The Pitt News T h e in de p e n d e n t st ude nt ne w spap e r of t he University of Pittsburgh
Recap: Blue-Gold game Page 8
Activist Bree Newsome speaks at Pitt Page 3
October 26, 2015 | Issue 49 | Volume 106
Students Remembering Susan Hicks pitch in at PMADD
Elli Warsh Staff Writer
Dust, nails and shattered roof shale flew around inside the dingy house in East Liberty as a group of Pitt students worked furiously to rebuild the house for a needy family. The volunteers worked to fix up the old house so someone would be able to buy it in better condition. The home will soon belong to a single mother and her family, who cannot afford the rent of the house in its current state, 22-year-old Taylor Thorp said. Thorp, the development director for the nonprofit called The Best of the Batch Foundation, works with Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience, which coordinated many of the projects for Pitt Make a Difference Day. About 20 Pitt students from Tower A helped repair the dilapidated house. On Saturday, Oct. 24, 5,071 Pitt students crawled out of bed and boarded more than 70 school buses at 9 a.m., for the ninth annual PMADD. This year, 5,200 students registered for PMADD — the highest number of students since the event began in 2006, according to Rachel Lauver, community outreach chair for Student Government Board. The volunteers spread out around the Pittsburgh area with at least one group in each of the 11 districts to pick up trash, pull weeds, wash buildings and package supplies for organization events. “The purpose of PMADD is that it gives Pitt students the opportunity to give back to the community that they call home,” Lauver said in an email.
Find the full story online at
pittnews.com
Local mourners gather to pay their respects to Susan Hicks, a member of the Pitt faculty and cyclist who died in a bicycle accident Friday. Wenhao Wu STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Elizabeth Lepro
Assistant News Editor Susan Hicks was always learning, often traveling and never limiting her capacity for empathy or her dedication to students. Hicks, 34, was assistant director of academic affairs at Pitt’s Center for Russian and East European Studies. She died Friday after being hit by a car in Oakland while riding her bike home from work. She was an intellectual who moved quickly from graduate school at Pitt to
an administrative position at a young age, according to her colleague Andrew Konitzer. Hicks was also an avid traveller and spent time in Serbia, Russia and Puerto Rico. In Pittsburgh, her friends recall that Hicks loved the outdoors and biking, and was highly involved in social and activist circles. Konitzer, the director of the Center for REES, worked closely with Hicks in their small office with a six-person staff. He saw Hicks’ dedication to her students firsthand, as well as to activism in the community and world.
“She was not the type to sit back and watch things that she was unhappy with unfold,” Konitzer said. Konitzer said Hicks was “always fighting for the little guy.” Hicks and Konitzer went on tours with REES’ visitors to incubators and met people who Konitzer described as “great minds” around Pittsburgh. According to Konitzer, Hicks would always comment, “This is great, but do poor people have access to this?” See Hicks on page 4