Vol. 105 Issue 96
Pittnews.com
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Board exceeds Allocation Committee caps
Cathy climbers
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sweatpants and sneakers and re-tied my laces as the smells of coffee and pastries from the Cathedral Cafe wafted to my nose as I stood on the ground level. I restrained myself. Food would be waiting for me as my reward. It was the first day of classes, Jan. 5. It was freezing outside but the Cathedral stairwell was hot, as usual. As a frequent runner, I expected the climb to be like any other workout. However, the heat, elevation and unusual repetitive motion made the trek more grueling than expected. I took my first step, and hoards of students poured through the outside door on the west side of the building. Some looked at me strangely, wondering why I was poised for a workout, but most ignored me and continued on their way. I quickly shuffled along with them. 3rd floor - 12th floor: It turns out I chose the wrong staircase. I reached the third floor only to find a dead end, forced to abandon my path. I wandered around the halls, admiring the view of the Christmas trees illuminating the Commons from below, as I peered over an open ledge to scan for one of two staircases that continued
the
to Trek Lauren Rosenblatt Staff Writer The 764 steps in the Cathedral of Learning break down into 36 flights of approximately 21 steps each. I know this, because I’ve climbed every one of them. I’m not the only one, though. Danny Chew, a lifelong Pittsburgh resident, currently holds the record time for climbing the Cathedral stairs — three minutes, 38 seconds. He is one of a group of Pittsburghers who Chew calls “the stair climbers,” as they regularly use the stairs as a form of exercise. It’s a physically rewarding yet grueling experience, which causes Chew to endearingly call the Cathedral the “Tower of Pain.” I came prepared to join their ranks. I exchanged my jeans and blouse for
Emily Ahlin Staff Writer to the fourth floor. Once found, my new stairwell was better lit, with the sun streaming through the windows. It was almost pleasant, but I rounded the corner and faced another dead end in this medieval labyrinth. The third staircase was dark, dank and steep. The number of stairs in each flight had increased, I thought, and there were three flights, instead of two, between floors. My feet were grateful that I brought a change of running shoes, but my back regretted the decision as I lumbered on with books, a laptop and a spare set of clothes strapped to my shoulders. My hands clenched the rail. Signs posted on each floor reminded me that I should use stairwells in case of emergency, and not as a form of exercise. Most people in the staircases, I found, ignored this demand as they lunged upward, and I only found out the sign’s purpose days after my indoor hike. Rebecca Findle is one of those scurrying forms ignoring the warning and climbs the stairs once every few weeks in the winter. “In the winter, on the extra cold days, I opt to run the stairs instead of outside,”
Climbers
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When it comes to matters of money, the Allocations Committee has caps the Board can brush off. At last night’s public meeting, the second of the new Board’s term, the Board allocated more money than the Allocations Committee recommended in two of the six allocations requests. In both requests, the Board went above the conference cap of $2,000, listed in Section 3.04 of the Allocations Manual. Allocations chair Nick Reslink said the manual establishes caps to ensure the Committee equally distributes funds to student groups.
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President Meyer explained the Board’s allocations decisions Tuesday night. Meghan Sunners | Staff Photographer
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CLIMBERS Findle, a junior nursing student, said. “I prefer the stairs over a treadmill, and it’s a fast and challenging workout.” Nicholas Sullivan sprints the stairs for extra cardio after an outdoor run. “I use the stairs for exercise because it’s a great workout. Stair running is great because it’s like a never-ending hill workout. It’s even better, though more tiring, after running outside,” Sullivan, a sophomore neuroscience major, said. “This helps me get an even better workout and will hopefully be beneficial to my marathon training.” As a “Cathy Climber” all-star, Chew has traversed the equivalent length of a marathon on the Cathedral stairs in just one workout. In a record-setting trial, Chew, 52, ran up the Cathedral stairs for 24 consecutive hours in 2009. By the time he had finished, the horizontal distance he ran was at least 26 miles. A marathon is 26.2 miles. “When you’re doing a 24-hour record,
January 21, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com the intensity isn’t as high, and you have to eat to keep your energy up. I would have food waiting for me on the top floor and would eat as I went down the elevator,” Chew said. I reached the 12th floor after eight minutes. I saw a person clad in a pantsuit and heels coming toward me. Observing my sweaty face and athletic attire, she scooted to the other side of the stairwell, with her head hanging down, as she passed me. I was acutely aware of how my hair must look, matted to my forehead. I rushed to create more distance between the two of us, anxious to get to the top, partly so I could take a break and partly to avoid any more uncomfortable encounters.
For part two of Lauren’s climb, check tomorrow’s edition of The Pitt News.
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The National Society of Black Engineers requested $2,000 for airfare to attend a conference in Anaheim, Calif. The Allocations Committee approved $1,950.80 and the Board allocated $2,072 to the group. The American Chemical Society requested $2,180 to attend a conference in New Orleans. The Allocations Committee approved $1,628 of the ACS’s request, denying $552 — the cost of one extra flight ticket — and the Board allocated $2,052. The Committee could not approve the flight ticket, as it’s total cost was $52 more than the cap. Board President Graeme Meyer said the Allocations Committee cannot recommend more than the cap, but the Board can, as the Board does not have to follow the Allocations Manual. Reslink said that the Allocations Committee is “bound strictly by the [Allocations] manual.” Because the requests weren’t for amounts much more than the cap allowed, the Board
amended the allocations recommendations. Meyer said the additional funds weren’t “that much” in “the grand scheme of things.” Meyer added that the Board can override the cap if they feel a student organization has “contributed financially,” through club dues and fundraisers to raise money on their own for the group’s request. Executive Vice President Nasreen Harun said the Board doesn’t go over the Allocations cap “too often.” Harun said it is hard to determine how often the Board goes over the cap, adding “if it’s a minimal amount then we’ll make an exception from time to time.” In other action: The Board appointed committee chairs for the term. Kyle Hoch will serve as the Judicial Committee chair, Naomi Stoll will serve as the Academic Affairs Committee chair, Joseph Streets will serve as the Environmental Committee chair, Rohit Anand will serve as the Facilities and Transportation Committee chair, Patrick Corelli will serve as the Governmental Relations Committee chair, and Jasmine Butler will serve as the Wellness Committee chair. Read the rest online at Pittnews.com.
January 21, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
EDITORIAL
OPINIONS
Small education measures go far
Today, we have a difficult problem that we could solve with simple planning and programs. We need effective education measures that bridge the opportunity gap between low and high income students. Unfortunately, a poor child has a nine percent chance of getting a college degree, while a high-income child has a 54 percent chance, according to a Jan. 17 article in The New York Times. For these teens entering the next chapter of schooling, small “nudges” and simple education measures are not only efficient but also cost-effective. Take professors Benjamin L. Castleman of the University of Virginia and Lindsay C. Page of our own University of Pittsburgh. While graduate students at Harvard, the two created an automated, personalized text message system that reminded high school students about important college deadlines. The Times article mentions that in Summer 2012, students in Massachusetts who received the texts from Castleman and Page’s program enrolled in college at a rate of 70 percent, compared to 63 percent among those who did not — a substantial difference in education numbers. How much did this effective program cost? Seven dollars per student. We think
it’s safe to say the success of underprivileged students is worth $7. Now, educators and citizens should continue to implement similar, simple programs, thereby giving a helpful prod to students who could potentially fall through the educational cracks. These measures must act as a supplement, however, rather than a substitute for personal coaching and encouragement. The volunteerism of private organizations and generous individuals who help within the schools is invaluable to student growth and development. For those who lack the stable and supportive home life of their peers, classroom volunteers can guide students and keep them on track in their education. So, pairing the “nudges” of small programs such as Castleman and Page’s automatic text system with continued on the ground volunteerism can allow underprivileged students to achieve success in their education. Contrary to massive programs such as Common Core, these pragmatic measures have proven to be both successful and cost-effective. And that sounds like a good deal to us. Let’s keep it up and remember that bigger isn’t always better.
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SIMON SAYS
The many shades of Islamophobia Simon Brown Columnist
Voltaire, it turns out, never said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” The famous phrase actually sprang from the pen of a much later biographer of the French wit and philosophe, who used it as a summary of Voltaire’s liberal political views. It’s an appropriate summary, since it ignores all the questionable instances that our principle of free speech has trouble adjudicating. Now, in the wake of the massacre at Charlie Hebdo, it is precisely those questionable instances that have captured public interest. When the world learned that two terrorists had murdered several writers, editors and cartoonists in a planned assault on the controversial French magazine, most everyone invoked the sanctity of ‘freedom of speech’ to defend ‘Charlie.’ The enemy, in almost every case, was the face of ‘Radical Islam,’ which drove the two perpetrators to take vengeance on a magazine that published several irreverent cartoons
of the prophet Muhammad. Many writers reacted to the immediate rush of international support for the magazine and its content. David Brooks and Ross Douthat, both of The New York Times, not only upheld the rights of satirists to mock Islamic figures without the threat of bodily harm but also insisted that such mockery proved particularly valuable to the public sphere. It became uncomfortably apparent, however, that freedom of speech in the United States is not the same as freedom of speech in France, where public denial of the Holocaust is punishable by a prison sentence. None of the defenders of Charlie and its blasphemous images extended their arguments to defend the right to Holocaust denial, let alone praise it as anything but hateful vitriol. If Jewish minorities deserve protection against hate-mongering speech on account of present and historic atrocities, then writers and public figures should be equally wary of speech that can justify the violence that Muslim minorities face on a regular basis.
When talking about speech that individuals use to justify violence against Muslims, I don’t mean pictures of Muhammad or anything ‘blasphemous’ according to Islamic doctrine. What I mean are statements by would-be Quranic scholars such as comedian and political commentator Bill Maher and intellectuals like author and neuroscientist Sam Harris who speak of Islam as the “motherlode of bad ideas,” and others who talk of the “clash of civilizations” between Islam and “the West.” Unfortunately, we do not have an appropriate language to condemn these statements. The term ‘Islamophobic’ does not capture their violent and often racist implications. ‘Islamophobia’ as a word accepts the implication that the phobia only surrounds Islamic theology and doctrine and not the people who practice it. In many European countries in particular, however, the distinction is not so clear. Group that deploy ugly racial nationalism, such as the National Front party in France
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January 21, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
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SIMON SAYS and the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West in Germany, both feed off of fears of ‘Sharia Law’ to advance an implicitly racist anti-immigration policy. I highly doubt that Bill Maher and other prominent critics of Islam, such as biologist and prominent atheist Richard Dawkins and Somali-born activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, want anything to do with the racial politics inter-
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twined in European Islamophobia. They must realize, however, that their avowed distrust of Islam fuels a very real and very dangerous hatred against both Muslims and immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East that has increasingly spiraled into physical violence in Europe and the United States. A spate of bombings against French mosques in the wake of the massacre has only topped a trend of increasing violence against Muslims in France, Sweden and Finland. This hatred seems to target Muslims specifically, considering that similar incidents against Jews
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declined in the same countries. It’s not easy for non-Muslims to notice this proliferating violence — much less the subtle distrust that European and American Muslims experience on a daily basis. Therefore, public figures ought to consider whether they condone the distrust and marginalization of Muslims that is often a consequence. It’s hard to equate Islam with religious violence and in the same breath reassure listeners that they need not fear women wearing hijabs when they encounter them on the street, or that they shouldn’t vote for lower immigration
quotas from Muslim countries. To avoid these implications, public critics of Islam have to articulate their specific reservations with the religion responsibly, without recourse to generalization. I’m sure those critics wouldn’t want to be lumped in with a group of violent extremists who share their viewpoints in name only. No group of people should face this. Simon Brown primarily writes about education and public policy for The Pitt News. Write to Simon at spb40@pitt.edu.
Editorial Policies Single copies of The Pitt News are free and available at newsstands around campus. Additional copies can be purchased with permission of the editor in chief for $.50 each. Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the students, faculty or University administration. Opinions expressed in columns,- car toons and letters are not necessarily those of The Pitt News. Any letter - in tended for publication must be addressed to the editor, be no more than 250 words and include the writer’s name, phone number and University affiliation, if any. Letters may be sent via e-mail to letters@pittnews.com. The Pitt News reserves the right to edit any and all letters. In the event of multiple replies to an issue, The Pitt News may print one letter that represents the majority of responses. Unsigned editorials are a majority opinion of the Editorial Board, listed to the left. The Pitt News is an independent, student-written and student-managed newspaper for the Oakland campus of the University of Pittsburgh. It is-pub lished Monday through Friday during the regular school year and Wednesdays during the summer. Complaints concerning coverage by The Pitt News, after first being brought to the editors, may be referred to the Community Relations -Com mittee, Pitt News Advisory Board, c/o student media adviser, 435 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260. The editor in chief has the final authority on editorial matters and cannot be censored, according to state and federal law. The editor in chief is selected by the Pitt News Advisory Board, which includes University staff, - fac ulty and students, as well as journalism professionals. The business and edito rial offices of The Pitt News are located at 434 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260.
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January 21, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
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SPORTS
FOOTBALL
The new regime: Narduzzi brings in new assistant coaches Tight ends coach: Tim Salem Salem spent the past three seasons at Illinois, where he worked as special teams coordinator. He also coached the running backs in the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
Chris Puzia Sports Editor When Pitt introduced Pat Narduzzi as its next head football coach Dec. 26, the next question many people asked was whether he would bring in his own assistant coaches or keep the current ones. During his introductory press conference that same day, Narduzzi said he would “certainly” consider retaining the assistants already at Pitt. “We’d like to keep every one of them, but head coaches come in, and you’d like to bring your own guys, too,” he said. But over the past few weeks, Pitt and Narduzzi have announced several new assistant coaches to replace the former ones. Here is a rundown of who Narduzzi has hired so far: Defensive line coach: Tom Sims Sims, a former Pitt defensive lineman, spent the last five seasons at Youngstown State University in Ohio, where he worked in the same capacity. Youngstown State beat Pitt 31-17 in the Panthers’ season opener in 2012, and the two teams will meet again on Sept. 5. Sims also previously worked on the defensive lines at other schools like Kansas, Illinois and Minnesota. Linebackers coach: Rob Harley Harley spent last season at Florida International along with Conklin. Before that, Harley worked as a graduate assistant at Michigan State for two years under Narduzzi.
Defensive coordinator: Josh Conklin Conklin is the former Florida International defensive coordinator and led his team to a top-35 finish in total defense last season. Conklin was also a nominee last season for the Broyles Award — which Narduzzi won in 2013 — that recognizes the top assistant coach in the country. Florida International’s defense finished fourth in the country in takeaways last season. Conklin replaces Matt House, who was Pitt’s defensive coordinator since 2012. Offensive coordinator: Jim Chaney Chaney, the Arkansas offensive coordinator, will fill the same role for Pitt starting next season. The Razorbacks ran a pro-style offense last season — same as Pitt — and Chaney had spent the last two seasons with the team. Last season, Arkansas scored 30 points against their SEC foe Mississippi, which finished the season with the best scoring defense in Division I. Before coming to Arkansas, Chaney worked as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator for four years. He will now bring his longterm SEC experience — a conference often regarded as the best in college football — to the ACC with Pittsburgh. Arkansas finished last season with the 45th best scoring offense in the country with 31.9 points per game. In comparison, Pitt finished last season tied for 46th by averaging 31.8 points per game. Chaney replaces Joe Rudolph, who served as Pitt’s interim head coach in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl against Houston. Rudolph followed former Pitt head coach Paul Chryst to Wisconsin to retain the same position.
Running backs coach/special teams coordinator: Andre Powell Powell worked as Maryland’s running backs coach for four years before he comes to Pitt this season. Maryland running back C.J. Brown led the Terrapins last season with 539 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. Powell also previously coached future NFL running backs like Willie Parker at North Carolina and C.J. Spiller at Clemson. He takes over for John Settle, who was the running backs coach at Pitt and now holds the same position at Wisconsin. Cornerbacks coach: Renaldo Hill Hill played professional football from 2001 to 2010, before becoming an assistant coach at Wyoming, where he also worked with the cornerbacks. Offensive line coach: John Peterson Peterson is best known for his work at Ohio State. He coached there for eight years, from 2004 to 2011. Following this, Peterson worked at UAB for two years. Strength and conditioning coach: Dave Andrews Andrews played tight end on Ohio State’s 2002 national championship team. Last season, Andrews worked at Notre Dame as a member of the team’s strength staff.
COLUMN
Lynchʼs postgame ʻanswersʼ cause problems with media Imaz Athar Staff Writer
You may have seen one of the postgame interviews with the eloquent Marshawn Lynch. If you didn’t, don’t worry. It was over before it even started. “Yeah,” said Lynch, a running back, regarding the performance of the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive line after a win against the Arizona Cardinals. “Yeah,” Lynch said again when another reporter asked Lynch about the Cardinals’ defense. The air grew thicker, and the crowd
became more frustrated as reporters continued to point their recording devices toward Lynch’s face, waiting for a detailed answer to their queries. While watching video of the interview, which now has more than 800,000 views, you can immediately sense the uncomfortable confusion of the reporters surrounding Lynch. Twenty-two questions and 50 words later, reporters still had nothing from Lynch. Lynch has been well-documented for this behavior. In November, the NFL fined Lynch $100,000 for not speaking to the media, which every player’s contract requires that they do.
Since then, he has attempted to give the bare minimum to the press, the most recent evidence being the “yeah” replies. That Lynch interview took place back in November, but other athletes, including basketball player Russell Westbrook, have mimicked his interview style. After a win against the Golden State Warriors, the Oklahoma City Thunder guard answered every question with some variation of the phrase “good execution.” Many fans enjoyed Lynch and Westbrook’s responses to questions, and videos of each interview have accumulated hundreds of thousands of views.
Unlike fans, however, these non-answers anger many reporters. Eric Edholm, a writer for Yahoo! Sports, called Lynch’s interview “immature,” while Bernie Augustine of the New York Daily News said Lynch’s replies were “ridiculous.” In some ways, Lynch’s short responses were a bit immature and ridiculous. When you look at many analysts’ columns about Lynch and Westbrook’s interviews, you get the impression that Lynch and Westbrook were being selfish — that they refused to give answers
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January 21, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 5
COLUMN
Marshawn Lynch has continuously made headlines for his postgame “answers.” TNS
to draw attention to themselves. But some reporters seem to be missing the point as to why athletes like Lynch and Westbrook answered questions this way. Perhaps Lynch and Westbrook refused to give the detailed, quote-rich answers that the media wanted because public figures aren’t always in control of how their audience perceives them. Sure, athletes control what they say and can easily give reporters more than a one-word answer, but they don’t have control over how analysts and viewers will react to their answers. The story, instead of what the athlete says, is about how he says it or how much or little he says. This is the case with Lynch. But when he says “yeah” as every response, he gives writers like Edholm little choice but to write about it. The focus of the story becomes about how Lynch is unresponsive to the media, and as a result, Lynch may be inclined to continue avoiding the media. It becomes a vicious circle. Maybe Lynch and Westbrook want their actions on the field or the court, not their words afterwards, to define them. Days after his inter-
view in November, Lynch said he wouldn’t do any interview if he wasn’t obligated to, because, to him, an interview is “just words to people.” To Lynch, when he’s “actually out there, in the field and in the streets, doing it,” people understand who he is and his personality. Athletes can choose what they say in interviews, and they can control how they want to play on the field or court, but what many don’t understand is that athletes aren’t in command of how their words and actions are expressed. Instead, many people have the misconception that athletes control the news cycle. For instance, after Lynch’s interview, Edholm said “we’re now writing about Lynch and what he didn’t say, as opposed to the fact that the Seahawks beat the Arizona Cardinals.” But Edholm doesn’t realize that he could very easily be writing about something else. He could use an interview from the media-friendly Russell Wilson to write about the Seahawks’ win, instead of focusing on Lynch’s one-word answers. Although he believes Lynch’s short answers limit his stories, Edholm doesn’t realize that he — as well as other reporters, columnists and analysts — is what made Lynch’s interview something to write about in the first place.