11-10-2016

The day after: PItt, city respond to trump The Pitt News Staff

In Pittsburgh, protests have remained mostly peaceful, though police hit protestJust 24 hours after Donald Trump won ers in East Liberty Wednesday night with the presidential election, the streets of smoke bombs to drive them out of the Pittsburgh — like many other cities across street.

Trump earned his 270th electoral the country — have held the rallying cries vote, officially beating Democratic canof disgruntled citizens.

didate Hillary Clinton, at about 2:30 a.m.

Wednesday morning, but protests at Pitt were already underway.

About 50 students gathered on the corner of Bigelow Boulevard and Forbes Avenue, some with bandanas covering their faces, but most dressed as if they’d wan-

dered down from dorms or study sessions in the library. Eventually, more than 300 students joined in the protest, circling between Forbes and Fifth avenues. Police cited a few students, but no one was arrested.

For those in protest, though, like firstSee Protest on page 3

News

see online gallery of election day

In the story “At the Polls” published Nov. 9, The Pitt News reported Maura Hilsey voted for Constitution Party presidential candidate Darrell Castle. She voted for American Solidarity Party candidate Michael Maturen. The Pitt News regrets this error.

WAKING UP WEDNESDAY: ‘SHOCK,’ FEAR FOR SOME Following Donald Trump’s win in the presidential election, many Pitt students from minority groups were worried, frightened and nervous about their wellbeing | by Alexa Bakalarski and Emily Brindley Students woke up Wednesday morning to a soggy, gray day.

Some of them were Donald Trump supporters, now the President-elect. But the gloomy weather seemed appropriate for others — many of whom protested the Republican in the street until the early morning.

For students from minority groups that Trump insulted and whose rights were threatened during his campaign, Wednesday morning marked the start of an uncertain future.

Even at Chat n’ Chew — an event where Pitt students and faculty informally gather to talk with one another — from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, students sitting in groups cried into tissues and hugged one another.

While watching the results come in Tuesday night, Jasmine Green, a senior social sciences major who attended Chat n’ Chew, said her breathing got shallow, and she began to feel dizzy and nauseous.

“I don’t think I felt anything along those lines before,” Green said. “To that extent, I never felt that way before.”

Green went to sleep Tuesday night hoping the election results would somehow be different when she woke up Wednesday.

“When it was concrete [that Trump was president], there was this sort of hopelessness, and it kind of became anger,” Green said. “I think the only thing that got me out of that was knowing I needed to be there for other people.”

Susan Rogers, a Pitt spokesperson, said the Chat n’ Chew was planned before the election results were in.

Ami Fall, a sophomore majoring in political science and psychology, is a resident assistant on the third floor of Holland Hall.

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A group of Pitt students offered “free hugs” outside the Cathedral Wednesday afternoon. Kyleen Considine STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Ami Fall posted a sign on her door in Holland Hall Courtesy of Ami Fall.

LGBTQ+ Protesters promote love and support at rally in East Liberty Rachel Glasser STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

On Wednesday morning, she placed a sign speak with her by Wednesday afternoon. watch party held by Black Action Society, on her door that read, “If you need a hug, “Everyone was just — they were in moving from the sixth floor of the William an open ear, support, ANYTHING, just shock,” Fall said.

Pitt Union to the lobby of the Union and knock.” Fall said about 10 students came to On Tuesday night, Fall attended a See Reactions on page 8

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Protest, pg. 1 year student Nanno Dandi, the marches and rallies were a way to join together, even if it was just vocally.

“I feel like my voice wasn’t heard today,” she said. “So that’s why I’m out in the streets.”

Before the results: 1:45 a.m.

Once Pennsylvania officially went to Trump, students gathered in Oakland’s streets where they marched, toppled trash cans and grabbed traffic cones to use as megaphones for nearly three hours.

The students called it a revolution. They marched along Fifth Avenue to Craft Avenue, turning down Forbes Avenue and walking to Bigelow Boulevard, completing the square several times in the hours-long protest while chanting sentiments such as “Donald Trump go away. Donald Trump go away. Fascist, racist, anti-gay,” and “Out of the sidewalks, into the streets.”

First-year student Max Gehringer said he was one of the first students to gather outside of Hillman Library to join the protest. Gehringer said he was “terrified” when Florida and Ohio went to Trump.

“For a bigoted, racist, sexist, homophobic man to be presumably elected president, that was enough to get me down here,” Gehringer said. “This country was founded on inclusion,

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and we will continue to stand for that.”

The student protestors held up signs written on broken cardboard boxes reading, “Let’s do this together.” They banged street signs, beat drums and threw rolls of toilet paper along the streets. Some students knocked over trash cans in anger while others swept behind to right them.

Police said the protest started with about 50 students and grew to more than 300 marchers in two hours. The protest ended with about 150 students occupying the patio of Hillman Library, with about 12 police officers blocking the doors. The students formed a “healing circle” to voice their fears about the Trump presidency, mostly from minority groups worried about increased marginalization.

Pitt junior Marlo Safi, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the right-leaning Pitt Maverick site, covered the student protest in the early hours of Wednesday morning, as Trump’s victory became apparent. Safi — who has been an opinions editor at The Pitt News — described the protest on campus as “petrifying.”

“I was witnessing students chanting in the street in the dark [and] knocking over barriers,” Safi said. ”Being Syrian, having family living in a civil war, I couldn’t help but think about a war-torn area.”

Safi said the protest was not a productive way for students to handle their concerns and discontent, particularly since it did not pro-

mote discussion between Trump supporters and opposers.

“That is not civil discourse. That is not the way to go about anything productive,” Safi said. “If you want to combat racism, if you want to combat the KKK, if you want to combat bigotry ... the method of doing that is not violence.”

A number of Safi’s friends and acquaintances are Trump supporters, and Safi said she warned them not to wear their “Make America Great Again” hats around campus, out of fear they would be attacked or harassed.

“If it starts to infringe on the safety of other students, that is not behavior that should be promoted,” Safi said. “If we want to make sure that our country and our campus remains safe, we need to engage in civil discourse that is devoid of violence.”

The morning after: 10 a.m.

The morning after Trump’s win saw less angry protesting and more students focused on promoting togetherness in the wake of what many have called a monumental divide in the United States.

About 100 people, some waving signs and others carrying umbrellas, marched to “the fence” –– a popular area on Carnegie Mellon University’s campus for students to meet up.

Protesters met at 10 a.m. at Point State Park, and walked through Downtown before making their way up Forbes Avenue.

November 10, 2016

Led by people holding a banner reading “Love is love,” marchers chanted, “We are one,” “We will not hate” and “We will love” as cars honked in response.

Megan Kennedy, 23, from Shadyside, spontaneously joined the protest after she walked out of Starbucks. Kennedy said she was “feeling down” after the election results were announced, but the march gave her hope.

“What’s brilliant is people being strong about what they believe in, despite the results of the election,” Kennedy said.

On Pitt’s campus, about 15 students smiled as they held “free hug” signs in front of the Cathedral — where, just hours before, police blocked protesters from breaking their way through the locked doors.

Erin Allport, 24, from New Kensington, took a sick day from work because she said she would be unable to focus. Yet, Allport said the march was “encouraging” because it offered people an outlet for coping with their fear.

“I mean, ‘love trumps hate,’” Allport said when other protesters began chanting the phrase. “It’s so important. Everyone is afraid, but this is how we’re going to get through this.

We need to keep living with love.”

The evening: 5:30 p.m.

The streets of Oakland were quiet Wednesday night, but Pitt students and Pittsburghers See Protest on page 10

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Opinions Letter from the Editor: Usually, The Pitt News editorial board sits down every day to discuss something topical on which they feel it is necessary to take a stance. But in the wake of this election, in which the range of emotions seems to be running from pole to pole, we felt it would be best to leave our opinions pages open to you.

I invited those who were feeling strongly today to write in to the editor. Here’s what I received.

Letter to the Editor: I am an immigrant. I’ve lived in this country for 17 of my 19 years. I am a student, a friend, a daughter. I have faced racism, and I have had to work hard to build the small safety net I have, and because of the results of this election, I am horrified and fearful for the lives of people that aren’t privileged white males. This is my story and how I feel.

When my parents came here 17 years ago, they came with two suitcases and the hope for something better for their child. They left India, starting over in America from square one, rebuilding their life in a new land. They have worked tirelessly to provide me with the resources and opportunities to succeed in a country I find pretty amazing, but they did not put their blood, sweat and tears into the country whose leader could be Donald Trump. I am

so truly saddened by the fact that so much of America in 2016 has chosen to vote for racism, bigotry, prejudice, sexism and homophobia. I am so sad to see that there has been a man elected who doesn’t see beyond himself: straight, wealthy, old, white, male.

America would never be the country it is today without the diverse people bringing their lives here to make themselves and this country better. America should be celebrating the diversity and cultures shared here, because it has been a long road to equality.

Instead, I hear people already screaming hateful words at one another outside of my window.

I have never felt so fearful to be in this country before. I have never felt such a strong divide in the nation. I have never been so disappointed

to be surrounded by educated people that can’t see the monster elected into office. I have never felt so trapped in the “land of the free.”

If you still don’t agree with me, put yourself in my shoes. Put yourself in the shoes of anyone that isn’t conventionally “American,” and imagine sacrificing everything to start over in a new country. Imagine being in a place where you are attacked constantly for not being exactly like everybody else or for not fitting into the boxes everyone expects you to fill. Imagine feeling unwelcome for looking a little different or speaking a different way. Imagine being in a position where you are filled with fear that your life is about to change drastically because of one man who thinks he’s making America great again, when he’s pushing it back about sixty years and thinking solely about himself.

Put yourself in anybody’s shoes that are not your own.

Normally, I am proud to be an IndianAmerican. Today I am scared to be an IndianAmerican.

America was not great [in the past]: it was not progressive, it was not equal, it was not fair.

We’ve worked far too hard to be in such a dire situation, and this is the first time I am truly disappointed to be an American.

If you disagree and feel the need to share your hateful views, do so elsewhere. Remove me from your friend list and take a good look at why you can’t see what a significant setback this is for our country.

And everything began to change for me.

While remaining in the closet back home, I started to become more open about who I am. Same-sex marriage was legalized in America a few months prior to starting college, and everything seemed to progress for me and the LGBTQ+ community.

And then this election happened.

For the entirety of this election cycle, I remained fairly silent about it on social media and to my peers. However, during the entire process, I was stricken by fear on what this country could become.

Hearing the constant hate speech that Donald Trump had given throughout his campaign has become a wake-up call on how much hatred there is in this country.

One would have thought that his rhetoric would have gotten him nowhere in this day and age, but the amount of support he received shows that all the progress made by women, minorities and the LGBTQ+

community has only been so little.

For months, I was wholeheartedly convinced that Hillary Clinton was going to easily win this election. None of the polling forecasts gave her much of a chance to lose, so I was very confident that Trump was going to be a thing of the past come Nov. 8.

I could not have been more wrong...

For the past year, I have become more and more open about my sexuality when I’m at school, but what happened last night makes me question if I will ever fully come out. Seeing that our next vice president opposes HIV research and wants conversion therapy instead is absolutely terrifying. I woke to my alarm this morning feeling extremely ill. Looking out on a gray sky as I awoke only seemed like a metaphor to the future of America. I have felt merely distraught and confused today, unsure what is next to come in our coun-

try. I skipped every class today because I was not in good mental health.

As I sit here and finish this letter, I question where this country will go next.

Will the work that has been done by the LGBTQ+ community, women and minorities be set back to square one, or will we stand together and fight harder than we ever have? Where will we stand on foreign affairs, as our next commander in chief has been known for his bad temperament?

What will happen to the environment as our country’s next leader has called global warming a hoax? And what will happen to the generation after me after a world led by this man? The answers to all of these seem murky. I write this letter thinking of one real positive: It simply cannot get worse than today. This may be the lowest point now, but we can pray for a better future.

- Apara Sharma | University of Pittsburgh Communication | Studio Arts | Class of 2019

Letter to the Editor: For this letter, I would like to remain anonymous. But due to what happened in this country last night, I feel that I cannot remain silent.

I try my hardest to stay away from politics, as everyone is entitled to their own opinion — something I must respect. I would not call myself either a liberal or a conservative, but the result to last night’s election was just an absolute disgrace to the American people.

I am a homosexual male brought up from a conservative family. My father is staunch conservative, along with my uncles and grandfather. Through his words and actions, I know from my years of living with him that he, deep down, is homophobic. Although both of my parents have questioned my sexuality numerous times, I have never come out to them because of fear of my father.

Then, last year, I started school at Pitt.

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November 10, 2016

- A Pitt sophomore

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Letter to the Editor: Friday is the anniversary of my grandma’s death. She had a wire hanger necklace, to represent the fight for the right to abortion. I wear it all the time. Her parents fled the pogroms in Russia, and she would be crying watching the news right now.

Yesterday, I watched a video of a student protest outside Hillman at 4 a.m. One distraught black woman was crying, yelling about how scared she was that she would have her rights taken away. An apparent Trump supporter assured her our future president won’t do that, despite months of campaigning that’s told us otherwise. He began yelling, “I’m a Jew,” as if that was an excuse, as if he understood oppression in the same way as black and brown and queer and trans people. As if he wasn’t selling his people down the river, and disappointing his, and my, ancestors in the process.

If I learned anything going to Sunday school growing up, it was the idea of “Never Again.”

We cannot let this happen again. We cannot let oppressors win and we have to defend the oppressed. Never again means never again.

- Hannah Lynn, senior

Letter to the Editor: Note: Jesse Irwin sometimes does video production for The Pitt News.

The past 36 hours have sucked.

On Tuesday night, I felt like I was in the wrong country.

My mom had called me earlier in the day, so excited that — according to the polls — she was finally going to see another mother lead this nation, and that she was going to get to live through it with her children.

But by 11 p.m., neither of us could put a sentence together.

Meanwhile, most of our University reacted just as any diverse group of 17,694 students would. Students of Muslim and Hispanic backgrounds questioned their status within this country, while female students mourned the missed opportunity to shatter a metaphorical barricade.

Wednesday was even worse. pittnews.com

I woke up at about 8 a.m., turned on my phone and watched the country sober up, only to continue its nightmare on my laptop’s 13-inch screen.

Disillusion, disbelief, anger, sadness, disappointment, robbery and fear.

Nearly half of the country said it didn’t want to make America “great” again. It was already great — or at least on it’s way to being so — and no comment out of this real estate mogul’s mouth made us feel remotely comfortable with his “greatness” leading our country.

But half of our country did, and now the rest of us can either move to Canada or continue to trust the process that brought us our first black president.

- Jesse Irwin

Find the full story online at

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The Pitt news crossword 11/10/16

My mom forwarded me an email today that my rabbi sent out to the congregation of my temple, reminding everyone that “Jews don’t despair,” that we should always stand up for oppressed people.

I’ve never been religious, but I’ve always been Jewish, and I’ve been thinking about that a lot in the aftermath of this election. I didn’t even realize until I saw it on Twitter, but it’s the anniversary of Kristallnacht, an event that kickstarted the Nazi regime into action and shattered the windows of thousands of businesses and synagogues across Germany. A friend sent me a photo of a window in south Philly with a swastika painted on the window next to Trump’s name. I stopped in a cemetery on my walk home and cried.

Last month, I made a podcast for a class project about the 40 Days for Life protests that took place outside of Planned Parenthood. I interviewed a woman who told me to connect the dots about the parallels between the Holocaust and abortion. I asked her to elaborate on that, because I’m Jewish and didn’t understand how she could say that. I was screaming in my head.

November 10, 2016

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Culture

Setting the stage The environment of the University of Pittsburgh Stages scene shop is always changing.

Some days, a few people quietly paint, listening to music. Other days, they swap headphones for earplugs as their peers cut metal, noise echoing throughout the

basement of the Cathedral of Learning.

For the past few weeks, the shop has been in constant use, as technical director Justin Miller, shop foreman Eben Alguire and about 20 Pitt students weld, drill, hammer and glue together the set for Pitt Stages’ production of “Hair.”

In advance of ‘Hair’s’ impromptu debut tonight, a look at how Pitt Stages builds and tears down sets with only a month between shows. by John Hamilton | Senior Staff Photographer Officially opening tonight at 8 p.m., “Hair” will run for the next 10 days at the Charity Randall Theatre, showing every day except Monday and Tuesday of next week. Other than Sunday’s 2 p.m. matinee, showtime is 8 p.m.

But last night, the “Hair” cast and

crew held a free, unofficial preview in the wake of this week’s election results to provide a safe space for those who felt victimized or marginalized, according to ensemble member Zack Williams, a senior communication major. He also See Photo Essay on page 7

As Justin Miller welds, a red sheet protects the rest of the shop from the extremely bright light of the welding torch.

Sparks fly as Sean Gallagher cuts a metal support beam for a set piece. Gallagher and everyone else in the shop wore ear plugs during the cutting.

Justin Miller gives Megan Bresser advice on the best way to build a set piece.

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A welding helmet sits in a dusty corner of the shop.

November 10, 2016

Theater arts major Fenice Thompson measures for a cut.

Kevin McConville measures a piece of wood to use on the bus fenders. The bus is one of the centerpieces of the set.

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Photo Essay, pg. 6 mentioned the relevancy of “Hair’s” themes to today’s social climate, adding that many audience members were in tears after the show.

“We’re using the show as a protest piece for the ideology that Washington, D.C., seems to be going [toward],” Williams said.

This year, Pitt Stages picked shows that deal with themes of diversity and social justice, coinciding with Pitt’s Year of Diversity. “Hair” is set in the counterculture movement of the 1960s and addresses war, racism and inequality in a way that remains relevant today.

That’s why set construction is crucial — it’s the difference between the audience immersing themselves in the tensions of Vietnam-era New York City and just feeling like they’re simply watching players act on a stage.

In the scene shop, Miller had just four weeks to build a set that would transform the stage at the Randall Theatre into a something out of the ’60s, with vibrant colors and set pieces that represent the

era.

The empty stage transformed into a makeshift hippie village, with anti-war banners and picnic tables surrounding an abandoned, rusting bus.

“My job is to interpret the designer’s plan into something that [the shop] can build,” Miller said.

Much of the work done by Miller and his crew over the past few weeks has been building the bus and large metal trestles that make up the centerpieces of the design.

Not only a place for constructing sets, the scene shop also serves as a learning environment, where students are immersed in the process of stagecraft.

“I want to make sure that the process of building the set is also an educational process,” Miller said. “I ideally want to work on as little of the set as possible.”

He tries to lay out plans for the set pieces that he can then hand off to students to complete under his supervision.

Though Miller wants most of the work in the shop to be done by students, he is never seen without a tool in his hands.

In addition to Miller and Alguire, the scene shop has several paid employees

working on the set. Megan Bresser, a junior theater arts major, has been working in the shop since 2014.

“It’s satisfying to see what you made be up on stage,” Bresser said.

Kevin McConville, a junior theater arts major, has worked on the last five Pitt Stages productions as a shop employee.

“Each show is different. [“Hair”] has a lot of metal work and is lighter on carpentry,” McConville said.

The shop employees have experience with theater tech, but another 16 students working in the shop do so for lab credit for Intro to Stagecraft, a class Miller teaches.

Though many of the students working on the set are inexperienced, Miller said they all find their strengths during their time working in the shop.

“I have students who have never picked up a hammer,” Miller said. “Some of them have found out that they really like carpentry or that they like painting more than they thought they would,” he said.

With only a few weeks to build the sets, work in the shop is fast-paced. Add

the inexperience of many of the students in the shop and safety becomes a concern — one that Miller does not take lightly.

Communication among the crew members is key to keeping safe. The crew calls out when they are doing something that could be potentially dangerous.

Before he cut into a metal bar, a process which creates potentially damaging noise levels, Sean Gallagher, a student in Miller’s course, yelled, “Cutting.” The other crew members responded “Thank you,” to acknowledge that they have proper ear protection.

“Hair” will be Miller’s first musical at Pitt.

“I’m excited about working at a place that puts on shows like this,” he said, adding that Pitt has “a good base of students who are interested in learning tech.”

For many involved in the production, opening night is only the beginning of their jobs. But Miller and the students’ job is to tear down and rebuild, over and over again. Audiences will see their month of hard work for a little over a week, then on Nov. 20, the crew will demolish it all, and get to work on the next set.

The Pitt News SuDoku 11/10/16 courtesy of dailysudoku.com

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November 10, 2016

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Reactions, pg. 2 then to Market Central before joining the protests outside.

As Tuesday night bled into Wednesday morning, playful banter and mild concern soured to somberness and shock at the BAS’s election watch party.

In the BAS office, watchers stretched to the back of the room and spilled out into the common hall area. When Florida and Pennsylvania were too close to call, a prayer circle formed where the BAS mem-

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bers hoped to put the election outcome into the hands of God. Aminata Kamara, president of BAS, said her heart began to hurt as she watched the results coming in — Ohio, and then Florida — sitting about three or four feet from the projector screen.

“Trump winning would be a slap in the face to black people in America,” Kamara said before the results had finalized. “It’s demoralizing that someone who has insulted multiple groups in America could become the commander in chief.”

Trump has promised strict immigra-

tion policies, including building a wall between the United States and Mexico and putting an end to sanctuary cities, where local officials refuse to work with deportation authorities.

As the results came in, Fall thought of her father, who immigrated to the United States from Senegal.

“I was just thinking about my dad and thinking about all the people I love and who love me and are affected deeply by this,” Fall said. “It didn’t feel like real life.

It felt like I was in a daze. I still don’t think it’s really hit me, honestly.”

November 10, 2016

Trump faced backlash last year when he mocked a disabled reporter while speaking at a rally in South Carolina. Near the end of his campaign, a story circulated on social media about a boy who uses a wheelchair that was kicked out of a Trump rally for protesting.

There are about 750 students with disabilities on Pitt’s campus, according to statistics from the Office of Disability Services and Resources.

Brandon Daveler — a fourth-year Ph.D. student studying rehabilitation sciSee Reactions on page 11

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Sports

See Online An Evening with Stephen A. Smith

football

BACKUPS FILL VOID ON PITT’S D!LINE Steve Rotstein Sports Editor

The Pitt football team’s much-maligned defense has given up its fair share of devastating plays this year.

The Panthers’ defense has struggled all season to come up with stops in key situations. But midway through the second quarter of a 51-28 loss to Miami Saturday, the unit may have experienced its most excruciating play yet — and it wasn’t even a touchdown.

With Pitt holding a 21-20 lead, Miami handed the ball to running back Mark Walton, who made Pitt linebacker Mike Caprara and safety Jordan Whitehead miss in the backfield before breaking a 29-yard run down the sideline.

But more important for the Panthers than the big gain were their two starting senior defensive tackles laying in a crumpled heap at the line of scrimmage.

A Miami offensive lineman took out Pitt defensive tackle Shakir Soto with a cut block, diving headfirst at Soto’s legs as soon as the Hurricanes snapped the ball. With his attention focused on the quarterback, Soto didn’t even see the lineman and went down in obvious pain — and rolled right into his linemate, Tyrique Jarrett.

Jarrett’s legs got caught underneath Soto and he too crumbled to the ground, where both linemen remained for minutes after the play as trainers attended to them. Neither player came back into the game, and Jarrett later returned to the field on crutches.

The defense clearly missed their presence, especially against the run.

Jarrett and Soto have played key roles clogPanthers’ No. 13 13-ranked i up holes h l ffor the h P h ’N kd Jeremiah Taleni could start at DT for ging Pitt against Clemson on Saturday. run defense this season. This was never more Theo Schwarz SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER evident than in Pitt’s 37-34 win over Georgia

Tech, where Soto made a team-high seven tackles and Jarrett swallowed up Tech running back Dedrick Mills on a crucial fourth-and-1.

Losing the pair dealt a big blow to the defensive line, but the Panthers would turn to some fresh faces to fill the holes.

Without the two senior leaders up front, redshirt junior Jeremiah Taleni and true freshman Amir Watts came in and played the majority of snaps at defensive tackle the rest of the game.

Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore James Folston Jr. took reps at defensive end in place of injured junior Rori Blair.

Although the backups couldn’t help Pitt to a win, head coach Pat Narduzzi gleaned some

Watts and Folston Jr. spoke to reporters Wednesday about seeing extended game action for the first time in their college careers.

“I know that injuries happen, but I have a lot of faith in the young guys,” Folston Jr. said.

“We approached it the right way ... we just have to keep progressing as a whole and step in for everybody.”

Watts had a simple explanation for his mindset stepping in mid-game after Jarrett and Soto went down.

“Time to play I guess,” Watts said. “It’s not real different to me, it’s just a bigger stage ... I was real anxious to play, so I was ready.”

Watts said he didn’t notice a big leap in competition from his high school days — partly because of Pitt’s stacked offensive line, which he faces every day in practice.

“It was fun. When I got out there I’m like, ‘Dang, I should have been out there a little earlier. But it’s cool,’” Watts said. “To be honest with you it felt easier than practice. I’m like, ‘All right, cool. I can do this college thing.’”

Watts pointed to his quick-twitch explosiveness as one of his strongest assets, something Narduzzi has continuously mentioned when talking about Watts throughout the season.

“My edge is, I just get off the ball way faster than anybody else,” Watts said.

Watts isn’t lacking confidence heading into Pitt’s Saturday showdown with the undefeated Clemson Tigers — the No. 2 team in the College Football Playoff rankings led by quarterback Deshaun Watson, a returning Heisman Trophy finalist.

“I don’t care who he is,” Watts said about Watson. “To me, I swear they’re just wearing an orange jersey.”

“I don’t care who [Watson] is. To me, I swear they’re just wearing an orange jersey.

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-Amir Watts positive takeaways from their performances at his Monday press conference.

“Jeremiah, first of all, did a heck of a job. I mean, he was impressive,” Narduzzi said. “He played with great leverage ... he’s got a chance to start next week.”

With Jarrett’s and Soto’s statuses uncertain moving forward, those new faces could be looking at increased roles for the rest of the season. Based on what he saw last week, Narduzzi doesn’t seem worried. “[Watts] is a good football player ... he’s got a ton of talent so he’s only going to get better,” Narduzzi said. “Taleni, if he can play against Miami, I think he can play against anybody.”

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Protest, pg. 3 continued to protest Downtown and in East Liberty.

Some protests drew a large crowd — an “emergency meeting” had a crowd of about 250 people in East Liberty. Others, such as the “Candlelight Vigil for America” by Point State Park, remained intimate.

Downtown in Market Square, about 75 Pittsburghers gathered to find solace after Trump’s victory made many fear for the well-being of their LGBTQ+, black and Latino friends.

Bundled up against the brisk November cold, the demonstrators cupped flickering yellow candles in their hands as individuals from throughout the community took the microphone to share their thoughts and fears.

One of those who chose to speak was James Petraglia, 31, of Moon.

“I wasn’t really upset [from the election] at first,” Petraglia said.

As a gay man, he started to fear for the future with Trump, a “bully,” in the White House and with Mike Pence as his vice president.

Looking at Pence’s record on LGBTQ+ issues, which includes seeking federal funds for “assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior” as well as supporting a “religious freedom” bill that let business owners refuse service to LGBTQ+ individuals, Petraglia decided to speak for “catharsis.”

Standing toward the back, listening thoughtfully, Katelyn Walker, a Point Park film student, said she was disgusted with her home country.

“This country pretends these [social issues] aren’t important,” Walker said.

The night: 7:00 p.m.

Outside the Ace Hotel in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty, a crowd of about 250 met for an “organic, impromptu reaction” to the election.

Adam Shuck, publisher of Eat That, Read This, organized the event with Daniel Moraff, a community organizer, to people the opportunity to share in a peaceful opposition.

“We have to give people a chance to express how they’re feeling to connect to talk about how this is going to be affecting people’s lives, in Pittsburgh and across the country, and also what is to be done,” Shuck said. “This is the first of a series of events we’re sure to be organizing.”

The rally was originally meant to occur within the Ace Hotel, but the number of people required it to gravitate to the courtyard. Speakers in this portion were everyday people sharing their fears. The landing of the side door of the hotel formed the podium while the crowd gathered in the yard.

The crowd called out cries to stop the spread of hatred. Occasionally they would chant the names of organizations in need of support like the American Civil Liberties Union, New Voices Pittsburgh and the Alliance for Police Account-

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ability, but overwhelmingly the sentiment was one of love and coming together as a community to stand against a Trump presidency.

Katrina Woodard, from Friendship and a Latina member of the LGBTQ+ community, attended the event to voice her opposition to Trump’s bigotry and anti-gay sentiment.

Woodard said the draw of the rally was that it was a gathering out of community lovingness, whose “strength multiplies when gathered.”

“For me, being up there was me coming out knowing full well it could be released,” Woodard said. “I needed to stand up to let others know we’re not standing down to inequality –– love will always win out.”

At about 9 p.m. the group filled the streets to march.

“No KKK, no fascist U.S.A., no Trump,” the crowd yelled.

Chants like this filled the neighborhood as the people marched forward, forcing oncoming traffic to turn around. Occasional honks and shouts of support from drivers added to the movement.

Andrew Eschrich, a junior human resources major at Pitt, attended the protest in East Liberty in addition to the protest held in Oakland the night before following election results. Eschrich said that the East Liberty protest revealed the extent of the discontent with Trump winning the presidency.

“We’re not alone,” Eschrich said. “[The movement against Trump] is not just Pitt students, it’s the whole community and the whole city collectively.”

After completing a loop that circled back to Ace Hotel, the group of protesters departed once again to protest.

This time, policemen arrived in riot gear.

Armed with rubber bullets and batons, the police formed a line and threw a smoke bomb that sent people running in all directions. Along with eight police cars, the police then blocked protesters into a Wendy’s parking lot, where a verbal confrontation ensued.

“Pittsburgh is watching you,” one protester yelled out to the line of police officers standing in the street. Another chimed in, “The world is watching you.”

Eschrich said Clinton’s victory with the popular vote and failure to secure the electoral college particularly angered many of those in attendance.

“Why is it that Trump can win with a minority of the vote? That is not what democracy is about,” Eschrich said.

After the confrontation with police, one protester Mel Packer, 71, of Point Breeze, negotiated a compromise between the protesters and the police to walk back down Baum Boulevard to the Ace Hotel and conclude the march.

The rest of the protesters consented — for the night.

“We’ll be back,” they chanted before their final stretch down Baum Boulevard.

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Reactions, pg. 8 ence and the president of Students with Disabilities Advocacy — also described his main reaction to the election as “shocked.” “[Trump’s] overall projection of himself is negative, in my opinion — the mockery of people with disabilities, the way he talked about women, racist comments,” Daveler said.

More than Trump himself, what struck Daveler was the number of American citizens who supported these opinions by voting for the Republican candidate. Despite this, Daveler said he doesn’t foresee much change in Pitt’s campus environment as a result of this election.

“Change takes time, and I don’t think Trump’s impact is going to reach the university level,” Daveler said. “I think as time goes on and we realize what change is needed, people will come together.”

On Wednesday, despite the raucous protests of the night before that stretched until nearly 4 a.m., campus was quiet. About 15 students held “free hug” signs outside the Cathedral of Learning, trying to send a message of love and unity to people who felt ostracized by the candidate’s victory.

Frey Grant, a sophomore ecology and evolution major, wore black clothes Wednesday morning, but changed their mind by midday “to get [their] mind off of it.”

“Today was definitely a mourning process for me,” Grant said. “I feel sad for everyone who feels alienated by this.”

Grant is a member of the Rainbow Alliance on campus, a group that held a safe space Tuesday night, even before the results of the election. LGBTQ+ students worried on social media that a Trump presidency could threaten the progress that’s been made for gay, lesbian and transgender rights.

Mike Pence, the vice president-elect, once supported the use of government funds to support institutions that could change a person’s sexual behavior in the wake of the HIV/AIDs crisis, according to his website in his 2000 congressional campaign. He has never, according to Snopes, mentioned conversion therapies or camps.

Trump has fluctuated on his views about same-sex marriage, and his campaign website lists no plans regarding the rights of LGBTQ+ people. In the past, he has said he believes marriage should be between a man

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and a woman.

Todd Reeser, director of Pitt’s gender, sexuality and women’s studies department, sent an email out to students in the department titled “On this dark day,” written in a fearful tone that remained somewhat optimistic about the power of education.

“I am worried about so much and about so many, and I am unsure what is to come,” he wrote.

“I am trying to take heart in the fact that our reading, our teaching, our discussions, our research all aim to dismantle the racism, sexism, masculinism, ableism, [antiMuslim sentiment], xenophobia, and lack of intellectualism that will — I fear — characterize the post-Obama years.”

Though many students who did not support Trump said they feel disheartened or angry, there are others who, as Election Day grew nearer, described their emotions as fear.

Early Wednesday morning, Aya Shehata, a sophomore double majoring in psychology and sociology and the social chair of Pitt’s Muslim Student Association, told The Pitt News she was making plans to remain safe after the election.

“I’m scared to leave my apartment building to take my exam,” Shehata, who wears a hijab, said. “I’ve got the signs right on me — screaming out ‘Muslim’ — and I don’t know what to expect.”

Sonya Besagar, a senior neuroscience and history and philosophy of science major, is the president of the Pitt South Asian Student Association and said she felt “really disheartened” when she woke up Wednesday morning and remembered the elections results. By Wednesday evening, Besagar felt she came to terms with it a bit more.

“I think what we can do now is continue working toward our values of raising awareness of diversity and raising awareness of the different ways of life, and how important those are to our society,” Besagar said.

“Everyone should feel safe and respected.”

Sara Ali, a first-year student majoring in political science and a member of Pitt’s Muslim Student Association, said though she didn’t feel afraid as a Muslim-American on campus, but she did feel disappointed in the election results.

“At this point, I kind of know that people can be terrible and they can treat you differently and it’s not a judgment of your character,” Ali said. “It’s a judgment of their character.”

November 10, 2016

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