning together from each other as much as the instructors.” Hiers said other requirements for the LCJS major are two writing classes, including an ethics writing intensive capstone, along with a crimi-
February 2, 2022
nology course. “We wanted to create a major that was more rigorous but did not extend the time added to the degree. LCJS reduces the degree because by taking the required classes for the major, you get 18 courses that count towards the requirements needed to graduate ,” Hiers said. ”There are also a lot of law-oriented courses that the students can take.” Another driving force for the coursework is incorporating issues of race, class, gender and other issues into the legal system, according to Ritacco. “It is great to have crossover and people who think one way to think a little differently, this is where ideas come from. You could learn law and regurgitate information, but that is not what we are looking to do,” Ritacco said. “The goal is to create well-formulated thoughts about the intersections between race, class, gender and its importance in the legal system.” Ritacco said the major is geared toward those with a considerable amount of coursework in law and criminal justice, so this component adds the final layer. “There is a lot of flexibility in the major. Students can take all the courses required, and still with the elective coursework, they can align themselves with a line of study aimed towards a graduate program, law school, or they can take a more professional track. There is also an optional internship,” Ritacco said. “There are a bunch of different ways to configure your own studies within the major to get where you want to go.”
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Critical race theory has recently been under attack from Republicans across the country, but has come under even more heat in the Sunshine State. A bill passed last year that banned teaching CRT in Florida schools, but politicians want to further restrict what can be taught and discussed in both schools and non-academic spaces. Florida Republicans shouldn’t paint themselves as fighters for the “freedom” state, as they approve and pass more and more laws that prohibit people from living their authentic lives. A Florida bill named “Individual Freedom” is attempting to inhibit some discussions of race in public schools and private businesses. The legislation, which is backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, would bar people from making others "feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin.” While the bill doesn’t directly mention CRT, the term is used in the attached bill analysis given to state senators. Critics argue that this legislation attempts to revise history and keep white people from feeling uncomfortable. "This isn't even a ban on Critical Race Theory, this is a ban on Black history,” said Florida Democratic State Senator Shevrin Jones. Florida has also made it easier for parents to decide the contents of public school curriculums. In Polk County, officials made rounds through schools to collect 16 books flagged by a conserva-
February 2, 2022
tive group for obscenity — many dealing with gender and sexuality. District officials deny that the books were banned, instead saying they are “quarantined” until a review can be conducted — whenever that may be. Several districts are following suit, requesting the same titles be pulled from shelves in their schools. Other measures taken by the Florida legislatures aim to further ostracize LGBTQ+ people. A Republican panel advanced a “Don’t Say Gay” bill that would ban discussing gender and sexual identities in schools. The bill says it “[reinforces] the fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding upbringing and control of their children,” but it furthers the attack on nonheterosexual and non-cisgender people. The bill follows a ban on transgender women and girl athletes from particpating in sports that DeSantis signed into law last summer. These decisions cause immense psychological trauma for years — 94% of LGBTQ+ youth reported that recent politics have negatively impacted their mental health. By limiting the ability to openly discuss many of the same issues facing all parts of the country, Florida Republicans are creating a population of uneducated, unaware people. Proclaiming that Florida is the “freedom” state while actively restricting the rights and open communication of its constituents just seems like bad politics.
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Cheerleading proves that athletes can be tough and glamorous
Staff Columnist
The Netflix show “Cheer” follows the cheerleading team at Navarro College, a junior college in Texas, as they prepare for the biggest, most important competition in collegiate cheerleading — the National Cheerleaders Association Championship in Daytona, Florida. This hit, nine-episode docuseries emphasizes the many positive attributes of college cheerleading, such as athleticism, commitment, perseverance, charisma, personality and determination — portraying cheerleading as a sport that requires creativity and artistry, as well as strength and toughness. After watching the documentary, there is no doubt in my mind that cheerleading is a sport. In fact, since cheerleading blends style and glamor with grit and strength, it can help us to rethink how we view sports and athletes in general. Before I get into cheerleading, I must define what a sport is. This is difficult to answer since no one set of skills clearly separates sports from other activities. Some sports are team-oriented, such as football, whereas others test an individual’s capability, such as swimming. Even the Olympics have no set standard of what qualifies for an event — the inclusion of a sport is dependent on a vote. The definition of a sport is vague, denoting it as an activity that requires “physical prowess” and “competitive nature” — which are both qualities of cheerleading. Cheerleaders have to use agility, perseverance and focus to perform their complex routines. At the NCA championship, cheerleaders compete against teams across the country with a choreographed performance that is two minutes and 15 seconds long. In their routines, cheerleaders complete flips, handsprings, pyramids, stunts and other gravity-defying skills that show impressive flexibility and strength. Cheerleaders’ skills are comparable to those of gymnasts and divers, even though these sports are supported by the NCAA, unlike cheerleading. Still, the NCAA — the governing body of college athletics — does not consider cheerleading a sport since their participation numbers and sponsorship rates do not meet their standard. However, this notion has been challenged in recent years. In order to stay in compliance with Title
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IX regulations that require equal athletic participation opportunities for women, Quinnipiac University elevated the status of its cheerleading team to a varsity sport after canceling its women’s volleyball program in 2009. The volleyball team then sued the school, claiming that redirecting funds meant for women’s sports to cheerleading violated Title IX. U.S. District Court Judge Stefan Underhill agreed with the volleyball team — noting that in the future, cheerleading may be a sport, but it was too “disorganized” and “underdeveloped” to have that designation currently. Ultimately, the organization of cheerleading contributed to this decision — not the aspects of the actual sport itself. As the number of cheerleading participants increases across the country and the world, it opens the door for it to be considered a sport in the near future. Nevertheless, cheerleading’s distinct elements, such as supporting other sports and wearing glamorous outfits and makeup, make some doubt whether it is a sport. But why can’t a sport require competitiveness and athleticism and also have aspects of showmanship and aesthetics? Being glamorous does not take from the athleticism needed for the sport. Numerous sports require different skills — basketball requires hand-eye coordination, while running requires speed. Swimmers need to know how to move swiftly through water, while javelin throwers need to have the strength to throw an object as far as possible. Cheerleading’s sport-specific skills involve performing with style and strength. Additionally, when cheerleaders support sports teams, it doesn’t detract from the athletic aspects of their own sport. It’s similar to a professional football player addressing fans at a press conference — it doesn’t take away from the grit used to play the game, instead just a necessary part of participating. As a society, we tend to believe that athleticism equates to aggressiveness and grittiness. Cheerleading shows us that this does not have to be true. Many cheerleaders are athletic, strong, hardworking and glamorous. If we continue to spread these values together, maybe this will encourage more people in sports to embrace these characteristics. Talia Spillerman writes about anything and everything. Write to her at tns26@pitt.edu.
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kid’s clothing rack, with pieces such as a bright green dinosaur jacket. Erceg prefers to style her own clothes with details such as skulls and enjoys all sorts of outerwear. She said she likes to help her customers experiment with their style using the expertise she has gained from styling various fashion shows in New York. She also worked in American Eagle corporate for three and a half years. “I just get a feeling when I’m picking out clothes for the shop — I just know if it’s a yes or a no. It’s almost like I black out and all the sudden, I've got this pile of items that are the brand,” Erceg said. “I do like to give people a little push, fashion-wise. Wherever you are on the Richter scale of fashion, I like to give everyone something a little different.” Erceg said one of the best parts about moving the store from online to in person is that many people discover the store by accident, including her interns. “When What’s Good? was entirely online, I had to start from scratch, letting people discover the website. So it was actually pretty tough to sort of cultivate a customer base,” Erceg said. “But I
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like being in person — I’ve met the most fascinating people, and you can’t do that online.” Bartosic, a senior politics and philosophy and classics major, started as Erceg’s intern a couple weeks ago after spontaneously wandering into the store and striking up a conversation with Erceg. She said she is glad to gain experience in the fashion industry, even though it’s not necessarily her intended career path. “I love What’s Good?. I think the resale and thrift fashion is really great in a lot of different ways. You can find really cool stuff,” Bartosic said. “I love this place because it’s women-owned and sustainable, and I love that Jess is using her experience in the industry to bring quality thrifting to this neighborhood.” Many of Erceg’s customers are students, but the store also draws in some younger teens and older adults. While selecting products for the brand, she said she tries to pick clothing that works for all ages and genders. “Over the break, a lot of non-students came in, which surprised me but I'm super thankful,” Erceg said. “All merchandise is organized just by item and not by gender. And I really didn't set out to be revolutionary in that way, I just feel like
The storefront of What’s Good? on South Craig Street. John Blair senior staff photographer
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Wild Ninja review
Jessica Erceg is the owner of What’s Good? on South Craig Street. John Blair senior staff photographer if it fits your body, then it's for you.” Bartosic said one of her favorite parts about working at What’s Good? is interacting with the different kinds of customers that come into the store. She said she enjoys encouraging people to experiment with their style. “I've always really loved clothing as a way to communicate with the world. It’s speaking a language that everybody has,” Bartosic said. “I enjoy seeing different people come in and seeing what they gravitate towards.” Bartosic said during her internship, which is unpaid, she hopes to help people expand their style, as it can gain them confidence. “I think people are sometimes scared of being fashion forward or doing something that's kind of a little bit outside of their comfort zone,” Bartosic said. “I have a lot of friends who look at things I wear and they’re like, ‘Oh, I could never pull that off.’ But half of pulling something off is just wearing it.” Katz, a first-year undecided major, discovered What’s Good? two months ago the same way Bartosic did — by exploring Craig Street after visiting a friend who lives nearby. She said she struck up a conversation with Erceg about their mutual love for fashion and
February 2, 2022
after joking about becoming an intern for the shop, Erceg hired her for the position. “I decided to walk in and me and Jess ended up talking for like five or six hours — I ended up closing the shop with her that evening,” Katz said. “I started working for her the next day.” Katz said since she studied fashion and design in high school, her internship with Erceg is the ideal way to gain real-world industry experience, although it doesn’t offer pay or academic credit. “When I came to Pitt, I was looking for somewhere I could do more fashion and design, but the one part of it was missing was the business side of things,” Katz said. “I’m doing that with Jess now, and she makes it really human and real.” Erceg said she tries not to limit the style of her store, taking inspiration from as many people in the industry and on social media as she can. “I get a bunch of random fashion ideas from my friends and I just run with it, but I hate the idea of being a clone of somebody else,” Erceg said. “So whatever you see, you have to make it your own — ask yourself what you like about a certain trend, then ask what you’re going to add to make it your own.”
6
SportsCapel deserves credit for
Take 5; NFL playoff rules pittnews.com
instilling strong culture in men’s basketball
Frankie Richetti Senior Staff Writer
Jeff Capel, who has coached Pitt men’s basketball team since 2018, was supposed to be the Panthers’ catalyst for a return to the national spotlight. “The Zoo Era” — a social media slogan meant to represent the fresh start Capel would bring — became the team’s rallying cry. Viewed as a home run hire by many accounts, the hiring of Capel was thought to be just what the athletic department needed to revive a storied program that had lost its luster. In a year where Capel has been without two of his best scorers for a majority of the season — one of whom won’t be returning — he got the most out of this group. He’s done so while beginning to establish an identity, one that can translate to winning in the coming years. The Panthers’ fall from grace was an ugly one. A former No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in both 2009 and 2011 fell to rock bottom in under a decade, going 8-24 in the 2017-18 season under Kevin Stallings. It was
always apparent that rebuilding the Panthers was going to be at least a years-long process. Upon arrival, the cupboard was bare. Capel inherited a roster riddled with Stallings’ leftovers and three of his own recruits. Despite a roster that was overmatched in virtually every ACC game, Pitt won two of its first four games in conference, including over Louisville and No. 11 Florida State. After a surprising 2-2 start in conference play, Pitt went on to lose 13 straight games and finished 3-15 in conference play. That has been a common theme of Capel’s tenure up to this point. He pulled out various impressive wins during his time at Pitt, but his teams haven’t been able to find much of any consistency, and the mind-bogglingly bad losses overshadow good wins. That can largely be attributed to the revolving door of players in and out of the program. It’s hard to have an identity when your roster looks vastly different from season to season. So last offseason, Capel targeted players who weren’t just good basketball players, but players who would help establish a lasting culture.
Senior guard Jamarius Burton and senior forward Mo Gueye have stepped in and done just that. Burton, a transfer from Texas Tech and Gueye, a graduate transfer from Stony Brook, have been great additions and are leading by example in all phases. “JB and Mo are arguably our two hardest workers,” Capel said. “They’re the guys that are gym rats.” This isn’t just translating to the box score — while Burton and Gueye have been impressive on the floor, they are setting a standard with the way they go about their work. Sophomore forward John Hugley stepped up in the leadership department as well, citing how his role has changed in comparison to last season. “Way different role than last year,” Hug-
ley said. “The biggest thing is being that vocal leader.” Gueye and Burton’s leadership and work ethic are shown every time they step on the court, and it has had an effect on those around them. No matter what the score is, they do not quit. Since Capel and his staff arrived in 2018, they’ve always preached togetherness. It’s a word you’ll hear a lot when listening to him talk about what’s required to win. “I thought our guys were incredibly tough,” Capel said after Pitt’s win over Syracuse. “I thought we were together.”
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Jeff Capel is Pitt men’s basketball head coach. Kaycee Oriwg senior staff photographer
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February 2, 2022
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