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 | august 25, 2021 | Volume 112 | Issue 11
First week of classes
August 25, 2021
Shruti Talekar Contributing Editor
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August 25, 2021
2
News Pitt students try to make sense of two-week optional online period Brandon Raglow Staff Writer
Paige Wischmeyer was “bummed out” after hearing about Pitt’s recent decision to offer remote classes for the first two weeks, but said she accepted the University’s decision. “I wish school would go back to the way it was before, but again I want COVID over as soon as it can, so whatever we need to do that, we can do that,” Wischmeyer, a junior nursing student, said. For students, the University’s announcement of a two-week optional online period brought trepidation over the prospect of another semester spent online. Most classes took place remotely for the vast majority of last academic year, though some classes moved in person for select weeks when Pitt officials said virus prevalence had decreased. Wischmeyer pointed out some of the benefits that come from online learning — benefits she doesn’t want to lose. “I kind of like how you can watch prerecorded lectures and stuff like that so I really wouldn’t mind [if the online option was extended] as long as you still have the option to be able to go into class,” Wischmeyer said. Other students, like sophomore neuroscience major Ricky Thomas, are more skeptical about what this means for the learning experience Pitt can provide. “I read it wrong at first and thought we were doing just online, and then I found out it was optional but I was still kind of mad, because the incentive to go to class now has been lowered,” Thomas said. He said he understood where the University was coming from, but still isn’t a fan of the new move. “I think it’s good for people who are still a little bit wary, I mean, Pitt’s a big school, there's gonna be some big classes, so I think it was good for those people,” Thomas said. “But for people who are vaccinated and stuff like that and are ready to get going, I think that was more of a detriment than anything.” He said he just doesn't want a return to the online conditions of last academic year. “If I’m sitting there and all the cameras
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are off and nobody else is there and it's just me, I really don't feel that motivated to pay that much attention,” Thomas said. Eri Shay, a first-year psychology major, said she agreed that online learning was not as conducive to an in-person learning experience. “I was kind of worried it would be like my senior year, where all my classes were online,” Shay said. “I think you can focus better when you’re in person, because if you have your phone right there, then you’re obviously
that this is the best or safest course of action. Chaylin Henderson, a senior marketing major, said she doesn’t feel the two-week period will be enough. “I’m glad they’re doing it, especially around now with like O-week and everyone and their mother being just out and about,” Henderson said. “But at the same time I also am really hoping that we’re going to switch to a hybrid option because I feel like trying to enforce in-person class is just going to lead to the outcome of getting closed back down
Across Oakland, students react to the news that an online option will be available for the first two weeks of classes and what that means for the coming semester. Image via Dreamstime, TNS going to want to go on it.” Shay also said there are benefits of creating distinct spaces for work and relaxation. “Also, just separating the time that you spend studying away from where you sleep, like you want to separate those as much as possible, because your brain will get confused if you study where you sleep and sleep where you study,” Shay said. “I think that’s the main benefit, you’re just separating relax time in your dorm and study time at the library or the classroom or wherever.” Though many students can't wait to return to the classroom, not everyone feels
again.” She said the negative aspects of online learning aren't as much of a factor to her. “In my mind I’m not too worried about the quality of the class. I’m more worried about the safety of others and the safety of myself over that,” she said. “At this point I’ve kind of gotten used to online class.” Henderson said she would prefer a consistent approach over one where the conditions are constantly changing. “I would prefer them to keep the utmost safety and take the safest measures instead of doing the like, flip-flop back and forth of ‘Oh
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we’re in person,’ ‘Oh there's too many cases rising we need to go back to online,’ ‘Oh look let's try to open things back up,’ ‘Oh wait we have too many cases coming back again we have to go back online,’” Henderson said. “In my opinion, I would still rather just have everything be virtual, even during my last year.” Shay said she may still take advantage of the optional online period. “If for some reason I don't feel like going to class that day, then I'll probably use the Zoom or the online option, but I’ll probably make an effort to be in person most of the time,” Shay said. Wischmeyer agreed, saying she would also probably take some classes from the comfort of her room. “I’d like to be able to go into class, I’ll see what happens,” Wischmeyer said. “I’m a bit lazy so it sounds nice to be able to wake up a minute or two before your class starts and just open up the computer, but I learn better when I’m in class and it's better for me to get out of the house and stuff so I like to say I’d go in person but I’m probably going to do more than half online until it goes back to being [fully] in person.” Some students, like junior political science and history major Anna Cawood, said she is lamenting the loss of some freedom that online learning allowed. “I’ll kind of miss the ability to travel, because my grandmother passed last semester, so I spent a week in South Carolina and I was still able to go to class and everything so that was nice,” Cawood said. “I feel like two weeks is a good length. I mean, I guess it makes sense to have an abundance of caution with Delta because that is scary.” Despite worrying about the Delta variant, Madilyn Frack, a junior biology major said she is excited to get back into the classroom. “Yeah, last year sucked so I’m ready to go back,” Frack said. “I just want things to be back in person so bad.”
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Pitt unveils new data science major
Neena Hagen
Senior Staff Writer Pitt senior Gordon Lu chooses majors more easily than some students pick out their lunch at the dining hall. A little bit of economics, a lot of statistics, a sampling of mathematics and heaps of computer science. But he says one major would’ve put less on his plate and allowed him to combine all of his interests — data science. After four years of planning and fine-tuning, Pitt quietly released a list of course requirements for a new data science major over the summer, which students will be able to declare when the fall semester starts on Friday. Lu, a quadruple major, said the move is “a really good step.” “I know there are a lot of people in computer science, economics and statistics [who] are all really interested in data science,” Lu said. It is the fourth major at Pitt to be offered jointly by the School of Computing and Information, or SCI, and the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. At 61 credits, the major pulls courses from four different departments — computer science, information science, math and statistics — giving students a strong foundation in programming and quantitative disciplines. Those skills are in high demand on the job market. Forbes branded data as “the new oil” in a 2019 article. And data science jobs, which often command sixfigure salaries, are projected to grow more than 30% in the next five years, according to one estimate from IBM. That’s because data is ubiquitous, said Prashant Krishnamurthy, chair of the department of informatics and networked systems. “No matter which industry or which human activity we take up these days, we are all generating data,” Krishnamurthy said. “But data by itself may not be useful unless we are able to get some meaningful information out of it.” The new major will offer many classes to help students wrangle cumbersome
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datasets and develop insights. As a foundation, students will need to take calculus, probability and statistics, as well as a programming sequence in the computer science department. From there, students can move on to the “expertise” section, where they’ll use their base knowledge to analyze real world data. Pitt will also require data science majors to complete a specialization — Computer Systems, Data Analytics, Data Science in Context or Modeling — along with a capstone. The foundational courses will mostly be test based, while later classes will allow students to complete their own projects, according to the syllabuses of the required courses. Through completing the major, students will learn several different programming languages — R for statistical modeling and computation, Python for machine learning and Java for general computer science. Kostas Pelechrinis, who had a hand in designing the major, said the goal was to help students be adaptable. “You can imagine that when students go out in industry, maybe Python is obsolete — won’t be in two years, but it might be in 10,” Pelechrinis, a SCI professor, said. “They will need to be able to pick up these new tools.” Incoming data science students will also need top notch problem solving skills, a strong math background and ideally some exposure to programming before starting college, Pelechrinis said. “They will need to have this computational thinking — analytical thinking,” he said. “Students who declare this major need to have this interest in learning many different things.” Despite the growing popularity of data science, Krishnamurthy said Pitt has been slow to roll out the major because planning couldn’t begin until the University formed its School of Computing and Information in 2017 and the COVID-19 pandemic stalled the approval process. From start to finish, the process took See Data science on page 12
4
Explainer: How to vote in Pitt’s faculty union election
Neena Hagen
Senior Staff Writer A multi-year effort to unionize roughly 3,000 University faculty will culminate in a union election starting Friday. Pitt professors and researchers from all campuses will be able to cast their votes between Aug. 27 and Oct. 12 to decide whether or not to form a faculty union. Here is a guide to help faculty navigate the upcoming union election: How do I vote? The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, which presides over mostly public sector union elections in Pennsylvania, will mail every union-eligible faculty member a ballot with exact instructions on Friday. Faculty should receive their ballots at their home address sometime the following week. Before ballots are mailed out on Friday, faculty should check to make sure the address they have on file with the University is accurate. To do this, faculty can go into PittWorx through the MyPitt portal. If the listed address is accurate, and has been in the system since May, the ballot should arrive at
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the right place, union organizers said. If not, faculty will have to request a duplicate ballot — more on that in the next section. Each ballot will come in a secure envelope, along with detailed instructions on how to submit the ballot and two other envelopes that faculty can use to mail their ballot back to the PLRB, according to the PLRB’s order and notice of election, which was emailed to all union-eligible faculty earlier this year. The ballot itself has two squares that faculty can mark. To vote in favor of unionization, faculty should put an X in the square next to “United Steelworkers.” The Steelworkers have assisted Pitt’s unionization attempt since 2016, and if faculty vote in favor of unionization, the union would be affiliated with the Steelworkers’ Academic Workers Association. To vote against unionization, faculty should put an X in the square next to “No Representative.” According to PLRB instructions, faculty should not sign the ballot or mark it in any other way — doing so could void their vote. Faculty should then put their ballots in
the blank envelope they received, seal it, put the blank envelope inside the other envelope pre-addressed to the PLRB and seal it. No stamp is required to mail the ballot. The PLRB must receive your ballot by Oct. 12 at 5 p.m. If your ballot arrives after Oct. 12 — even if it’s postmarked on or before Oct. 12 — it will not count. Union organizers are advising faculty to mail their ballots by Oct. 5 to ensure that all of them arrive before the deadline. The PLRB will begin counting ballots on Oct. 19 at 10 a.m. at its Harrisburg headquarters. What if I didn’t receive a ballot or I lost my ballot? There are several reasons why a faculty member might not receive a ballot — they have the wrong address on file, they aren’t eligible to vote in the election or the ballot got lost in the mail. If a faculty member has lost their ballot or has not received one in the mail by Sept. 13, they can ask the PLRB for a duplicate ballot by emailing katowens@pa.gov. The email should include the faculty member’s typed full name, mailing address, job title,
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reason for request and name of employer (University of Pittsburgh). Organizers especially encourage faculty on the union-eligibility list (below) to request a duplicate ballot if they didn’t already receive one, because their vote is guaranteed to count in the election. Individuals not on the eligibility list can also request a duplicate ballot, but their votes will go into the challenge ballot pile. Challenge ballots won’t be opened unless there are enough of them to potentially alter the outcome of the election. What changes are union organizers advocating for? Union organizers have had three main priorities since kicking off their campaign in 2016 — improving pay, job security and transparency between the administration and faculty. Those issues have become magnified in the past year. Questions about safety and shared governance emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pitt froze salaries last year and instituted a 1.25% progressive pay See Union on page 13
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Opinions
Why I oppose unionization: An open letter to my colleagues
Chris Bonneau
Political science professor As you may have heard, beginning on Aug. 27, faculty will be voting on whether or not to form a union and affiliate with the United Steelworkers. This is a significant decision point in our professional lives, and it is important we make our decision based on facts and what will best allow us to continue to do our work both now and in the future. After much thought and consideration of the evidence, in my judgment unionizing and affiliating with the United Steelworkers is not in the best interest of the faculty at Pitt. I write from my perspective as a tenured professor in the Department of Political Science — my views do not represent any of the shared governance institutions at Pitt, though my service as president of the University Senate and other instruments of shared governance have informed my position on unionization. At the outset, I want to state that I am the product of a union family. Indeed, both of my parents were members of an education union. I have lived both the positives and negatives of unions. Moreover, I believe unions have played a vital role in the economic and social life of this country. Like most things, however, this recognition does not mean that unions are always a positive force or the right decision for Pitt faculty at this time. Why do I oppose unionization? 1. Very few AAU schools are unionized. For a reason. When we look at our peers, as best I can tell, only 5 of the 63 AAU universities in the U.S. have faculty unions that have the power to engage in collective bargaining agreements for tenured and tenure-track faculty. And of those five, only two, Rutgers and Florida, are ranked similarly to Pitt. While this in itself is not dispositive, it does suggest that we should ask why that is the case. The reason is straightforward — at research intensive universities, the duties and responsibilities of faculty are so diverse that there is not a shared “community of interest.” Union organizers implicitly acknowledge this — their documentation has lots of support from
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institutions that have different missions from Pitt, and none from places we consider our peers or aspirational peers. To recruit and retain excellent faculty who are performing cutting-edge research, Pitt needs to maintain maximum flexibility, something our peer institutions recognize. Indeed, a 2016 report by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that faculty with greater research productivity are less supportive of unionization and “this raises the possibility that universities that organize will face difficulty attracting and retaining the most productive scholars.” 2. We have a strong system of shared governance. I agree that faculty should have significant say in the conditions of their workplace. Our system of shared governance already provides this. Faculty have representation on every University committee as well as Board of Trustees committees. Faculty involvement in the development of policies have led to significant improvements on such topics as intellectual property, sexual harassment, academic freedom and more. Additionally, through the University Planning and Budgeting Committee, faculty are highly involved in recommending the University budget every year as well as setting the salary pool. As someone who was initially a vocal skeptic of shared governance — thinking it was merely a mechanism for faculty to act as “yes people'' for the administration — but who has been intricately involved in shared governance over the past few years, I can also say that there have been several instances where we have been able to work behind the scenes to prevent things from even coming up publicly. Another success is the improvements that have been made for faculty outside the tenure stream. In recent years, Pitt has moved to multiyear contracts, establishing a clear promotion path, and introduced compensation in the event of last-minute class cancelations. All of these items have been accomplished within our system
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A faculty union means a better university for Pitt students
Dr. Deborah Polk
ing whether trusted professors will Assistant professor of dental public health be around the following term. Failure to fund and staff some departments My research at Pitt Dental Medicine adequately is an affront to students, who studies the effects of bringing dentists, rightly expect the administration to invest dental hygienists, receptionists and other fully in educating them. staff members together to improve clinical My colleagues and I want nothing more practices and patient care. than to collaborate with the administraHarnessing diverse perspectives — letion to address problems like these and veraging the collective expertise of providmake Pitt a stronger institution. With our ers and staff — gives clinicians opportuniunion, we’ll be able to have those discusties to better meet patient needs. sions as equals. It’s important for my colleagues to keep Just as dental clinics find new and betthe benefits of this sort of collaborative ter ways to care for patients when they approach in mind as we vote in coming invite the knowledge of all stakeholders, weeks on forming the Union of Pitt Facuniversities provide the best opportunities ulty, in affiliation with the United Steelfor students when they welcome diverse workers. I support the organizing drive viewpoints, practice inclusion and tap the because a union will give every professor deep well of faculty expertise. a voice in ensuring Pitt excels at preparing My colleagues and I will be empowered students for the challenges of life. through our union to pursue adequate reMy colleagues and I are world-class sources for all parts of the University. We researchers deeply invested in not only will be able to leverage our collective skills sharing what we know, but also helping and experiences to help Pitt create the students chart their own paths to success. most effective, globally competitive unWe work with them in classrooms, labs dergraduate and graduate programs. and clinical settings every day. We adIn addition, a collective bargaining vise and counsel them during one of the process, conducted with the input of all most formative periods they’ll ever know. professors, will lead to fairer compensaThousands of graduate students enroll at Pitt every year specifically for the oppor- tion arrangements, more manageable workloads and greater faculty stability. tunity to study side by side with us. All of these improvements will directly Yet many crucial decisions affecting benefit students. the learning environment continue to be They will enroll at Pitt knowing that made without taking faculty input — or faculty — the people on campus closest to students’ best interests — into account. them — have a hand in shaping the acaThe administration fails to properly demic environment. Students will be ascompensate adjuncts or even give them sured of the faculty stability they need to predictable course loads from one semake the most of their experiences. And mester to the next. And administrators they will learn that openness and includemonstrate less confidence in faculty members than our major funders do, con- sion pave the way to a greater good. A vote for the faculty union is a vote for straining some professors to year-to-year a better University. It’s the right choice for contracts even as they land prestigious, the students we’re called to serve. multi-year grants enhancing the UniverDr. Deborah Polk is an assistant professity’s stature. sor in Pitt Dental Medicine and Pitt Public This sort of treatment leads to a reHealth. volving door, with students never know-
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Pittsburgh is a city, not just where you go to school Dalia Maeroff Opinions Editor
I have lived in Pittsburgh my entire life. But it wasn’t until I became a student at Pitt that I realized just how separate student life seems from the rest of Pittsburgh, despite the fact that Pitt’s campus is in the middle of the City. I have always heard Pittsburgh natives talk about college students with a twinge of annoyance, but once I became one I started examining ways that I could be the least annoying college kid possible. I started viewing myself and how I fit into this City differently, but I also noticed how other people in the City began viewing me. People on the buses I’ve taken nearly every day started to look at me and my large backpack with disgust — even when I tucked it under the seat to make space for others. Sometimes I feel like I need to shout from the rooftops, “I don’t just go to school here! I live here! I belong here! I care about this City, what happens to it and the people in it!” Buses are only the beginning — Pitt students, administrators and organizations seem to contribute as little as possible to the City they reside
in. The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated this problem as some students partied and disregarded COVID-19 guidelines without a thought as to how rising case numbers affect the rest of the City. I am begging the Pitt community to realize something I thought I would never have to say — Pittsburgh is a city, not just where you go to school. The most obvious example is Pitt administrators’ handling of the pandemic. Not requiring vaccines, not enforcing masking and social distancing with the appropriate vigor to stop the spread of COVID-19, and the wishy-washiness of the operational postures show blatant disregard — not just for the lives of the students and faculty, but also for Pittsburgh citizens. We can’t forget that Pitt housed essential workers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when going home to their families wasn’t an option. But one act of charity to the community during times of crisis is not enough for the biggest university in the Pittsburgh area. Our student body makes up a significant portion of the City’s population, and our buildings and medical facilities are two of the largest employers in the
City. It falls to students to make the largest difference — to make individual choices that help their communities and to push Pitt’s administrators to do better in supporting the City they call home. On an individual level, there is plenty that students can do to be less removed from Pittsburgh. First and foremost are the obvious things — don’t sit in the handicapped seats on the bus, and don’t take up the entire sidewalk when you walk on Forbes. Keep campus and South O clean. I know it has a dirty reputation to keep up, but just think about how much nicer it would be to walk the streets of Oakland when they aren’t covered in trash. New York University is located in a city known for subway rats that eat pizza, and it somehow manages to keep its campus cleaner. But those things are just minor annoyances to the people of Pittsburgh. More importantly, keep the partying during a pandemic to a minimum, get a vaccine and wear a mask. Pitt has hundreds of student organizations on campus that cover all interests. While many of them are invested in giving back to the City — some are formed for that very purpose —
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there are others that Pittsburgh citizens never see. These organizations should be trying to host events that anyone can participate in. Just before I graduated high school in spring 2019, I attended the Latin American food festival between Hillman Library and Posvar Hall. I was in awe of the event the Center for Latin American studies organized and that it was open to the public in the first place. I remember thinking, “Pitt should always have events like these that are open to the public.” Not only do they give Pitt students something to do on the weekends, they also strengthen the bond between Pittsurgh’s different communities and the University’s students and faculty. Pittsburgh has a myriad of issues that can be improved, starting right here in Oakland. With the power of almost 20,000 undergraduate students, Pitt can make some significant, positive changes to this City that don’t just benefit the University. Carnegie Mellon University monitors Pittsburgh’s air quality, but sadly, monitoring isn’t
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7
Culture
Pitt kicks off Welcome Week with Global Carnival
Jessica McKenzie Staff Writer
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Students swarmed the grounds of the William Pitt Union Monday to kick off one of Pitt’s largest annual Welcome Week events, the Global Carnival. International food and musical performances from cultural student organizations were a staple of the evening. The carnival, hosted Pitt Global Ties, kicked off with a dance performance from FRESA, a student organization which dances, sings and performs different songs from K-pop, J-pop and C-pop. Performances from student groups such as Hearts Ablaze Dance Ministry, the Omega Psi Phi fraternity and Ya’baso also continued throughout the carnival. Ella Begovic, a first-year biology major, said the carnival helped her get a feel for Pitt's diversity. “I love watching the different dances,” Begovic said. “It shows us all the different things people are interested in — the performances and the student organizations give us a lot of different perspectives and representation.” Pitt Global Ties held one of many student organization tables at the carnival and organizes many events throughout the school year. Students also enjoyed astrological readings, caricature drawings, magic tricks and accordion music in front of the WPU. Tran Vi, a junior marketing major, said Global ties organized the carnival to celebrate diverse cultures throughout the Pitt community. Vi, originally from Vietnam, said she became a mentor with Global Ties because of the ways the organization helped her adjust to life at Pitt as an international student. “I know exactly how I felt when I first came here to the University 一 overwhelmed and lost,” Vi said. “I wanted to be the mentor to help students who feel the same way as I did when I was a freshman.” Despite the massive crowd, mask usage was not enforced for either performers or students. According to the University’s latest COVID-19 guidelines, fully vaccinated students do not need to wear masks outdoors, though there was no
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differentiation between unvaccinated and vaccinated students at the event. Pitt announced Friday that students will have the option of attending certain classes either remotely or in person for the first two weeks of the fall semester. Vi said she felt mask usage should be more strictly enforced during Welcome Week given recent surge in COVID-19 cases from the Delta variant. “I’m glad that people are making friends and enjoying food, but more people should be wearing masks,” Vi said. “It's very crowded.” Although some students watched the performances and enjoyed the carnival tables wearing masks, the majority went maskless. First-year neuroscience major Zoey Milanovic said she felt safe with this return to normalcy. “I think Pitt is doing a really good job at keeping us safe, but trying to make [Welcome Week] as normal as possible for us,” Milanovic said. “I like that there’s hand sanitizer everywhere and at indoor events, mask usage is strongly asserted.” Milanovic said she chose Pitt because of its thriving medical program and strong relationship to UPMC, but also looks forward to taking the lesser-known culture classes Pitt has to offer. Milanovic said seeing the different cultures represented at the carnival made her look forward to continuing her multicultural education. “This event is really exciting for me because I’ll be taking a Bosnian Croatian class this semester,” Milanovic said. “I found it astonishing that Pitt offers majors for [lesser-known countries]. It makes me really proud to go here.” Originally from South Dakota, Begovic is a first-generation American. She said she chose Pitt because of its many options for majors and minors. The University also impressed her because of its diverse cultural representation 一 especially the international rooms in the Cathedral of Learning. “My parents are both Croatian, and I lived in Zagreb, Croatia for 10 years,” Begovic said. “It's a stark difference from everything here in the
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8
Picklesburgh a big dill for downtown Pittsburgh Anna Ligorio
Senior Staff Writer Under the shadow of a massive Heinz pickle balloon, live music rang through the air and scents of briny pickle juice wafted through the crowds in downtown Pittsburgh last weekend. The sixth annual “Picklesburgh” festival — presented by Kraft Heinz and produced by the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership — was a Friday-to-Sunday celebration on the Andy Warhol Bridge of all things pickled. More than 36 vendors tabled on the bridge, while attendees walked through free of charge to see what they had to offer. Local businesses such as DiAnoia's Eatery & Pizzeria Davide and Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop sold pickle inspired foods in their respective culinary styles, like pickle dusted mozzarella sticks from DiAnoia’s and pickle cotton candy from Grandpa Joe’s. Along with local businesses, vendors from outside the City came to the festival to sell their own pickle creations. Ronald Olson, owner of The Brinery at Two Acre Farm in Uniontown, spent the weekend working the festival for his family business. “Being in a national spotlight here is very cool,” Olson said. “We couldn’t believe how huge this is, and it’s been like this since it opened on Friday.” Behind a rainbow sign with the words “Pride Pickles,” employees working at The Brinery’s tent wore shirts adorned with the phrase “Pickle with Pride'' to support the LGBTQ+ community in Pittsburgh, according to Olson. “We want to be accepting of everyone,” Olson said. “You never know where people are coming from completely, we just want to help everybody do whatever they want to do.” Olson’s tent was a fan favorite, with the line extending past several others on Saturday after-
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noon. While The Brinery sold some of its signature flavored pickles, such as garlic herb and wine or mango habanero, they also branched out to create some eccentric offerings specifically for the festival. “Right now we're selling a Monster pickle, where our extra large pickle has been brined with Monster Energy Drink,” Olson said. Initially, Olson was hesitant about the idea, but he said his son convinced him to sell it at the
shaved ice, presented by Ekernally Yours Popcorn and Sweet Treats from Charleroi. Addio Fiordigigli, the company’s president, explained how their shaved ice is made. “What we do is we put pickle spears into a cup, and then we blow shaved ice around it and top it off with pickle brine,” Fiordigigli said. “Pickle brine is salty, so it tends to be a little on the saltier side, so it’s like a frozen pickle juice slushy.” Ekernally Yours is known for its popcorn va-
Picklesburgh, held Aug. 20-22 Downtown, featured vendors, live music and a 35-foot-long Heinz pickle balloon. Pamela Smith visual editor festival. “My son came up with the idea for it, and I just thought, ‘Yeah, he just wants an energy drink.’’ Olson said. “But I tried it and he sold me completely, so for me to really like that, I knew that somebody else would like it, and they've really sold very well so far.” Another offering at the festival was pickle
rieties at the festival, such as dill pickle popcorn, hot pickle popcorn and bread ‘n butter kettle corn. But along with those and the shaved ice, Fiordigigli said they also offered a special dill pickle lemonade. “What we're doing is we're making lemonade, putting a pickle on the bottom of it, and then we're putting a splash of pickle juice inside
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it,” Fiordigigli said. “It just gives it just a little bit different taste.” Even though the festival celebrates all things pickled, it still attracts visitors who may not even like pickles at all, including Alejandra Meza, 22, of Lawrenceville. “I think it’s just a Pittsburgh thing, and I have to come to the festival so I can become a Yinzer,” Meza said. Unlike Meza, Philip DiCicco, a master’s student at Carnegie Mellon University, greatly enjoys pickles and has been meaning to go to this event since he first moved to Pittsburgh seven years ago. “Yeah, I love pickles — I unironically eat them for snacks,” DiCicco said. “I've been here a while now, and I have never been to Picklesburgh, so I was excited to come here and try some pickles.” For Meza, this was also her first time attending the festival. Regardless of her feelings about pickles, Meza said she still tried different pickled food varieties, including a pickle flavored fudge. “We had this pickle fudge, and it was so green. It honestly didn't taste that bad, but it definitely had a briny taste to it,” Meza said. “We also had some chocolate fudge, beer and pierogies and I'm looking forward to trying any other foods.” Along with having fun celebrating pickles, festival vendors can be exposed to hundreds of thousands of new people. According to Fiordigigli, Picklesburgh provides a valuable opportunity to expand his business to a large group of customers. “You can come to an event where you can spend 20 hours and see almost 200,000 people in 20 hours, that is a heck of a lot better than spending 20 hours going to a smaller event where you see a lot less people,” Fiordigigli said.
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9
Sports After taking detour from his NFL dreams, Brennan Marion is back home to lead Pitt’s receivers
Dalton Coppola
Assistant Sports Editor On paper, wide receiver is a fairly simple position — catch the football. But some can catch better than others and back in his playing days, not many were quite as good as Brennan Marion, Pitt’s wide receivers coach. Although the position is a job Marion coveted since entering the coaching profession, it took a couple of detours from his original goal to get here. He initially wanted to play in the NFL — and he did to some degree. But after a career altering injury that forced him to retire before playing a snap, Marion turned to coaching. After having his dreams crushed, instead of festering away with thoughts of “what could have been,” he did what he had done his whole life — work to be-
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come the best in his field. After graduating from nearby GreensburgSalem High School in 2006, Marion packed his bags and left western Pennsylvania for California with a friend, where he would go on to light up the gridiron at the junior college level at De Anza College. But it wasn’t all peaches and cream. Marion did his fair share of couchsurfing, bouncing around different houses, apartments and even crashing in the De Anza football stadium press box. All in pursuit of his dream to sign a professional football contract. “We didn’t have anywhere to stay,” Marion said on ESPN’s First Take in 2010. “We stayed in the locker room, in the press box and different places around the school … we were there to accomplish our dreams and we weren’t leaving until we did that.”
Tulsa’s coaching staff noticed what Marion was doing at De Anza and offered him a spot on its roster ahead of the 2007 season. He embodied the phrase “diamond in the rough” in his time with the Golden Hurricanes. He went on to break the NCAA single-season yards-per-catch record, averaging 31.9 yards in 2007, and was named to the All-Conference USA team in both seasons with Tulsa. Things were starting to come together for Marion — the move to California to play at De Anza and refine his game led him to Tulsa, giving him the spotlight to maybe get drafted to the NFL. Marion and his Golden Hurricanes made it to the Conference USA Championship game against East Carolina in 2008. Down three with just more than one minute remaining on the
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clock, the Golden Hurricanes were driving. In need of a big play, Marion’s quarterback called his number, sending Marion on a corner route breaking toward the sideline. But when Marion planted his foot in the turf, his knee gave out and he, along with his NFL Draft stock, fell in a heap. The ball floated through the air toward the sideline and the East Carolina defense intercepted it — game over. Tulsa was the USA Conference runner-up and Marion tore his ACL just months before the NFL Draft. Some may have believed their journey was over and given up. Not Marion. “It reminded me, nothing in my life has ever been easy,” Marion said on ESPN. “I just tightened up my boots and got back to work.” See Marion on page 14
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tracking marquee matchups of the fall semester for pitt athletics
Sports Editor
Pitt athletics announced two weeks ago that they would hold on-campus events without attendance restrictions this fall. Now that Panther fans can return to the stands, there are a few dates they should circle. Some of the best in the country at their respective sports are traveling to Oakland this semester, and Pitt’s venues will host some high-leverage matchups. Volleyball The Panthers are loaded. Head Coach Dan Fisher said after the team’s Blue-Gold scrimmage on Aug. 14 that this was “the most [talented]” team he’s ever had at Pitt and that is more than just blind praise. They return three All-Americans plus the core of a 2020 Elite Eight team — the first in school history. Sprinkle in a couple of decorated power-conference transfers and you’ve got a squad ready to meet the challenging schedule that stands in front of them. The Panthers will play seven teams that received votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Preseason Coaches’ Poll. Sept. 10 vs. BYU, 7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra — this Friday night contest vs. the No. 15 Cougars is the headliner of the Panther Challenge, which Pitt hosts annually at the Fitzgerald Field House on campus. Of the three games Pitt will play that weekend, BYU will prove to be the biggest challenge. BYU bulldozed the West Coast Conference last year, as they have ever since joining the league in 2011, en route to their seventh conference title of the last decade. And like Pitt, they only got stronger. All-Americans in graduate student middle blocker Kennedy Eschenberg, junior setter Whitney Bower and senior outside hitter Taylen Ballard-Nixon will be supported by middle blocker Kenzie Koerber, a three-time All-American and graduate transfer from rival Utah, and the No. 7 recruiting class in the country, according to VolleyballMag.com. Nov. 24 vs. Louisville, 7 p.m. on ACC Network — the Panthers’ final regular season match falls on Senior Day at the Fitzgerald Field House. Some of the players who helped build the program from middling to dominant — like fifth-years Kayla Lund and Chinaza Ndee, as well as true senior Sabrina Starks and graduate student Kylee Levers — will be honored for their
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contributions over the years and a high-stakes volleyball match will follow. No. 13 Louisville’s been one of the few competitors to Pitt’s recent run of dominance in the ACC. The Cardinals have ended the regular season no lower than third in the conference standings four years running. Expect an ACC title to hang in the balance when Louisville visits Oakland. Men’s soccer Pitt soccer’s rise has been fast and furious. Under the leadership of head coach Jay Vidovich, the program has blossomed from a squarely mediocre squad to national title contender in a matter of just a few years. Preseason No. 3 Pitt, runner-up to the ACC and National titles last season, will try to rinse the poor taste of its sour ending in the national championship game versus Indiana with another run at the College Cup. Sept. 10 vs. North Carolina, 7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra — to repeat their success this season, the Panthers will need to contend with a difficult regular season slate. Pitt has five members of the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll top 15 on their 2021 schedule this season and they’ll play four of them during the month of September alone. The Panthers will face a brutal four-game stretch against teams ranked in the top 11 of the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll from Sept. 10 to 25. It kicks off with a Friday night game versus No. 4 North Carolina, also this year’s ACC opener, inside the friendly confines of Ambrose Urbanic Field. The Panthers will hope to get off on the right foot against the most difficult stretch of their season by topping the Tar Heels at home. Women’s Soccer Pitt is already two games deep into the 2021 season, hasn’t lost and notched a win over a top25 opponent when they topped No. 16 Oklahoma State on Sunday afternoon. The Panthers improved their winning percentage from .361 in 2019 to .688 in 2020 and look to break into national prominence in similar fashion to the men’s team. They have five games against preseason top-10 opponents lined up, but just two will be played at home. Sept. 5 vs. Texas Christian, 1 p.m. on ACC Network Extra — the No. 8 Horned Frogs, fresh off of an Elite Eight run in last season’s tournament, will bring their stingy defense to Pittsburgh late in the non-conference schedule. TCU ranked in the top-25 nationally last year in goals
against average. Sophomore striker Amanda West, who ranked fifth in the country in goals scored a season ago, and the prolific Pitt offense will face perhaps their biggest test of the year early on. Oct. 7 vs. North Carolina, 7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra — the No. 3 Tar Heels are well balanced, they ranked in the top-10 in the country for both scoring offense and goals against average last season, and figure to contend for a national title again in 2021 after making the College Cup last year. Pitt will be facing a team it wants to emulate. UNC has won 22 national titles and 24 ACC Tournament crowns. The Panthers won’t make up for their historical disadvantage with one win, but beating the Tar Heels at home would go a long way toward closing the current competitive gap that exists between the two programs. Football 2021 will be a year of “ifs” for the Panthers. If senior quarterback Kenny Pickett can put together a sharp season, if the receivers can clean up their issues with drops, if the defense plays to
its talent level and if head coach Pat Narduzzi can avoid the kinds of situational blunders that have defined some high-profile losses, this will be a special season. A four-week stretch from the third week of October through the first half of November will feature three games against the best in the conference and it all starts with the highest-profile game of Pitt’s 2021 slate. Oct. 23 vs. Clemson, kickoff time and T.V. designation TBD — a favorable schedule means that this pre-Halloween date with the ACC’s bully could end in a program-defining win or a loss that confirms how wide the gap remains between Pitt and the sport’s elite. Six games — one versus an FCS team, two against non-major FBS teams and three against struggling Power-5 opponents — stand between now and the reigning ACC champions’ visit to Heinz Field. Should the stars align and Pitt carries a 6-0 record into week seven, that game will
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Data science, pg.4 about four years, according to several faculty involved in creating the major, including Krishnamurthy and Pelechrinis. In that time, dozens of other universities, including Penn State and Temple, have introduced data science majors. Compared to Temple’s program, which requires physics or chemistry and three semesters of calculus, Pitt’s major requires seven fewer classes — less math and no hard sciences. “I think that even though it was a
little later than other universities, the final product is just as good, if not better,” Pelechrinis said. The data science major has also led the statistics department to modernize its curriculum, offering more programming classes, according to statistics department chair Satish Iyengar. In the past few years, the statistics department has introduced a two-course sequence — STAT 1261 and 1361 — teaching programming for statisticians. Several classes in the department will begin teaching R, a more modern programming language, instead of older statisti-
cal packages. The introductory statistics courses — STAT 1000 and 1100 — will still use Minitab and Excel, respectively, for now. Many Pitt students interested in data currently major in statistics, said Lu, who runs a data science club called Data Analytics Through Applied Statistics, or DATAs — but he doesn’t know many students who are aware of the data science major. Now that the major has been approved, several faculty said the next step will be to advertise it to the student body. Rachel Kelly, a spokesperson for SCI,
said Pitt is currently advertising the major via the University website, student events and during advising appointments. Promotion efforts, she said, “will continue throughout the term.” Pelechrinis said he hopes students consider the data science major, because data has become widespread in industries and everyday life. “Being able to understand what the data tells you and what it doesn’t tell you … [being] able to use data to actually make informed decisions … It’s pretty important,” Pelechrinis said.
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Union, pg. 5 raise in this year’s budget, which some faculty criticized as too meager. A union, organizers say, will give faculty a seat at the table to help make decisions at Pitt. “The presence of the union gives the faculty voice more power, wherever it is heard,” the faculty organizing website says. The University's administration did not explicitly come out against faculty unionization, but Provost Ann Cudd said in September 2018 that she was “not really clear what the need would be,” and Chancellor Patrick Gallagher said a few weeks later that “sometimes unions don’t always represent everyone equally well.” Pitt spokesperson Kevin Zwick said last Friday that the University maintains that voting yes or no on unionization is “a decision for faculty members to make.” “This is a consequential choice, and while the University has no position on what the outcome should be, we encourage voters to consider the matter seriously and to participate,” Zwick said. He pointed faculty to Pitt’s website on faculty unionization. What will happen immediately after the election if faculty vote in favor of unionization? If faculty vote “yes” on a union, the first step would be to elect a bargaining committee, with representatives from every University department — aside from the School of Medicine, which is excluded from the union — who could negotiate with the administration. Organizers said the committee should be diverse — with tenured and non-tenured professors and faculty from all campuses represented. Those representatives would then ask other faculty in their departments about their main priorities for improving working life at Pitt and try to incorporate everyone’s suggestions and grievances in negotiations with the administration. Sarah Leavens, a lecturer in the English department and a faculty union organizer, said organizers would make sure to reach out to faculty who voted against unionization. “We want to find out how we can make it work for them — make it inclusive,” Leavens said. “You’re not voting on a platform … You’re voting on a process.” After negotiations, faculty representatives and the administration would reach a tentative contract — which often includes a pay raise, a benefits package and worker protections — that faculty would once again have to vote on. If a majority of faculty vote “yes” on the con-
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tract, it would become official. If faculty vote “no,” it would go back to the bargaining table. How much would I have to pay in union dues? Pitt faculty would pay United Steelworkers’ standard dues — 1.45% of each member’s gross monthly earnings plus $0.02 per hour. Part-time faculty compensated by the credit hour would pay 1.5%, without the hourly component. Faculty would only be required to pay dues once the union ratifies a contract, which faculty must vote to approve. In nearly all cases, the pay raise for workers negotiated in their union contract exceeds the cost of dues. What is the history of the faculty union
campaign? The faculty union effort officially began in January 2016, when Pitt’s organizers partnered with Steelworkers to launch their campaign, but organizing began in earnest several years before Steelworkers joined the cause. Pitt faculty union organizers have spent many years knocking on doors and pulling aside coworkers to discuss the union question. That grassroots effort culminated in organizers filing for union election in January 2019 after saying they collected signed authorization cards from the requisite 30% of Pitt faculty. But the PLRB ruled in April 2019 that organizers had not collected enough signed authorization
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cards to trigger an election, which led to several rounds of hearings and legal disputes meant to determine who was eligible to vote in a faculty union election. Financial disclosure reports obtained by The Pitt News show that Pitt has paid more than $2.1 million to Ballard Spahr, a Philadelphia-based “union avoidance” law firm, to provide legal support during the faculty union campaign and a separate unionization campaign by graduate students. A Pitt News investigation found that Pitt
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Marion, pg. 10
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This outlook on life paid off. The Miami Dolphins signed him to an undrafted rookiefree-agent contract in 2009. But the dream was short lived — the newly signed and snap-hungry rookie re-tore his ACL in training camp. His NFL career was over before it even started. Marion had a short stint with the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes but ultimately decided to try his hand in coaching in 2010 by taking a job as the offensive coordinator at James Logan High School in Union City, Calif., in the Bay Area. After coaching a few high school teams, Marion progressed to the college level in 2015, overseeing the offense at Arizona State before moving on to other offensive-coaching positions with Oklahoma Baptist, Howard University and William and Mary before accepting the wide receivers coach position at Hawaii University in 2020. As he continued to tour the country through his coaching career, he impressed head coaches, just as he had in his playing days. Marion started to truly make a name for himself in the coaching world after transforming offenses and developing receivers into nationally recognized players, including All-Mountain West wide receiver, Calvin Turner Jr. The wide receiver coach position at Pitt, close to where Marion grew up, became available early in 2021. With a deep group of receivers and a nationally recognized team, plenty of coaches around the nation had their eyes on the job. But ultimately, Marion shot to the top of Pitt’s list and the job was his. “We went on a national search to find our new wide receivers coach and, boy, did we ever go national by finding him in Hawaii,” head football coach Patrick Narduzzi said. “We had a ton of interest in this position but Brennan Marion clearly rose to the top.” Although it wasn’t his initial goal as a hopeful teen in California, Marion achieved one of his dreams, getting to coach where it all started back in western Pennsylvania. “Dreams really do come true,” Marion said. “I am extremely honored and thankful for the opportunity to return home and serve the football program at the University of Pittsburgh. Coach Narduzzi and his staff have been building something very special. I can’t wait to get back to Pittsburgh and work in our wide receivers room.” The receiver room welcomes back experience in redshirt seniors Tre Tipton and Taysir Mack. Marion isn’t the only person Narduzzi pulled from Hawaii either, bringing in redshirt senior
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transfer wide receiver Melquise Stovall. But the headliner of the group is sophomore phenom Jordan Addison. Addison led the Panthers in receiving yards in his first year and drew national praise, being named to the Freshman All-American Roster by The Athletic and finishing No. 2 in ACC rookie of the year voting. But according to Marion, he wants to reach new heights this year. “His goals are so high,” Marion said. “All I have to do with him is say ‘come on, man. You want to be a first round pick. You want that pressure. You want to be that guy.’ And he’ll turn it up that way. So it’s just the subtle things with him that get him to take his game to another level.” Addison knows where he wants to be and Marion knows how to get there. Addison said the former NFL wide receiver has taught him a lot in his first nine months with the team with new drills and lending his wisdom to the young athletes. “He introduced us to a couple new drills, different releases, different kinds of steps for when you get into your route,” Addison said. “He taught us a lot.” The sophomore’s work ethic and lofty goals will draw comparisons to Marion’s when he was Addison’s age. But Marion maintains he isn’t reminded of his younger self when he looks at the sophomore — he thinks he’s better. “He’s a lot more humble than I was,” Marion said. “Talent-wise, for sure. He’s got it.” One of Marion’s biggest tasks in his new position is finding more receivers like Addison — driven and talented high school football players with lofty goals. He hit the ground running in the scouting department, landing three three-star prospects, landing him at No. 20 on 247Sports’ list of top recruiters in the ACC. Narduzzi hopes Marion’s youth will help him connect with recruits and land more big name recruits. “He’s a great teacher of wide receiver play and has outstanding recruiting ties in key geographical areas for us,” Narduzzi said. “He is a high-energy person who builds relationships and connects people.” But above all else, Marion wants his receivers to do what receivers do — catch the football. “Number one thing as a receiver is to catch the ball,” Marion said. “Now we just emphasize catching the ball. We do it everyday. There’s not ever going to be a day that we don’t catch the ball. Everything that we do finishes with a catch or starts with a catch.” Stephen Thompson contributed reporting.
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