1-16-20

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 | January 16, 2020 ­| Volume 110 | Issue 202

GATES GRANTS UNIVERSITY $1 MILLION

STITCH AND B*TCH

Jon Moss

News Editor The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded Pitt and civic network Remake Learning a $1 million grant for the Shifting Power initiative, a project to transform how research and development is conducted in education, according to a Monday press release.

The initiative will provide a space for black and Latinx educators and learning scientists to work together and re-examine best practices in education, explicitly centering on voices that have historically been excluded. It will also form a network in western Pennsylvania of 20 people from school districts, higher Members of Leading Women of Tomorrow teach each other to knit and hang out Wednesday night in the William education institutions, museums, education Pitt Union during a ‘stitch and b*tch.’ Elise Lavallee contributing editor technology companies and education research organizations.

The initiative is intended to become a national model for implementation, according to No Hi —or Coming of Age Day — ceremony marks the maturity of young Japanese people the release.

Brinda Vaidya that 38 Japanese students studying English and who have turned 20, earning the right to smoke, Remake Learning is a network of different For The Pitt News Pitt students studying Japanese participated in. drink and vote in elections, among other things. organizations and people from across southYoung people dressed in traditional fine JapAfter the performance, students filed into western Pennsylvania and West Virginia who anese kimonos watched as a group of vivacious Across cultures, ceremonies such as these, like bat and bar mitzvahs and quinceañeras, are a the ballroom to listen to speeches given by advocate for equitable learning practices, such drummers smacked large wadaiko drums in the way for young people to celebrate the transition members of the local government, such as Pittsas uplifting and supporting students of color. University Club last Friday night. to adulthood. burgh City Councilperson Erika Strassburger Established in 2007 as a working group, and The performance, from Japanese drum enSeijin No Hi is a public holiday in Japan, held and Pitt faculty like Alan Juffs of the English See Grant on page 3 semble Pittsburgh Taiko, was part of a Seijin on the second Monday of January. It is a day that See Coming-of-Age on page 7

COMING-OF-AGE ACROSS CULTURES

Pitt Program Council Presents

Step Up:

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO DANCE tuesday, january 21 8:30 PM WPU Assembly room free sign-ups available in wpu ticket office Tuesday 1/7 - Tuesday 1/21 STUDENTS WITH ANY LEVEL OF EXPERIENCE (INCLUDING NO EXPERIENCE) WILL LEARN 2 DIFFERENT CHOREOGRAPHED HIP-HOP AND STREET DANCE STYLE PIECES TAUGHT BY CONTROLLED CHAOS! FOR CURRENT UNDERGRADUATE PITT OAKLAND STUDENTS ONLY.

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January 16, 2020

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Port Authority to hold Provost’s office accepting OER grant applications listening sessions

Benjamin Nigrosh Assistant News Editor

The Port Authority of Allegheny County announced that it would host “Public Transit: A Community Discussion,” a series of public meetings to talk about upcoming projects inside of the communities the new programs will affect.

According to a Monday press release, the meetings will focus on the Port Authority’s use of technology, passenger fare policy and other issues it has received from riders. Attendees will also be able to ask the panel questions during the discussion, the email said. The members of the panel have yet to be announced.

Katharine Kelleman, Port Authority’s chief executive officer, said in the release that her goal for the discussions is to develop an understanding of how communities around Pittsburgh are affected by changes to Port Authority policies, as well as allowing citizens to voice their concerns on the upcoming projects.

“We felt it was important to hold these gettogethers now so we can talk about these issues before we make any major decisions,” Kelleman

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said.

The date and location of each discussion are below.

Jan. 29 from 9 a.m. to noon, 1 to 4 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Downtown Feb. 5 from 5 to 8 p.m., at the Kingsley Association at 6435 Frankstown Ave. in East Liberty Feb. 12 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Millvale Community Center at 416 Lincoln Ave. in Millvale Feb. 19 in the Monroeville Convention Center Ballroom at 209 Mall Plaza Blvd. in Monroeville Mar. 4 from 5 to 8 p.m., at the McKeesport Palisades at 100 5th Ave. Mar. 11 from 5 to 8 p.m., at Pittsburgh Technical College at 1111 McKee Road in Oakdale Mar. 18 from 5 to 8 p.m., at the Bethel Park Community Center at 5151 Park Ave. Apr. 1 from 5 to 8 p.m., at the Springdale Veterans Association at 1151 Pittsburgh St. Apr. 23 from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Connolly Ballroom of Alumni Hall at 4227 Fifth Ave. in Oakland

Jon Moss and Benjamin Nigrosh The Pitt News Staff

The University is accepting proposals from faculty until Feb. 19 for projects to adapt, adopt or create open education resources for current course offerings.

The third iteration of the funding program is part of a series of initiatives run by Provost Ann Cudd’s office to encourage the use of OERs. OERs are course materials like textbooks, lab notebooks and videos that are free for Pitt students and allow for legal adaptation and open use with attribution to the original author. They are typically free or less expensive than traditional textbooks.

Faculty can apply for smaller grants, ranging from $500 to $2,000, to adopt or adapt an open textbook or OER course component such

Grant, pg. 1 later formed the Remake Learning Council in 2014. It’s comprised of elected officials, school district administrators and education professionals.

Allyce Pinchback-Johnson, Remake Learning’s group lead for the initiative, said the initiative will work to refocus the attention of education research and development on educators who work with students everyday.

“By centering the voices of educators of color within the Remake Learning network and pairing them with local learning scientists, this project aims to upend this traditional power structure inherent in R&D processes,” Pinchback-Johnson said in the release.

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as online homework, lab manuals or support materials. Larger grants, between $2,000 and $5,000, are available to support individual or team-based development of open textbooks, or combining an open textbook with course-specific development.

Lynn Dang, a Student Government Board member and OER advocate, said faculty have adopted open resources for a variety of reasons such as existing textbooks not fitting current needs or a desire for customizability, but supporters have a way to go still for wider usage.

“We have had discussions ranging from marketing tactics to spread awareness to faculty to considerations on what the word ‘open’ even means,” Dang, a sophomore business major, said.

Find the full story online at

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Valerie Kinloch, the Renée and Richard Goldman Dean of the Pitt School of Education and cochair of the Remake Learning Council, said the initiative is an important project to “center and uplift the voices, identities, power and brilliance” of black and Latinx educators.

“Our network will ensure that they play a leading role in the educational innovations that improve the spaces where our young people learn,” Kinloch, coprincipal investigator on the grant, said in the release. “We are proud to partner with Remake Learning and the Gates Foundation on this ambitious endeavor, which supports our School’s mission to ignite learning and to strive for well-being for all.”

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Opinions

column

Classes should not be held in nationality rooms Allison Dantinne

Senior Staff Columnist In my first college class ever — about five minutes after I walked in and half a minute after my professor walked in — I was instructed to throw out my peach greek yogurt, which was almost entirely uneaten, before we began a recitation for a class none of us had had yet.

And yes, looking up at the sign above the trash can in the Japanese heritage room and seeing that my peach greek yogurt consumption was in fact wrong in this environment washed the bewildered look right off my face.

However, many years and many peach greek yogurts in classrooms later, I still wonder what was so wrong about eating in class.

This is one of the various perils I’ve run into when taking classes in Nationality Rooms.

Typically, one either has a professor who’s very excited to teach in a Nationality Room or who walks into the first class promising they put in a room change before they even introduce themselves. I, of course, tend to agree with the latter. Nationality Rooms, while beautiful, are typically unsuitable for class, as they pose far too many issues for effective instruction.

The furniture — while representative of the region or nationality the room is dedicated to and oftentimes aesthetically pleasing — is not practical for teaching. In rooms with long tables and various chairs, such as the Swiss Nationality Room, discussion or group work, which many classes require, is nearly impossible. The tables often cannot be moved, as they are bolted to the floor. You can’t always look at the person who’s speaking or move chairs to form small groups or even create a circle to

hold a workshop. The furniture is limiting in terms of instruction.

And then there are the chairs with small desks attached, which feel far more suitable for a first-grader with nothing to balance on their postage stamp desk beside their subtraction worksheet, a pink eraser and the dream of becoming a doctor or possibly an astronaut.

These desks, however, in the Czechoslovak Nationality Room, Welsh Nationality Room and others cannot balance the laptop, handouts and textbooks which a college student may be using all at once. Without that accessibility, a student cannot keep up with the references a professor is making during a lecture while also taking notes.

Further, the chairs — and I’m looking specifically at you, African and Israel heritage rooms — are not made for the extended sitting required in lectures and seminars. The

chairs are stiff and unsuitable for anything longer than a 50-minute lecture. I would say I have a young, strong back, typically not subject to pain. I could only imagine they must be worse for older students or students with more chronic pain. For a literature class in the African heritage room, which was thankfully not full enough to necessitate the use of the squat little stools dotted around the center of the room, we were told our winter coats made good cushions between us and the chairs. It did work fairly well. While I appreciate the cultural and aesthetic value of these chairs and understand their place in the architecture of the room, the chairs were still a distraction from the class itself. They aren’t practical for students.

While the winter coat trick is useful for See Dantinne on page 6

Construction on campus:

Inconvenient but worthwhile

Paige Lawler Staff Columnist

Upon returning to campus from winter break, students may have been surprised to discover several of their usual paths around campus were inaccessible due to construction.

The front entrance and all of the Bigelow side of the William Pitt Union are now completely inaccessible, as are the stairs behind Eberly Hall and the stairs that lead from Irvis Hall to the Chevron Science Center.

These closures and changes are the result of recent construction on campus, which has been making significant alterations to the landscape since Bigelow Boulevard closed in fall 2019. Inaccessibility and change on campus is frustrating and inconvenient for students. However, there is hope that at the end of the construction lies a revitalized, more

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sustainable campus.

Currently, the closure of the Chevron and Eberly stairs have impacted students by requiring them to find alternate ways to move between upper and lower campus. Likewise, the closure of the front entrance to the William Pitt Union over break has caused a large disruption for students in terms of their mobility. Where students were previously able to enter from a series of four different doors on the Fifth Avenue entrance, they are now required to enter either through the bottom level on Forbes Avenue or using the entrances in the Schenley Quadrangle.

The University sent students an email informing them about the aforementioned changes that would happen over the break.

Unfortunately, this email was delivered to a secondary inbox of students’ Pitt emails and was likely not seen by a majority of the student

population. Another downfall of this communication was its timing, as it was delivered over the winter recess when students were probably less likely to check their university emails.

This lack of communication was a small blunder in Pitt’s journey to improve and revitalize campus, mainly because the changes made have seriously impacted students’ ability to move between upper and lower campus by effectively shutting off two of three major walking routes to lower campus. These changes require students to adjust their usual routes from upper to lower campus, as well as making students readjust their routines in order to get to class on time — my own walk from upper to lower campus now takes nearly twice as long as it did before construction started.

But all this obstruction isn’t pointless — it’s simply a side effect of efforts to create a better,

January 16, 2020

greener campus, as outlined in the Campus Master Plan, a document that, in a whopping 435 pages, describes the goals and framework for campus development over the coming decade.

Pitt has been working on the Campus Master Plan for several months now, with Senior Vice Chancellor of Business and Operations Gregory Scott overseeing the logistics of construction.

Scott, in an interview, explained that the plan has been in motion for some time, with some of the earlier projects including renovations in Hillman Library. The most recent progress on the plan includes the Bigelow Block Transformation Project and preparing to build a new fitness and recreation center on O’Hara Street.

See Lawler on page 5

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Lawler, pg. 4 The Bigelow Block Transformation Project was the first project in the Campus Master Plan to seriously impact student mobility.

It involved shutting down the entire street, thus eliminating the crosswalk leading from the WPU to the Cathedral of Learning and moving the campus shuttle stops outside the Cathedral to Forbes Avenue.

The Project is, according to Scott, a sort of building block for future projects and renovations on Pitt’s campus. Combining the fundamental nature of the project with the busy nature of Oakland required careful consideration in scheduling the construction.

“We spent a lot of time thinking about that project and we said could we do that project over two summers … because we didn’t want to disrupt the students and the community during the academic year,” Scott said. “As it turned out we could do it faster and more efficiently … if we just did it in a nine month period, straight through. It was gonna have impacts but … when students come back in the fall of [2020] it would be done.”

While there are several downfalls to the construction on campus, particularly considering students and their established routines, the University seems to be carefully planning projects with an environmentally conscious attitude. This should at least ease some of the ire toward these projects, since they will hopefully be to the benefit of not only students, but also the environment upon completion.

One of the goals of construction is to ensure that each new building obtains a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, which is a standard that requires buildings to use recycled materials or reuse pre-existing materials and use natural resources that were obtained with minimal de-

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struction to their ecosystems. Enforcing this standard will certainly help to reduce the impact the countless construction projects will have on the environment, and should help Pitt move toward the sustainable future it has planned.

Another goal of the Campus Master Plan is to increase the tree canopy in the region by 50%, which is at the very least an encouraging thing to hear. According to Pitt spokesperson Kevin Zwick, the University hopes to achieve this goal by 2030, though a large portion of the trees may not be planted on Pitt’s campus due to limited space in

Oakland. Knowing that Pitt is keeping the overall environmental impact of these projects in mind is somewhat comforting given some of the detriments construction has already had on the campus.

For example, on the hillside beside the Chevron Science Center, a number of trees have been cut down in preparation for the new fitness and recreation center. One of the goals of the University is to replace these trees with species that are native to the region, as well as to use more native plants in landscaping around campus. This effort to improve the botanical environment on cam-

January 16, 2020

pus is a benefit of the construction, and it shows that, in spite of the current inconvenience for some students, there will be long term benefits for the environment once construction is completed.

While the push toward sustainability is encouraging and very important, the downfalls of living on a campus that is undergoing constant renovations are likely to weigh more heavily on students’ opinions of these projects. However, if the University upholds and achieves these goals, the construction may well be worth the inconvenience it poses to students in the long run.

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Dantinne, pg. 4 softening the hard-backed chairs, they might also need to be used when in a Nationality Room during the winter months. Many of these rooms experience drafts from the outside air, leaving the climate of the classroom subject to the climate outside. Because this is Pittsburgh, and the temperature during any given semester can range from below freezing to the muggy high-70s within the span of a week, this makes it difficult to predict the classroom temperature, which makes it difficult for students and faculty to mitigate the effects of temperature on the learning environment.

As uncomfortable as these other facets of Nationality Rooms may make the students within them, very little compares to the outdated or dysfunctional AV equipment often found in Nationality Rooms. During a class in the Swiss room, we found that though the projector did work, the HDMI cable must be plugged into “input one” and the professor had to select “input two” for their laptop to display. This was one of the better, often comical examples of dysfunctional technology.

Other times, the room is outfitted with a

The Israeli Heritage Classroom. Sarah Cutshall visual editor TV, which due to size or location is not visible to all students in the room. Sometimes required cables are missing from the rooms.

This creates an issue when a professor wishes to display a PowerPoint or a video — two common means of displaying information within lectures — causing either a delay in class time to solve the multimedia issues or the inability to use these resources at all, leading back to wasted class time and inefficient learning.

“The University is upgrading Nationality Rooms with AV equipment and media cabinets based on feedback from students and faculty,” according to Pitt spokesperson Kevin Zwick. “The facilities management team has updated six Nationality Rooms with new AV equipment and is currently working on an additional four.”

That still leaves 23 Nationality Rooms without updated equipment and no discernable plans to update 19 of the rooms.

I do believe the Nationality Rooms are a beautiful display of diversity within the University and am proud to go to an institution that displays a rich and varied fabric of cultures. The tour is wonderful. I would recommend that all students walk through all the rooms at least once during their college career — there is truly fascinating information inside these rooms. I am in no way arguing that we should not have Nationality Rooms at all.

However, these rooms in their current state are not functional enough to be classrooms.

Part of the majesty of Nationality Rooms is that they provide a glimpse back into the educational practices of the past. They allow us to travel back to lands and times we’ve never known in our lifetimes. But while I’m in a PSYCH 0010 recitation or junior literature project seminar, I’m not looking to enjoy the aesthetic of carved wooden chairs and a curio cabinet of artifacts. I’m looking to learn as effectively as possible — to be a student rather than a museum patron.

Allison Dantinne primarily writes satire and humor for The Pitt News. This, however, is a serious article. Write to Allison with your serious thoughts at and163@pitt.edu.

Little Women (PG) Fri: 2:00, 4:40, 7:20, 9:55 Sat & Sun: 11:20 AM, 2:00, 4:40, 7:20,9 :55 Mon & Tue: 2:00, 4:40, 7:20,9:55 Wed: 2:00, 4:40, 7:20, 9:55 Thu: 2:00, 4:40, 7:20, 9:55 Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (PG-13) Wed-Thu: 1:20, 4:10, 7:00, 9:45 Uncut Gems (PG-13) Fri: 4:50, 9:50, Mon & Tue: 4:50, 9:50, Wed & Thu: 2:10, 4:50, 7:30, 10:00 Sat - Sun: 4:50, 9:50, 1917 (R) Fri: 2:20, 4:45, 7:10, 9:40 Sat & Sun: 11:55 AM, 2:20, 4:45, 7:10, 9:40 Mon & Tue: 2:20, 4:45, 7:10, 9:40 Wed: 2:20, 4:45, 7:10, 9:35 Thu: 2:20, 4:45, 7:10, 9:35 Jojo Rabbit (PG-13) Fri: 2:35, 2:35 7:30 Sat & Sun: 12:20 PM 2:35, 7:30 Mon-Thu: 2:35, 7:30 Parasite (PG-13) Fri-Thu: 4:20, 7:00 Jojo Rabbit (PG-13) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (R) Fri: 9:35 PM Sat & Sun: 1:10 PM, 9:35 PM Mon-Thu: 9:35 PM

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January 16, 2020

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Culture

column

SHOCKED, BUT NOT HORRIFIED BY THE ACADEMY’S NOMINATIONS Delilah Bourque Culture Editor

After I first saw Jordan Peele’s 2019 movie “Us,” I slept with the lights on, terrified a vicious red- jumpsuit-clad doppelgänger of mine was on her way to murder me with a massive pair of gold scissors.

Peele’s first movie, “Get Out,” also a horror movie, received critical acclaim after its release in 2017, nabbing the Academy Award for best original screenplay, as well as nominations for the best director, best actor and best picture categories. Despite this, “Us,” a movie written and directed with just as much panache, was snubbed by the Academy nominations, which were announced on Monday.

This is another in a long line of horror movies getting completely ignored by one of the most prestigious awarding bodies in the world.

The most renowned “best picture” category this year includes one nod to the genre, in Korean director’s Bong Joon-ho’s pseudo-horror movie “Parasite,” but neglects more traditional horror, like “Us” and “Midsommar,” directed by Ari Aster. Both received no Academy Award nominations — a grave error.

“Parasite” certainly has the threads of horror throughout. The movie follows a poor family attempting to insert themselves into the lives of a rich family by posing as unrelated profession-

Coming-of-Age, pg. 1 Language Institute. These speakers doled out small gifts to the students, two of whom gave closing speeches to their fellow participants.

The Asian Language Studies Center at Pitt, in partnership with Yasuda University’s English Language Institute in Japan, recognizes the significance of such a cultural and personal experience by hosting the event every year. Although Seijin No Hi is a festival that celebrates all 20-year-olds born in each year, sophomore Fusako Fujimoto said it was significant to her individually as well because she was asked to speak at the ceremony by one of her professors.

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als and slowly getting hired to work in the other family’s lavish home. The movie is an atypical choice for best picture, both because of the horror genre and because it is entirely in Korean, an odd choice for an organization usually resistant to reading subtitles.

One could make the case that other nominated movies borrow from elements of horror.

Todd Phillips’ “Joker,” which received 11 nominations, the most of any film this year, certainly offers a few scares, especially from Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as the titular character.

Similarly, so does “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” directed by Quentin Tarantino, which retells the infamous Manson Family murders of the 1970s.

Just like “Parasite,” neither “Joker” nor “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” can really be categorized as straight-up horror. Tarantino, despite his disturbing obsession with shots of women’s feet, made more of a Western than a horror movie, despite being about the murders of seven people. I’m still not entirely sure what “Joker” is about, but it definitely is not a horror movie.

Horror is a distinct genre of film, one that is meant to, and often does, illicit a physical reaction from audiences. Hairs stand on end, people jump or maybe the audience goes home to a nightmare about seeing dead people. It seems the Academy likes to favor movies that are more

difficult to confine into categories, like “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” and that genre film is perceived as not as artistic because it can be categorized.

Not just any random horror flick should receive a nomination, and it makes sense that a prestigious film institution wouldn’t want to celebrate two hours of blood and guts on screen, but some of the best horror movies this year didn’t need an overabundance of gore on-screen to be both horror movies and well-made movies.

“Midsommar” is an amazingly trippy movie, which follows Dani (Florence Pugh), an American college student who travels to Sweden to attend a midsummer celebration in her friend’s ancestral home. Pugh delivers a phenomenal performance as Dani that left me shaking and afraid. Pugh received the best supporting actress nom from the Academy for Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women,” but was entirely ignored for “Midsommar,” despite exhibiting the same acting chops that brought Amy March to life.

“Midsommar” is Aster’s second criticallyacclaimed horror flick, the first being 2018’s “Hereditary,” which stars Toni Collette who, ironically enough, was formerly nominated for best supporting actress for her role in the 1999 M. Night Shyamalan horror movie “The Sixth Sense,” as a grieving mother deal-

ing with the death of both her mother and 13-year-old daughter.

Despite being production company A-24’s highest grossing film of all time, making $79 million on a $10 million budget, “Hereditary,” which offers more of the gruesome elements of traditional horror films than “Midsommar,” was similarly snubbed by the Academy.

Often, horror movies need to get thrown into a more tepid categorization to be deemed more deserving of awards. “Get Out” was touted by some critics to be a “racial thriller,” because it dealt with the topic of race, and 2018’s best picture winner “The Shape of Water,” directed by Guillermo Del Toro, is described as a “romantic dark fantasy.” Horror movies shouldn’t have to drop the word “horror” in order to be taken seriously.

Only five movies that could be described as horror were able to break the best picture barrier before “Get Out,” including “Jaws” and “Black Swan.”

Despite past nominations for excellent movies such as “Get Out,” the Academy Awards have always been slow to recognize phenomenal filmmaking in the horror genre.

Horror films shouldn’t have to boil themselves down to something-hyphen-thriller categories just to get recognized. Next year, I will be horrified if the Academy doesn’t change its ways.

“To be honest, I really wanted to attend Japanese Coming of Age ceremony because it is special — it will be very special for me to attend that ceremony,” Fujimoto said.

John Stoner, a senior lecturer in the history department, said certain qualities distinguished the event from such other coming-of-age ceremonies across societies, like clothing and ritual styles.

“So I think that what marks this is ritual, what marks this is formality, this is a very formal style of dress. These beautiful kimonos really, I think, represent the seriousness with which this ceremony is taken in Japanese culture,” Stoner said.

To Stoner, the transition into adulthood translates throughout many cultures.

“Most societies of which I’m aware find some way to mark maturation — the maturation from childhood to adulthood,” he said.

“But that happens in very different ages in very different places.”

While Seijin No Hi celebrates many 20-yearolds at once, the Jewish customs of bar mitzvah, for 13-year-old boys, and bat mitzvah, for 12- or 13-year-old girls, have their own schedule and make the child the spectacle. The celebrated youths lead the event entirely by themselves, although their families help plan everything, from the schedule to who is invited, which is

typically family members and friends.

According to Max Cohen, a senior marketing and supply chain management double major, bar and bat mitzvahs can range from small get-togethers to extravagant parties of more than 100 friends and family members.

Participants, donning formal dresses or suits, enter the room and read a speech from the Jewish holy book, the Torah, to signify the completion of their Sunday school and mastery of the Torah’s teachings. Traditions like the Horah — an Israeli circle dance — are usually involved as well. As both a cultural and religious celebration of adulthood, the bar/bat mitzvah

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See Coming-of-Age on page 10

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Sports

JIMBO COVERT SELECTED TO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME Trent Leonard Sports Editor

Pitt football legend Jimbo Covert, who played offensive tackle for the Panthers from 1978-82 and then for the Chicago Bears from 1983-90, was selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Wednesday morning.

Hall of Fame President David Baker gave Covert the call around 8 a.m. EST. Covert, who was out in San Francisco, picked up the phone around 5 a.m. PST and expressed disbelief at the news.

“I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to say,” he said. “I’m shocked.”

While the announcement may have come as a surprise to the 59-year-old Covert, it was an outcome expected by the Pitt, Chicago and general football fans who witnessed his prowess and had

been clammering for years to get him enshrined in Canton, Ohio.

“We are absolutely thrilled that Jimbo will receive this highly deserved induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” Pitt head football coach Pat Narduzzi said in a statement. “He has been a Hall of Famer in every aspect of his life. Jimbo sets a tremendous example for our current players. On a personal note, I have greatly appreciated his support and guidance during my time at Pitt. On behalf of Panthers everywhere, congratulations Jimbo!”

Covert, a native of nearby Beaver County, initially played defensive tackle for the Panthers before switching to the other side of the ball. He enjoyed a standout final three seasons, allowing just three sacks over that span and becoming a con-

sensus All-American as a senior. His No. 75 jersey was retired by the team in 2015.

The Panthers went 31-5 in Covert’s three years as a starter, never finishing a season ranked worse than No. 10. He spent those seasons blocking for a teammate who he’ll join in Canton — Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino. Together, that duo led the last great era of Pitt football — not since their graduation have the Panthers finished a season ranked No. 10 or better.

Covert went on to play eight seasons for Chicago, including the team’s dominant run in 1985 that ended with a 1986 Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots. He was named to the NFL’s AllDecade Team of the 1980s and Hall of Fame teammate Walter Payton once called him “the best offensive tackle in the NFL.”

Covert’s selection makes him the ninth Panther to join the Hall of Fame ranks, joining defensive end Chris Doleman (2012), tight end Mike Ditka (1988), running back Tony Dorsett (1994), offensive lineman Russ Grimm (2010), linebacker Rickey Jackson (2010), quarterback Dan Marino (2005), running back Curtis Martin (2012) and linebacker Joe Schmidt (1973).

Only three other schools — USC, Notre Dame and Ohio State — can claim more Pro Football Hall of Famers, while Michigan also has nine.

“The Panthers are roaring with pride today with the announcement that Jimbo Covert will be enshrined in Canton,” Pitt Director of Athletics Heather Lyke said in a statement. “Jimbo truly represents the very best of the University of Pittsburgh.”

Steelers hire former Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Canada

Trent Leonard Sports Editor

Former Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Canada is returning to the Steel City.

Just not in the way Panther fans might hope.

Canada, who orchestrated one of the most prolific offenses in Pitt football history during his lone season in 2016, was hired as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterbacks coach Wednesday morning.

Before Wednesday, the Steelers were one of four teams in the NFL that didn’t employ a full-time quarterbacks coach.

Offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner previously occupied the role before taking over play-calling duties in 2017.

Canada served previous stints as quarterbacks coach or offensive coordinator for Butler (1997), Northern Illinois (2001-

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03, 2011), Indiana (2004-10), Wisconsin (2012), NC State (2013-15), Pitt (2016), LSU (2017) and Maryland (2018). The Steelers’ job will be his first in the NFL. Though he spent just one season at Pitt, Canada left his mark by devising one of the most high-powered offenses in school history. The Panthers set a school record by averaging 42 points per game, ranking No. 6 nationally in scoring offense.

Under Canada’s scheme, which emphasizes pre-snap motion and misdirection, the Panthers achieved their only victory in the renewed four-game series against Penn State, ousting the Nittany Lions 42-39. Pitt also scored 43 points in an upset over the eventual national champion Clemson Tigers, and famously scored 76 points in a high-scoring romp

of Syracuse.

Through the Panthers’ 12 regularseason games in 2016, they never scored less than 28 points. The 2019 Panthers, for comparison, scored over 28 just three times in the regular season.

Perhaps Canada’s greatest testament in quarterback coaching can be seen in former Pitt quarterback Nathan Peterman. As a senior in 2016, Peterman threw for a career-high 2,855 yards, 27 touchdowns and 9.3 yards per attempt.

His performance earned him a spot in the NFL when the Buffalo Bills selected him with the 171st overall pick in the 2017 draft.

Without Canada’s guidance, however, Peterman became one of the worst statistical passers in NFL history. He infamously threw five interceptions in

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the opening half of his first NFL start, eventually setting the league record for most interceptions thrown in under 100 passing attempts. Peterman’s career NFL passing stats include three touchdowns, 12 interceptions and a 32.5 quarterback rating.

With 37-year-old quarterback Ben Roethlisberger nearing retirement and the Steelers backup quarterbacks averaging a league second-worst 186.3 passing yards per game in 2019, Pitt’s Heinz Field neighbors need all the help they can get in the quarterback department.

With his highly touted football mind and heavy experience coaching quarterbacks, Canada should have a positive impact on the Steelers. Pitt fans can testify just how much he can help a struggling offense.

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DAMAR HAMLIN WILL RETURN IN 2020 Trent Leonard Sports Editor

Most assumed Pitt senior safety Damar Hamlin had played his final down as a Panther when he walked off Ford Field after the Quick Lane Bowl. But head coach Pat Narduzzi revealed afterward that the team would attempt to gain a fifth year of eligibility for Hamlin, considering he only played three games in his first-year season due to injury.

Hamlin’s waiver request was granted by the NCAA Wednesday afternoon, meaning the star safety will return for Pitt’s 2020 season.

“We weren’t certain after our bowl game what the future would hold,” Narduzzi said in a statement. “We really appreciate the efforts of our compliance staff as Damar went through this process. I know Damar is ready to take full advantage — academically, athletically and personally — of his final year at the University of Pittsburgh.”

There was initially skepticism that Hamlin would be granted another year of eligibility. The uncertainty surrounding the situation stemmed from the fact that, for years, a player could not

pittnews.com

Senior safety Damar Hamlin’s waiver request was granted by the NCAA Wednesday afternoon, meaning he will return for Pitt’s 2020 season.

Kaycee Orwig senior staff photographer redshirt once he had seen any game action. Ham- could be some wiggle room to earn a retroactive lin played three games in his first year and then redshirt. became a regular starter for the next three years, Yet there was still a reasonable doubt that ending any redshirt opportunity.

Hamlin would really return. For reasons that can’t But the rules changed in 2018, allowing play- be fully explained, the NCAA is very unpredicters of any year to play in up to four games and still able when it comes to granting waivers. It has qualify for a redshirt season. Knowing that Ham- allowed players to play for questionable reasons lin only played three games in 2016 before the while inexplicably barring others. Whether or not rule was implemented, Narduzzi realized there a player’s waiver will be granted is essentially one

January 16, 2020

big, mysterious coin flip.

In this case, the coin fell in favor of the Panthers.

With redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman, redshirt junior defensive tackle Patrick Jones II and redshirt sophomore Paris Ford spurning the NFL Draft for another year at Pitt, Hamlin’s return means the Panthers will return nearly all their production from last season’s defense that finished No. 15 nationally in yards per game allowed.

Hamlin, a Pittsburgh Central Catholic alum, led Pitt with 90 tackles and two interceptions in 2018. He formed a fearsome duo with Ford in the 2019 defensive backfield, coming in second behind the standout sophomore with 84 tackles while adding 10 pass breakups. He finished the season on a high note in Pitt’s bowl victory over Eastern Michigan, recording a season-high 13 tackles and an interception.

As the Panthers’ active leader in career tackles with 223, Hamlin will help lead a Pitt defense that should be among the best in the ACC — and the country — in 2020.

9

Coming-of-Age, pg. 7 is one of the most important events for Jewish people, he said.

“The main reason [for the importance] being it’s kind of like the completion of our Sunday school time. So it’s almost like [Confirmation,] or something like that, that I know a lot of Christians have,” Cohen said.

Unlike the more uniform nature of annual Seijin No Hi celebrations, not all bat or bar mitzvahs proceed in the same way. Depending on the type of Judaism a person observes, their celebration may be different. Cohen said his relatives, who observe Orthodox Judaism, were considered adults in their community after their bar mitzvahs.

“My cousins are very observant Orthodox Jews. So there was a very different significance and things like that,” he said. “At that point they have to be considered an adult in their commu-

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nities so they are treated the exact same way as somebody who’s 60 years old versus someone who’s 13.”

Senior French major Samantha Robertson said her bat mitzvah included personal touches, such as a montage of pictures of her growing up, and an “Around the World” theme. This, she said, was due to her family’s observation of Reform Judaism.

“I think the level of tradition is different for people … I’m a Reform Jew, so very low-key, that’s like the lowest layer,” she said. “If you’re an Orthodox Jew, your bar or bat mitzvah would be very high pressure, very much more religious.”

While Jewish children celebrate their coming-of-age in their early teen years, Latina girls celebrate the entrance into womanhood at 15, with a quinceañera. According to Selena Benitez-Cuffee, a Puerto Rican alumna who graduated in 2018, the event is comparable to

a wedding — it involves plenty of food, music, a traditional waltz-type dance and even the cutting of an elegant cake. The girl is often accompanied by her loved ones — a court of “damas” and “chambelanes.” Benitez-Cuffee said a family’s religious observations play a factor into the planning as well, though the party soon follows.

“We’re a really Catholic family so we make sure we have the whole church ceremony,” she said. “And then it led into a party and it’s basically coming from a girl to a woman and making this big deal and having your family and friends and all of your loved ones around to celebrate that special moment for you.”

During the quinceañera, many girls participate in the Changing of the Shoes ceremony.

Benitez-Cuffee said the ceremony celebrates a transition from girlhood to womanhood by changing from the shoes of a child to the shoes of an adult woman.

“So you’ll have sneakers or Converse, some-

January 16, 2020

thing comfortable — that’s like being a girl. And then it’s gonna be putting on your heels, which is kind of you going into womanhood,” she said.

Students who participated in a comingof-age ceremony say it helps them feel more grounded to their culture or beliefs. Robertson said having a bat mitzvah has helped her stay connected to Judaism.

“Especially with what’s been happening all the time, it’s hard to believe in a higher power or something so thinking about my bat mitzvah kind of brings me back to it and I’m like ‘oh, okay, that does make me feel better,” Robertson said.

Benitez-Cuffee views quinceañeras in her family as a reminder of their heritage.

“For me and my family it was just a really big thing because it was a big cultural part and because most of my family is in the U.S. ... it kind of helped us connect with our culture even though we are removed from it a little bit,” Benitez-Cuffee said.

10

pittnews.com

January 16, 2020

11

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Fall 2020 Rentals ‑ 1 and 2 bedroom apart­ments very close to campus, well main­ tained, 24 hour laun­ dry, secured build­ings.

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Studios ‑ $695‑$705 1Beds ‑ $795‑$815 2beds ‑ $975‑$995 3beds ‑ $1,245 412‑455‑5600 or www.pghnexus.com South Oakland Houses and Apart­ ments with Laundry/ Central Air. Call or Text 412‑38‑Lease. AMO Man­agement.

South Oakland off‑campus hous‑ ing. 2,3, and 4 BR apartments/­houses for rent. Up­dated Kitch‑ ens and Bathrooms.

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Available August of 2020. 412‑445‑6117

Studio, 1, 2, 3, and 4 BD apartments avail­ able in South Oak­land from $800‑$2500 M.J. Kelly Real Estate mjkellyrealty@gmail.­ com. 412‑271‑5550.

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Call 412‑281‑2700.

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FOR RELEASE JANUARY 16, 2020

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Gorgeous and unique duplexes in the beau­ tiful neighborhood of Squirrel Hill! 2‑5 bedroom options for summer 2020! Call now! 412‑441‑1400

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

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January 16, 2020

01/16/20

• NORTH OAKLAND • SOUTH OAKLAND • SHADYSIDE • SQUIRREL HILL • SOUTHSIDE • NORTHSIDE • BLOOMFIELD • ROOMMATES • OTHER

Employment

ACROSS 1 Barbecue remnants 5 Personal identification?

10 Rolaids rival 14 Iris layer 15 Part of a “Star Wars” name 16 “__ it first!”

17 Tower of London guards 19 Local bond, briefly 20 PC key 21 Classic car 22 Frozen floaters 23 Celebratory smokes 25 2019 awards for Giannis Antetokounmpo 26 Elaborate style 29 Checks out 31 Artist Yoko 32 “Nashville” actress Judith 35 Currently 39 Vases with feet 41 With 45-Across, meat cut that suggests six aptly placed puzzle answers 43 Understand, in slang 44 Kremlin refusal 45 See 41-Across 46 “Me? Never!”

47 Original “Star Trek” studio 49 Princess from Alderaan 51 Links standard 52 Manilow song site 54 Giants’ div.

56 Mopes 59 __ bag 62 Sporty car features 63 To’s partner 64 Fitting tool 68 Lower-APR deal 69 Restaurant list not for everyone 71 Shiraz’s land 72 Giants and Titans 73 Physics matter 74 Nectarine centers 75 Donkeys 76 Filing tool

The Pitt news crossword

I N D E X

Rentals & Sublet

DOWN 1 “Squarely unconventional” Nissan

1/16/20

By Bruce Haight

2 Baker 3 Vegetable that may stain a cutting board 4 Seattle-based insurance giant 5 Mont. neighbor 6 Colorful fish 7 Range rover 8 Gloomy 9 Daybreak deity 10 One involved in multiple problems?

11 Take by force 12 Shabby 13 __ chocolate 18 “The Art of Loving” author Fromm 22 Honey bunch 24 Blunders 26 Tavern order 27 Deli specification 28 Traffic markers 30 Talking on and on 33 __-rock 34 Highlander 36 Overused theme 37 Bits 38 Slacks alternative 40 Map markers 42 Scottish rejection

Wednesday’s Puzzle Solved

©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

48 Result of a poor investment 50 Crème de la crème 53 Commercial charges 55 German city where the Bauhaus movement began 56 Vegas __ 57 Where embryos grow

1/16/20

58 Like much diet food 60 Black-and-white whales 61 Grammy winner Eydie 65 Letter that rhymes with three others 66 Nephew of Cain 67 Keister 69 Transit map abbr.

70 Snaky shape 12