10-22-15

The Pitt News

Game of Thrones and Political Theory page 6

T h e i n d e p e n d e n t st ude nt ne w spap e r of t he University of Pittsburgh

ADOPTING A TESTING TREATMENT NARRATIVE Pitt researchers and physicians study different drugs to treat a less common form of breast cancer. | by Annemarie Carr | Staff Writer

Cristina McCormack Staff Writer

Adopting a child is meant to create a family, but narratives show that it can also isolate the individual.

Four panelists specializing in adoption studies participated in an English departmentand Humanities Center-sponsored panel discussion called “Adoption and Narratives of the Human.” The speakers discussed why both literary and non-literary narratives of adoption — the way people write, talk and study adoption experiences — define America’s dialogue on adoption.

The event, held on Wednesday, Oct. 21, from 3:30 to 5 p.m., was a part of Pitt’s Year of the Humanities.

About 20 Pitt students and community members gathered on the sixth floor of the Cathedral of Learning to hear four narratives and engage in a question and answer session, organized by Marianne Novy, a Pitt English professor.

According to the State Department’s 2014 Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption, there were a total of 6,441 international adoptions in 2014. For the past four years, China has been the leading adoption state and country. In 2013, there were 7,092 adoptions from China and 138 from South Korea.

Panelist Margaret Homans, a professor See Humanities on page 3

When it comes to treating breast cancer, Pitt researchers say there won’t be a one size fits all solution.

Physicians at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) are testing the effects the three most common anti-estrogen treatments for breast cancer have on invasive lobular carcinoma. According to the physician researchers, ILC is a less common form of breast cancer than the more well-known and understood form of breast cancer, invasive ductal carcinoma.

According to the American Cancer Society, about 180,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer have been diagnosed in the United States this year. Dr. Rachel Jankowitz, the trial’s principal investigator, said ILC affects about 5 percent to 15 percent of these breast cancer patients, and physicians often treat ILC no differently when it comes to treatment.

“Currently, there is a one-size-fitsall approach in how we treat patients

with invasive lobular breast cancer and invasive ductal carcinoma,” Jankowitz said in a UPMC release

Physician researchers like Sheffi Oesterreich, a professor of pharmacology and chemical biology at Pitt, launched the trial that began two to three weeks ago at Magee and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. Oesterreich expects the trial will enroll 150 participants, which the researchers will randomly divide into three equal therapeutic groups.

Each group will receive one of three common anti-estrogen drugs, which the participants will take during a 21-day period before surgery. The drugs each work differently in the body: Tamoxifen is an estrogen receptor modulator, Anastrozole inhibits the enzyme that synthesizes estrogen and Fulvestrant is a complete estrogen receptor blocker.

“Our trial will examine how ILC tumor tissue responds to the current standards of care — treatment with either Tamoxifen or Anastrozole, as compared to Fulvestrant, a drug currently approved only to treat advanced breast cancer,” Oesterreich said.

After the research, Jankowitz said she See Breast Cancer on page 2

Illustration

by Terry Tan

Breast Cancer, pg. 1 wants to develop a better treatment plan that targets ILC specifically.

“Our goal is to increase understanding of how to tailor treatment for women with ILC in order to ultimately improve their longterm outcomes,” Jankowitz said.

Jankowitz hypothesizes, based on pretrial studies, that Fulvestrant may be more effective than the other two drugs. She expects some patients may even be resistant to Tamoxifen.

Jankowitz said ILC differs from the more common invasive ductal carcinoma in its presentation and appearance under the microscope.

Oesterreich, who will analyze the breast tumor tissues after the therapies, said breast cancer usually presents as a lump of cells, whereas ILC presents as a line or web-like projection of cells. The projection of cells is harder to detect than a lump, Oesterreich said.

Risk factors for ILC are similar to those of invasive ductal carcinomas and include hor-

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mone replacement therapies, older age, a rare genetic mutation and late age of first birth.

Oesterreich said most breast cancer research, thus far, has not focused on patients with ILC or has excluded patients with ILC because the disease is so different.

period with one of the three experimental drugs. Once this period ends, surgeons will remove and test the patient’s tumor to see if the cancer persists.

Researchers will examine the tumor again for signs of ILC and examine gene expression,

Our goal is to increase understanding of how to tailor treatment for women...

-Dr. Rachel Jankowitz

According to Oesterreich, the physicians will obtain a specimen from each participant’s tumor before beginning the 21-day treatment

mutations, genetic changes and cell growth due to the drug treatment.

“Our goal is to identify biomarkers in pri-

October 22, 2015

mary tumors, which will tell us which tumors will respond to which endocrine treatment,” Oesterreich said.

Jankowitz said the researchers will look at changes in the tumor tissue in response to the drug treatment.

“The proliferation of KI-67 [a cellular marker] will tell us how rapidly the tissue is dividing,” Jankowitz said.

Jankowitz and her team will determine how effective a drug is by how much inhibition of KI-76 occurs. More inhibition would mean less tumor growth.

Jankowitz’s team plans to expand the trial from Magee to cancer centers through the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium, which consists of 15 facilities, including UPCI. Jankowitz said her goal is to complete the trial within two years, but if fewer sites offer the trial, the research will take more time.

Jankowitz said this trial will help clear up confusion about why each drug affects a patient in certain ways.

“It will be a big impact,” Jankowitz said. “[Our] hope is not only to show that one drug wins, but to know why.”

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Humanities, pg. 1 of English and women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Yale, said there is a spectrum for adoptees — those who are not interested in their background to those who are only interested in their heritage.

Homans’ own daughter, who she adopted from China in 1991, falls in the first category.

Adoptees in the second often struggle to find their identity.

Although painful, Homans suggested the experience of fabricating a narrative about a person’s heritage and biological parents could also be empowering.

“If you’re adopted — especially if you don’t know anything about where you came from — but you live in a country where where you come from is who you are, then you have to be creative,” Homans said. “That is often a painful creativity.”

While the panel was meant to discuss this creative process, for Frayda Cohen, the event held an additional purpose. Cohen, a senior lecturer in the gender, sexuality and women’s studies department at Pitt and a panelist at the event, said the panel exemplified one of the goals of the Year of Humanities — encouraging interdisciplinary communication.

The Year of the Humanities is a Pitt initiative to highlight the importance of humanities fields by funding programs and events that integrate professors and students from all fields of discipline across the University for the 2015-16 academic year.

“I am a social scientist, and being able to talk at this event shows that there is an overlapping sense of interests,” Cohen said. “It absolutely is important.”

SooJin Pate, another panelist and an independent author and professor at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, falls on the other side of the adoption narrative. Pate, who was adopted by an American family as a young girl, said the debt she owed her adoptive family and her interest in her past got in the way of her American life.

“I had to perform the grateful child in the U.S. because they ‘rescued’ me,” Pate said. “I was five when I was adopted, I remembered everything about [my mom] and I really missed her. And my adoptive mom felt threatened.”

Although Pate’s reunion with her mother

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was a “fantasy dream come true,” not all adoptees have a fairy tale ending.

Maggie Jones, another panelist and a visiting assistant professor at Pitt, advised that the journey for biological relatives can also end in dead ends or heartbreak.

“There is a tension between the romanticism of that search and reunion and the reality — [they could] uncover corruption, lies about why they were relinquished, discover that their birth mother is not the fairy and princess that they had imagined,” Jones said during her talk.

Pate, who is from South Korea, spoke

about how the United States’ culture has rewritten the history of adoption from South Korea to ignore the influence of American military occupation during the Korean War on the availability of children for adoption.

According to Pate, the stories of adoptees often became narratives of rescue and American generosity.

Evan Johnson, a graduate student at Pitt, said he was disillusioned by the impact of American military occupation on the increase of South Korean adoptions starting in the 1950s.

October 22, 2015

“I think it definitely raises more questions than answers,” Johnson said. “There doesn’t seem to be a solution.”

For Pate, the solution would be to provide more support for impoverished families so that they don’t have to surrender their children to save money. “‘I’m poor so now I have to send my child to a different country’ — like there’s no way in hell that’s going to happen,” Pate said. “But in South Korea, that’s the norm, and it’s because of this neocolonial relationship that has been developed for over 60 years.”

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Opinions

column

from the editorial board

Environmental justice requires more than reviews Many environmentalists thought when Tom Corbett left the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion in January, his silver shield around oil and gas companies left with him.

Yet, oil and gas companies are just as present as they used to be — at least in the form of fracking. As of now, fracking, the process used to extract natural gas from shale rock, is heavily cemented in our state.

With 9,444 active shale gas wells, it’s not exactly realistic for anyone to believe fracking will cease anytime soon.

Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean we should just put up with fracking’s negative effects. Even if it helps to create jobs and to decrease our dependence on foreign oil — which it certainly does — the benefits do not outweigh the potential dangers.

We can reach a happy medium if we find a way to ensure that fracking is done responsibly, with all Pennsylvanians’ best interests in mind — not just all the shareholders or the residents who can afford to push it out of their communities.

The government needs to step in to make sure everyone has an equal stake. Last week, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania granted a mandate for review to the Office of Environmental Justice, a branch of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection. The mandate will allow the office to review shale gas facilities that potentially pose a threat to the health of residents living in poor and minority communities.

According to the DEP’s website, environmental justice concerns areas where “20 percent or more individuals live in poverty, and/or 30

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percent or more of the population is a minority.”

The goal of the review is to ensure that the implications of fracking do not disproportionately affect these communities.

Seeing that, these effects can pose a direct threat to public health via the water supply.

According to a report from Earthworks, a nonprofit environmental organization, during the process of fracking, companies use approximately 40,000 gallons of fluid mixed with water, sand and chemicals to drill into the ground.

The “fracking fluid” can contain up to 600 different kinds of chemicals, including methanol, mercury and lead. As the fluid travels deeper into the earth, these chemicals can leak into nearby groundwater.

Consequently, drinking water wells near fracking sites have, on average, methane concentrations that are 17 times higher than areas without fracking, according to the same Earthworks report. Nearby towns and cities then use the contaminated drinking water — leading to potential sensory, respiratory and neurological damages for residents.

The towns and cities with contaminated water are, more often than not, located in environmental justice areas. According to the DEP’s 2014 state environmental justice map, 851 communities and municipalities are in these areas — along with almost 500 fracking wells.

These communities within environmental justice areas tend to lack the political resources to hold frackers accountable. In that, lowincome residents don’t have the

time or money to collectively organize to monitor the environmental impacts of fracking.

Meanwhile, residents in more wealthy areas can organize and file suits against any unwanted fracking operations — as Exxon’s own CEO Rex Tillerson’s community in Texas did in 2014.

The expanded review operations on environmental justice risks will help to shed light on the extent of fracking effects in Pennsylvania — but as of now, that’s pretty much all the Office of Environmental Justice can do.

“The question the department really needs to answer is what difference does a review make if drilling companies aren’t required to make changes to reduce risks in those communities?” George Jugovic, Jr., chief counsel at PennFuture, a statewide environmental organization, told the Post-Gazette.

When conducting these reviews, the Office of Environmental Justice will not tell violating fracking sites to leave or even issue them a fine — it’s merely informational.

The reviews “have no real teeth,” as Jugovic said.

While information is important, if Pennsylvania wants to take environmental justice seriously, it needs to add limitations to the frequency of fracking in these areas. It can do this by making permits more strict, or even by limiting the number of sites a company can have in environmental justice areas in general.

Overall, the benefits of fracking shouldn’t come at the expense of the health of the disadvantaged — the DEP needs “teeth.”

October 22, 2015

NO, I WON’T STOP WHINING ABOUT THE PAY GAP

Courtney Linder Columnist

“The Hot Tea” is a weekly column dedicated to unearthing the intricacies of London’s social, political and millennial issues in context of Pittsburgh’s own complex culture.

The dairy aisle is where the magic happens — or at least that’s what a creepy British guy at Sainsbury’s thought when he made a few crude comments to me, followed me around the store and then tried to pay for my chocolate milk.

Yet, standard manners tell me I shouldn’t complain about this interaction. I’m supposed to be flattered. Everyone knows a woman’s life mission is to have someone ogle her and buy her things — because clearly, we don’t have our own integrity or purchasing power.

When I went to the London School of Economics last week to hear panelists discuss their new report titled “Confronting Gender Inequality,” I learned one rather unfortunate truth — gender inequality, particularly in terms of earning power, rages on in the United Kingdom, as it does in United States.

Sexual harassment doesn’t

solely quantify gender injustices— they’re quantified by basic economic statistics. Social discrimination against women indicates their stance in society. So it’s nothing short of damning when people tell me to quit whining.

In January, I mentioned the gender gap in a column about minimum wage work, only to receive an email detailing how delusional I am. At the time of publication, American women, overall, made 81 cents to the male dollar, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

My adversary told me these statistics lied.

“The statistic you cited is made by taking the average pay of all women and comparing it to that of men, which doesn’t prove that equal pay isn’t given for equal work.”

In a way, this is true — we can measure gender gap indicators, as with any statistic, in different ways and at different levels and find different results. So, when I say that the London School of Economics found that the United Kingdom’s gender pay gap was 19.1 percent in 2014, the sixth highest in the European Union, I fully disclose this as a measure of total median See Linder on page 5

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Linder, pg. 4 incomes for both men and women. In that, the comparison doesn’t control for how many hours men work per week versus women or account for the types of jobs that men and women typically hold.

Not that it makes a pay gap acceptable.

But what does this pay gap even look like?

According to a survey by Chartered Management Institute and the pay analysts XPertHR, the difference in pay between genders in the United Kingdom equates to about 57 days of free work a year. Not too bad — women get paid the same as men the other 308 days of the year.

The email concerning my past column continues, “gender imbalances in certain fields don’t prove anything. No one is crying gender discrimination in nursing.” True, in the United Kingdom, as well as in the United States, there is a surplus of women in care-driven jobs.

There’s a reason for this surplus, though — this field is perceived as a woman’s domain because it involves taking care of people. Why are there so many female nurses and so few

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women as doctors and management positions?

A 2013 survey by the Health Service Journal discovered that while U.K. women make up three-quarters of the National Health Service workforce, just 37 percent of senior roles on clinical commissioning group governing bodies and NHS provider boards are held by women. Two-thirds of these women felt they faced a greater pressure to prove themselves than their male counterparts. Others felt they struggled against a “boys club” mentality.

Their struggle can’t be institutionalized discrimination.

If it were, that would mean social barriers keep women in the United Kingdom from achieving higher paid positions — and that would explain the ever-mystifying median gender pay gap.

Of course, there are explicit examples of pay gap inequities in both the United States and United Kingdom. Recently, Jennifer Lawrence illustrated the chasm in Hollywood in an essay for her friend and fellow writer and actress Lena Dunham’s Lenny Letter newsletter.

Lawrence wrote that she made consider-

ably less than her male co-stars when making the film “American Hustle,” despite the fact that she had more screen time. Lawrence never challenged her pay because she was afraid to ask what her co-workers about their pay.

Her fear isn’t surprising— when we bring up gender inequality, especially in terms of cash, people get uncomfortable. They send you emails telling you there’s no evidence of a legitimate gender gap or harass you for being greedy. The tension only reinforces the fear, and the cycle of gender inequality wages through the silence.

But I do not expect everyone to read this and join their voice with mine.

Anne Perkins, a columnist at The Guardian and member of the Confronting Gender Inequality panel at LSE, put it bluntly. “Feminist economics is a minority interest.”

At the current rate of change, it will take 30 to 50 years to eliminate the gender wage gap for full-time workers and 300 years for female part-time workers, according to the LSE’s findings.

The only way to speed up this process is to have more women in upper positions who can reach down and pull others up. To do this,

October 22, 2015

LSE suggests imposing quotas to eliminate the pipeline problem of women in upper management.

To the critics who claim quotas eliminate merit-based hires, I have one question: If women are, in fact, proportionally more educated than men and populate the world to the same degree as men, is it out of line to think at least half of the competitively paid workforce would include women?

So when my female peers graduate from Pitt and move into their respective fields, I hope they aren’t afraid to ask for a raise or a promotion. I sincerely hope we’ll empower each other in hiring practices once we enter leadership positions and fight to close the gender gap in our generation.

I want to be paid the same as the man working next to me all 365 days of the year.

Because I never want to have to let the sleazy guy in the checkout aisle buy my chocolate milk for me.

Courtney Linder is a senior columnist at The Pitt News, primarily focusing on social issues and technology.

Write to her at CNL13@pitt.edu.

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Culture Illustration by Maddy Kameny

GAME OF THEORY A student-led discussion will connect the popular HBO series “Game of Thrones” with contemporary political theory. | by Matt Maielli / Staff Writer Dragons can teach us a lot about politics, according to political science professor Andrew Lotz.

Lotz will moderate a student-led discussion Thursday, Oct. 22, enticingly titled “Game of Thrones and Political Theory.” The program is part of the department of political science’s Current Issues in Politics discussion series, a monthlong inaugural event. Lotz currently teaches a class of the same name, based around the acclaimed HBO series “Game of Thrones” and George R. R. Martin’s book series “A Song of Ice and Fire.”

The discussion will take place from 4 to

5 p.m. in 4500 Wesley W. Posvar Hall, with light refreshments.

Lotz curated the class after an inspiring conversation he had with students in another one of his courses.

“I was teaching my Intro to Political Theory, and one day I noted that we had used three ‘Game of Thrones’ examples to talk about concepts from the class,” he said. “I said it out loud with kind of a, ‘Huh, I should teach a class on “Game of Thrones.”’ And there was an overwhelming reaction from the students all saying, ‘Yes, you should.’”

The discussion, like the class, will delve into Martin’s reliance on history to shape plotlines and characters. He said the series is largely based off the English War of the Roses. The Starks and the Lannisters of See Game of Thrones on page 7

HAUNTED HAPPENINGS

Midterms and deadlines are a horrific reality right now, but make sure you get a chance to prowl through some of the late-October festivities ghosting around Pittsburgh this month. From a macabre art show to amateur photography, here’s the rundown of some events going on this weekend.

Thursday, Oct. 22

The Propeller Group: The Living Need Light, the Dead Need Music Funerals don’t have to be so morbid.

This video exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art delves into the vibrant life of the dead in Vietnam and New Orleans. The museum is hosting an artist talk from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Oct. 22, and the exhibit runs through Feb. 15.

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Friday, Oct. 23

Project 412 Your pumpkin spice latte is finally getting the aesthetic appreciation it deserves. Join local Instagrammers 8 p.m. Oct. 23, at the Gateway Center in Downtown. The pop-up gallery of submitted selfies and more runs through Dec. 11.

Saturday, Oct. 24 Pumpkin Carving The Halloween decorations are coming out and Pitt Program Council wants you to join in on the freaky festivities. So PPC is hosting Pumpkin Carving at 10 p.m. in Nordy’s Place.

Make sure you get there early — pump-

kins will be provided d first come, first serve.

Lucifer’s Gallery The city wants you to celebrate off campus,, too.

Pittsburgh Tattoo Comompany is getting into the spirit with a Hallowween-themed art show w at its shop in Down-town. The art show w starts at 7 p.m., and d the costume contest st kicks off at 10:30 p.m. m.

The event is 21 and up.

Sunday, Oct. 25 Yeah, you should d probably just get back to studying.

October 22, 2015

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Game of Thrones, pg. 6 “Game of Thrones”mirror the Yorks and the Lancasters, respectively — illustrated by the story’s plot points of betrayal and historical detail.

Lotz will also encourage students to explore some of the more abstract concepts of the series. He said “Game of Thrones” indirectly references political philosophers like Hobbes, Locke and Machiavelli, adding depth to the story. Hobbes and Locke explored theories in self-preservation while Machiavelli is known as the author of “The Prince,” which deals with unscrupulous politics. The discussion will also examine how the complex themes of “Game of Thrones” affect and captivate its audience, making them more aware of political theories in an entertaining way.

“This class asks the students to consider, is there going to be a ‘Game of Thrones’ effect, and what ideas and attitudes about justice, fairness, honesty, betrayal and authority are being conveyed to audiences?” Lotz said.

The Current Issues in Politics discussion series will feature other lectures on the Greek

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bailout and how to address ISIS. Katherine Francis, the series director and American politics professor, hopes to add discussions covering topics like the 2016 presidential primary elections, United StatesCuba relations and current events in the

said. “We picked the ‘Game of Thrones’ topic because we wanted to find a current issue that connected with the major areas of study in the political science department — American politics, comparative politics, world politics and political theory.”

[Game of Thrones] allows us to speculate on events in a way reviewing history never could.

-Tamara Cherwin Middle East to the series during the spring semester.

“Besides being informative, we hope that the discussions are engaging and interesting, and help students make connections between course materials and the real world,” Francis

The discussion is meant to make the literary theories more accessible to everyone interested in the subject and the show, Francis said.

“Since the class is full and not everyone could get in it, we thought that a discussion

October 22, 2015

on this topic would be a nice opportunity for more students to engage with these issues,” she said.

Rachel Skillman and Tamara Cherwin, two of Lotz’s former political theory students, helped him brainstorm the topics about the references to the War of the Roses and to political philosophers for the “Game of Thrones” class, which he’ll draw upon during the discussion.

“We read several political theory books in addition to the first ‘Game of Thrones’ novel, like Shakespeare’s ‘Richard III’ and Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince,’” said Skillman, a senior studying mathematics, economics and political theory. “It’s a wonderful class, and I am so pleased with how Dr. Lotz is conducting it.”

Cherwin, a senior bioinformatics major, agreed.

“Every class involved tons of debate and discussion, and Dr. Lotz would pepper his discussions of difficult concepts with topical, but completely geeky, asides that revealed his interest in popular culture,” she said. “The fictional — and unfinished — status of the series also allows us to speculate on events in a way that reviewing history never could.”

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October 22, 2015

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Sports

WILSON READY FOR IMPACT AFTER TRYING OFFSEASON Jeremy Tepper

Senior Staff Writer With the NCAA questioning his academic eligibility following graduation, Pitt basketball commit Damon Wilson was angry.

Before the NCAA eventually deemed him eligible for collegiate play in September, it challenged the freshman guard and his teammates’ high school course loads.

“When we heard they weren’t counting our work, we were pissed basically because we were doing work and then some,” Wilson said. “It was just a bunch of stuff that I think no kid should go through.”

Wilson, who attended Our Savior New American School in Centereach, New York, was one of several prospects from his high school that has had trouble passing through the NCAA Clearinghouse. According to the NCAA Eligibility Center’s website, Our Savior is currently under an “extended evaluation process” to determine if it meets the NCAA’s academic requirements.

The most notable of Wilson’s Our Savior New American teammates is Cheick Diallo, a forward who committed to KanFreshman Damon Wilson will likely see the court frequently as a guard for Pitt. sas in April but who the NCAA has not yet Jeff Ahearn| Assistant Visual Editor cleared.

NARDUZZI UP FOR ‘BEAR’ BRYANT AWARD After a string of his players earned spots on award watch lists, Pitt football head coach Pat Narduzzi received some recognition of his own Wednesday morning.

The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association named Narduzzi one of 22 candidates for the Paul “Bear” Bryant Award, which they present annually to the nation’s top coach. The award is named

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after legendary Alabama head coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, who presided over seven national championship teams in his career.

Narduzzi has led his Panthers to a 5-1 record, their best opening mark since 2009 and the program’s first Associated Press top 25 ranking since the 2010 preseason. Pitt is currently in first place in the ACC Coastal division.

In his previous position as Michigan State’s defensive coordinator, Narduzzi won the 2013 Broyles Award, which recognizes the nation’s top assistant coach in the country.

The NSSA will present the award Jan. 13, at the 30th Annual American Heart Association Paul “Bear” Bryant Awards in Houston, Texas.

October 22, 2015

Wilson was frustrated, but still confident that he would obtain eligibility.

“I was mad because [the NCAA] kind of told us at the end of my senior year that I was ineligible,” Wilson, Pitt’s sole incoming freshman this year, said. “As the months went on, I kind of let it work its way out by itself.”

Players who are not cleared oftentimes have to take the junior college route, attending a school with lower qualifications to improve their academic standing. Still, Pitt shared Wilson’s confidence that he was in no danger of that fate.

Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon thought all along that Wilson would come out clean, but that “it would take some time.” Wilson was cleared in September.

“We had great confidence that Damon was going to be fine academically,” Dixon said. “It’s always hard when you have a guy who’s a good student being questioned about his academic eligibility.”

The NCAA’s requirements for incoming Division I players include a minimum GPA, SAT or ACT score and a specific amount and type of courses taken.

The qualms the NCAA had, Wilson said, See Wilson on page 10

Dan Sostek Sports Editor

It is the only college coaching honor presented following bowl games, as the voters do not determine the winner until the postseason concludes.

Narduzzi and the Panthers will seek their sixth win on Saturday, as they travel to New York to take on the Syracuse Orange at the Carrier Dome. Kickoff is scheduled for noon.

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Wilson, pg. 9 was with the “criteria” of work that he did in high school, but he did not expand on that definition. “[The NCAA] said the work we were doing wasn’t the criteria work that they wanted, which is not true,” Wilson said. “We were in the classrooms every day, 24/7 doing work, staying after hours doing work.”

The examination consisted of a thorough probing of Wilson’s high school workload, scouring all of Wilson and his teammates’

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coursework.

“They investigated everything. All of our work, every single piece of paper in our bookbag they investigated,” Wilson said.

Though his confidence didn’t wane, Wilson said it helped that he was in Pittsburgh for much of the saga, as Pitt’s coaches constantly kept him updated regarding his current standing. Pitt’s compliance department would receive word about Wilson’s status from the NCAA and relay it to Dixon.

“It was good to know that they were on my side looking out for me as it went on,”

Wilson said. “Any updates, they would always run and tell me, so I was always updated instead of wondering what’s going on.”

During the lengthy process, Wilson received another setback when he separated his shoulder during offseason workouts at the end of August. The injury kept him out for six weeks, though Wilson said he now feels the injury is 100 percent healed.

Now that Wilson’s off-the-court trials and tribulations are over, the focus turns to the hardwood.

Wilson, who ranked as the 100th best

October 22, 2015

prospect in the 2015 recruiting class, according to Rivals, will likely compete for minutes at the backup point guard and shooting guard spots. James Robinson, Pitt’s starting Pitt point guard, looks forward to playing with Wilson.

“He’s athletic, he quick, he’s confident in himself,” Robinson said. “We’re going to be able to be out there together. He may be in, I may be in and I think we’re just going to support each other and in practice we’re going to compete.”

During the offseason, Wilson said he worked on improving his speed and jump shot. Of his jump shot, Wilson said it is now “a whole lot better.”

In playing against his teammates, Wilson has noticed a major difference in the physicality of the game. As Wilson acclimates to college basketball, he said his intelligence and athleticism will guide a smooth transition to the college game.

“I feel like I’m a very high-IQ player, so that will help me out, and my quickness helps me out,” Wilson said.

It also helps that Wilson acts older than his freshman status would suggest, as fellow newcomer and senior graduate transfer guard Sterling Smith observed.

“I think he’ll fit in right away. I’ve hung out with him off the court, we’re pretty close,” Smith said. “He’s a real mature freshman, you don’t see that a lot.”

That acclimation process will continue throughout the offseason and will only get tougher when the Panthers take the court for their first regular season game next month.

Despite all he’s been through in the past few months, Wilson is prepared to make good use of his eligibility.

“I think the sky is the limit,” Wilson said.

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259/261 N. Dithridge 10 bedroom house.

Available August 1,2016. Fraternities,athletic associations, students welcome. 2 fully-equipped kitchens, 2 living rooms, wall-to-wall carpeting, 3 bathrooms, basement w/laundry. Pets permitted. $6800+utilities. 412-682-0711 3 & 4 bedroom apartments. Available immediately. Newly remodeled. Air conditioning. Bigelow Blvd, N. Neville St. Call 412-287-5712 3 BR. Newly updated.

115 Morewood. $1650+ all utilities.

Available now.

412-551-0094. **AUGUST 2016: Furnished Studio, 1-2-3-4 Bedroom Apts. No pets.

Non-smokers preferred. 412-621-0457 1-2-3-4-5 Bedroom Houses & Apartments. 376 Meyran, 343 McKee, & Atwood Street $1,095-$2,000. Call 412-969-2790 2 & 3 bedroom houses, Lawn & Ophelia. Available Now. Please call 412287-5712.

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2-3-4-5-6-7 bedroom apartments and houses available in May and August 2016. Nice, clean, free laundry, includes exterior maintenance, new appliances, spacious, located on Meyran, Semple, Wellsford, Dawson, Juliet. 412-414-9629.

2,3,4,5,6 bedroom houses in South Oakland. Available for rent August 2016.

Very clean with different amenities (dishwasher, laundry, AC, washer and dryer, 1-3 baths, parking, newer appliances & sofas) Contact Ken at 724772-0450 4 BR townhouse, Semple St., available May 1st & August 1st 2016. Equipped kitchen, full basement. 412-343-4289.

Call after 5:00 pm.

4 BR. 3217 Joe Hammer. $1600 a month+ all utilities. Available now. 412-551-0094.

August & May 2016 1,2,3,5,6, & 8 bedroom houses. Please call 412-287-5712

Just remodeled, carpeted, large 2 bedroom, with equipped kitchen. No pets. $750 plus.

Call 412-600-1383.

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ATTENTION OCCASIONAL SMOKERS! UPMC seeks healthy adults ages 18-65 who occasionally smoke cigarettes.

This research is examining how smokers respond to cigarettes that are low in nicotine.

There are up to seven sessions lasting about three hours each. Research participants completing the study will be compensated up to $60 per session, or $20 per hour. For more information, call 412-246-5393 or visit www.SmokingStudies.pitt.edu

The University of Pittsburgh Radiology Department is seeking women ages 1825 who experienced sexual violence during or after high school for research studies. The study involves questionnaires, interviews, brain scanning. Subjects will be compensated up to $700 upon completion. For details, call 412-5869888 or visit www.addictionstudies.pitt.edu.

The University of Pittsburgh’s support resources for sexual assault and/or sexual harassment including instructions and contact information for reporting can be located at www.SHARE.pitt.edu and www.safety.pitt.edu

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