11-18-20

The Pitt News

T h e i n d e p e n d e n t s t ude nt ne w spap e r of t he U niversity of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | NOVEMBER 18, 2020 ­| Volume 111 | Issue 51

FINALS EDITION

Cover by Lucas Zheng | Staff Photographer

News Millicent Watt

STUDENTS WORRY ABOUT NEW FINALS SCHEDULE, FORMAT

Staff Writer

The almost fully online fall semester has been an uphill battle for many Pitt students, but it won’t be over until the dreaded finals season is conquered — which seems to bring its own particular challenges to the table.

According to Pitt’s fall 2020 final exam schedule, 16 classes — mainly chemistry, economics and statistics classes — are allowed to have in-person final exams on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24, and web-based classes will have finals from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3.

Matthew Hoffman, a sophomore microbiology major, said open-note tests have caused him to put decreased efforts into his classes.

“For online, we're allowed to use our notes, like our textbook and everything.

And so I do the bare minimum studying pretty much, and when she posts the study guides, I just look at them,” Hoffman said. “I feel classes around this time will be easier, because I don't have to put as much effort into learning it as I would normally, with having to memorize everything.”

Miranda Porretta, a sophomore accounting and finance major, said she feels open-note exams have made online classes more difficult.

“I feel like it's been a lot harder. I honestly don't feel like I've actually learned a bunch, because like all exams and stuff or like a lot of them are open notes,” Porretta said. “Most of the time I have my notes in front of me, so clearly I haven't been learning as much as I normally would in other semesters.”

While the select 16 classes can have in-person finals, some professors from this group have chosen to have a fully

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online final. Jake Organ, an economics research associate, said he gave his students the option to take his final inperson or online, but after taking a poll, decided to have a fully online final.

“The plan was to do a Canvas exam, plus an in-person exam. At the same time, I thought, you know, the amount of people that were reaching out to me

go back to previous questions.

Hoffman said he feels that the differing format is unfair, especially for students like himself, who cannot come in-person.

“I feel like, for me, it's not fair, like I literally can't come to Pittsburgh to take the final, so that's not even like an option for me, to take it in person,” Hoff-

Dalia Maeroff | Senior Staff Photographer saying that they weren't going to do [inperson finals],” Organ said. “I actually took polls, and there was basically about 85 to 90 percent saying they weren’t going to do it.”

For Hoffman’s organic chemistry class, he has the option to take it inperson or online, but he must complete his exam online because he is home in Lebanon, Pa. this semester. For this final, in-person students will have a hardcopy exam, can use their notes and answer questions in any order, returning to previous questions if needed. Online students may also use their notes, but must submit answers in the given order, one at a time on the online Gradescope testing platform and are not allowed to

man said. “For me to be almost automatically at a disadvantage because I'm not there is kind of upsetting.”

Organ believes many students are also opting out of in-person finals because they are travelling home, adhering to Pitt’s shelter-in-place protocols or worried about Pitt’s increasing COVID-19 cases.

In previous years, Pitt had a week of classes after Thanksgiving and before finals. But this year, finals are split to fall immediately before or after Thanksgiving break.

Hoffman said he believes students should have the entire Thanksgiving week off, which would give students a much deserved reading period. He also

November 18, 2020

said that having a reading period would allow all finals to be taken together and he could have more time to study for his harder finals, like organic chemistry, which falls before Thanksgiving break.

Porretta also said she feels that the short period between the end of classes and her final will not give her enough time to study for her final.

“I feel like it's gonna affect me a lot because I'm not going to have that extra time to study. I think next week we're still gonna be learning new material, and I have to take an exam the 24th, but that literally only gives me the weekend to like go over the new material,” Porretta said. “I feel like that'll be not enough time.”

Both Hoffman and Porretta said they were also worried about technical difficulties with Zoom and Canvas or uploading files. Porretta said her Zoom has a habit of randomly closing, making her worried that her professors will assume she’s cheating. She also worries that if she has questions while taking an asynchronous exam, her professor won’t get back to her in a timely manner.

Hoffman expressed worry about being unable to upload answer sheets in time due to internet problems, or images and graphs on exams not loading — something he experienced earlier this semester.

As a reflection on the past semester, Hoffman said he hopes professors try to understand what students are going through.

“I think professors try their best,” Hoffman said, “but I wish maybe they would be a little more understanding of not doing as well in their class for anything because it’s online.”

2

FIRST STUDENT DIAGNOSED WITH COVID-19 DESCRIBES BROKEN BELONGINGS, LITTLE PITT SUPPORT

Rashi Ranjan Staff Writer

When Sudeep Yedulla exited UPMC Presbyterian with a COVID-19 diagnosis in March, he said Pitt forced him to trek alone and in the dark to an isolation housing unit in the Fraternity complex. Dizzy from coronavirus symptoms and a lack of food, Yedulla said it was difficult to even walk up the steps at the Petersen Events Center.

“I had just gone into the hospital because I was struggling to breathe, and then they made me walk from the hospital up Cardiac Hill all the way to Frat House 9 on my own,” Yedulla, now a sophomore computational biology major, said. “It was really strange.”

Yedulla was the first Pitt student who lived in a residence hall to test positive for COVID-19, but his case didn’t end after he recovered from the coronavirus. He’s now battling Pitt for reimbursement for the cost of some of his residence hall possessions. The University has recently begun responding to his emails and contacting Yedulla about a refund for some of his items — after Yedulla contacted The Pitt News about his dilemma.

Yedulla’s positive COVID-19 test arrived several days after the University announced it would shift to online classes for the remainder of the spring semester, as the COVID-19 pandemic initially spread across the country.

He returned to campus on March 13 from a vacation to Spain over spring break, and decided to self-quarantine in his dorm room as a precautionary measure to protect his family members at home. After getting swabbed on March 19 at UPMC Shadyside, he received news of a positive test result on March 22.

Kenyon Bonner, the vice provost and dean of students, confirmed at the time that the student who tested positive lived in Holland Hall, but Pitt didn’t release Yedulla’s name. Bonner said the affected student was “safely quarantined” at their permanent home off campus in a March 23 email. He also added that Yedulla’s close contacts had been notified, even though Yedulla said the University never asked him to listYedulla said as soon as he tested positive, the University revoked access to his Holland Hall dorm room and told him he would instead self-isolate in Frat House 9, on upper

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campus, until a family member could pick him up. Yedulla said he intended to quarantine for 14 days on campus in the Fraternity Complex to protect his parents. But because of what he described as a lack of essentials provided by Pitt, such as food, Yedulla’s parents decided to

bring him home after just one night, on March 23.

“Even if I was positive, I was planning on quarantining in my dorm,” Yedulla said. “I obviously didn’t want to go back to my parents and risk them getting it, so I was just planning

Sudeep Yedulla is suspected to be the first student on campus to have contracted the coronavirus. Pamela Smith |Staff Photographer

November 18, 2020

on isolating until the symptoms went away.”

When told of Yedulla’s account of his diagnosis and its aftermath, Pitt spokesperson Kevin Zwick said he couldn’t address any of Yedulla’s specific claims. This included Yedulla’s account of damaged belongings, no method for Yedulla to pick up his personal items from his residence hall and a lack of response from the University after Yedulla contacted various officials.

Zwick said Pitt has been in touch with Yedulla since the spring and is working to address his concerns. He added that multiple parts of the University, including housing, Student Affairs and Student Health, have worked since the beginning of the pandemic to provide support to students who needed to isolate or quarantine because of COVID-19 infection or exposure.

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3

Opinions

HOW TO STAY SANE OVER WINTER BREAK

Dalia Maeroff

Senior Staff Columnist I don’t know about anyone else, but I get restless over breaks, especially winter break. Usually, I distract myself and the break flies by. I would travel and go iceskating, go to the symphony, sit in my favorite coffee shop with a hot drink watching the snow outside and go to the holiday market Downtown to buy a necklace from my favorite jeweler like I do every year.

But this year will be different than most winter breaks. In isolation, mental health is fragile, and it is important to make sure that you stay mentally healthy. The weather still sucks, my friends will go back home, and even though I could barely wait for the last semester to end, I anticipate the start of the next semester with enthusiasm and practically beg for it to start sooner.

But there are many things to do to eat up time, to make yourself happier and to make yourself feel more alive in this year’s socially distant winter break.

Catch up on movies and shows This one is obvious. Sitting down on the couch with snacks to watch TV or movies is by far one of the most relaxing activities out there. Bonus points if you add a face mask and tea into the mix. This should be done as soon as possible after your last final. My favorites are psychological thrillers because there’s nothing like just getting done with a semester filled with psychology classes and jumping right into movies that you can psychoanalyze until you fall asleep on the couch. Normal people might opt for something a bit more relaxing or good old favorites, like Marvel or Disney movies.

Read a book or two! Or five!

Actually holding a book and reading it just for enjoyment is not something we really get to do much anymore. With a chronic lack of free time, fried brains and constant staring at small words on a screen, the last thing I want to do at the end of a long day of classes is stare at more small words

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in a book. So take this time to check out the New York Times Best Sellers list, reread your favorite classics or finally read that book your friend has been bugging you about for months. Don’t tell me that reading a book in a warm house while drinking tea and watching the snow fall outside isn’t a scene straight out of a movie that every-

I don’t know about you, but I pretty much abandon art during the semester, even though it’s one of my favorite things to do. Everything from jewelry-making to pottery to painting to just doodling in a sketchbook all take the stage for me over winter break. I break out the loud music and weird podcasts and just get to it. Cre-

Dalia Maeroff | Senior Staff Photographer one in their right mind wants to do.

Get into the kitchen This is your time, folks. Make all the recipes you’ve been saving on Pinterest all semester because it is winter, it is cold and it is time for comfort food. Ramen — not instant ramen, make it from scratch — General Tso’s chicken, falafel and baked mac and cheese are among my favorite winter comfort foods. For dessert, brownies and warm chocolate chips cookies are always winners.

Talk to your friends Don’t forget about your friends! These people are your ride or die and your main support network. Get “together” for Netflix party or Zoom tea time. Isolation over winter break will be hard, so it’s important to prioritize time to be social. Check in on each other often and winter break won’t feel so lonely.

Make something

ating things makes me feel productive, but in a way that is beneficial to the self and doesn’t lead to overworking and stress. It’s the perfect cure for that mid-winter break slump.

Do something to keep your mind active Reading a book also falls into this category, but learning how to play or practice an instrument or learning how to speak or practicing a language will keep your brain active. Keeping your brain active is just as important as staying physically active, as it can help to increase vitality and help retain brain connections and cells. When I come back from break and walk into Spanish class for the first time in a couple of months, it takes me a while to get back into the swing of things. Practicing for just five minutes a day over winter break can help to keep you sharp and help avoid that beginning-of-semester drop in cognitive

November 18, 2020

function.

Don’t ignore the holidays Many of us may not be able to practice our holiday traditions like we normally do this year, and many of us will not be with our families or extended families. But that shouldn’t stop the holiday cheer. Go all out with decorations, lights and pretty candles.

Make handmade holiday cards for all your friends and family and send them through the mail. Get recipes from family members to make your usual holiday traditional meals and desserts and cook and bake with them over Zoom. I don’t celebrate Christmas, but I will for sure be baking rugelach and decorating sugar cookies in my Hanukkah sweater and socks.

Go outside!

I know, it’s cold. But do you remember being a kid and bundling in every layer of clothing you owned plus a jacket and snow pants and those weird gloves that had foldover mittens to go out and play in the snow?

We are college kids — emphasis on kids. So go be a kid for a day. When it snows, go out, make a snowman, lay down in the snow, make a snow angel, go sledding, then come home and drink hot chocolate and be happy about it.

Stock up on school supplies for the next semester An important, but also the best kind of shopping — at least it is for me. I don’t know what it is, but looking at sticky notes and pens and highlighters that are pretty colors just makes me excited and ready for the next semester. I’m so picky with my pens and my office supplies, so buying them early before my favorite stationary sites sell out of them is a rush for me.

Plus, the idea of buying a calendar for 2021 just gives me hope for next year.

Dalia Maeroff writes primarily about issues of psychology, education, culture and environmentalism. Write to her at DAM291@pitt.edu.

4

SENIOR YEAR: A MID-YEAR REFLECTION Anne Marie Yurik Staff Columnist

I was a try-hard high school kid four years ago. I took honors and APs, I was involved in more extracurriculars than time allowed and I worked part-time. I was excited to hear back from universities. The way that I looked forward to my college graduation was similar to how some people plan their weddings — all I was missing was the Pinterest board.

Fast forward four years and here I am. Sitting in my room, forgetting what day it is and begging for my left eye to stop twitching for the third day in a row. I thought being a senior would be enlightening. I would be driven, motivated and successful.

Instead, I cry at dog TikToks, wait to do laundry until the last possible second and narrowly avoid mini breakdowns when I ask myself “what’s next?” Nobody told me that this last year would make everyone as confused as I am, and they certainly did not tell me that “adults” don’t really know what they’re doing.

As a first-year and sophomore who had too much faith in plans, I got excited for the mo-

ment when all my work would pay off. All the late nights at Hillman, the classes with professors who just did not want to be there and the terrible meals that I attempted to cook since I insisted that I didn’t need a meal plan — it would all be worth it.

I made the executive decision at age 18 that senior year would be fun, motivational and the peak of my college experience. I worked hard to boost my GPA so senior year would be less stressful. I look back on it all and laugh because I wrote my senior year in my head the way 40-year-old white women write Hallmark Christmas movies.

Nowadays, I’m happy when I do the laundry.

I am proud when I shower and remember to swipe on some deodorant. And I feel like a damn queen when I wake up and put on real human clothes instead of just throwing a sweatshirt over my pajamas like always.

Although I used to love “Divergent” or “The Hunger Games,” 2020 has made dystopian novels a heck of a lot less fun to read since it seems like I am living in one.

I knew that my last year would have some challenges because some things are unavoidable.

I thought it would be difficult because of the advanced classes and law school applications and balancing work with friends. Though all of that still holds true, I forgot to include that we would be fighting a global pandemic when I planned it out in my head. That’s my bad, I really should have seen it coming.

I think we all can agree that living through history really is not all it’s cracked up to be. In March, I remembered thinking to myself how future generations would look to me, a saggy and dusty-smelling woman, to describe what life was like amongst a global crisis.

Now, if my senior year was the Hallmark movie that I had planned, it would be a movie montage to the 2005 All-American Rejects hit “Move Along.” The montage would include me working at my desk, me walking to class, me raising my hand and actually participating in class and me meeting up with all my friends after to get drinks.

If I was lucky, it would even include me eating lettuce and smiling, like all the misleading healthy food ads show. My montage in reality is best described as the song “Ribs” by Lorde. The

montage is me sitting at my desk, me sitting at my desk and eating, me sitting at my desk and crying, me sitting at my desk and typing a subpar personal statement and me leaving my desk to go lay in bed.

It certainly does not have the character development that I thought was inherent during this transitional year. To give this semester a grade, I would give it a D+. The year did not fail because it gave me a reason to blow off plans, the ability to make class pants-optional and it allowed many others to love my favorite TV show, “Schitt’s Creek,” as much as I do.

It got a D+ though, because Karens have been crawling out of every little nook and cranny with their heavily angled bob, my skin is the worst it has been since my voice was cracking in sixth grade and nothing feels real anymore.

I was able to submit six law school applications, which hurt not only my brain but also my bank account, and for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to celebrate. The number of tests,

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Culture

UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY ‘ILLUMINATES’ WORLD OF MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS

Anna Ligorio

Senior Staff Writer Pitt’s University Art Gallery is turning a new — or rather, very old — page in the world of online art exhibitions this week.

The University Art Gallery will open their first online exhibition, “A Nostalgic Filter: Medieval Manuscripts in the Digital Age,” with a virtual conversation and exhibit tour on Wednesday at 12 p.m. According to Sylvia Rhor, the UAG’s director, this online exhibit will display Pitt’s extensive collection of medieval manuscripts replications.

“Pitt has a very strong collection of medieval manuscript facsimiles, which are copies of original manuscripts that are works of art in themselves,” Rhor said. “They give an opportunity to learn in a way that we couldn't if we didn’t have access to the original works.”

These facsimiles are copies of medieval manuscripts, which are illuminated — or, intricately decorated — books that address a range of different subjects. According to Shirin Fozi, an associate professor of history of art and architecture who organized the exhibit with her students, these facsimiles make medieval manuscripts more accessible.

“The originals are incredibly fragile and they are incredibly valuable,” Fozi said. “For as long as they've been around they've been restricted, so starting in the 1800s, people started making facsimiles of these medieval manuscripts.”

The UAG originally meant to hold this exhibit was originally in its brick-and-mortar gallery space in the Frick Fine Arts Building, but moved it online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Fozi, the online format means the exhibit now focuses on understanding how the manuscripts can be viewed digitally.

“When COVID happened we had the idea of making it into an online exhibition.” Fozi said. “A lot of the original manuscripts are digitized and put online already, so the theme of the exhibition

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is, ‘What is it that we can see using the online digitized versions of the manuscripts?’”

Fozi said the online exhibition will feature videos and images of every page of the featured facsimiles, allowing viewers to interact with the facsimiles as if they are turning the pages of a physical book.

“Every section of the show has a video of facsimiles that shows the page is being turned.” Fozi said. “We really tried to kind of communicate what the facsimile actually looks like when you interact with it in real life.”

She added that the online display is a great way to get people interested in these books. Fozi

According to her, the exhibition seminar aims to teach art history and museum studies students how to coordinate an exhibit.

“The students collaboratively work together and research one or two manuscripts,” Fozi said.

“But the research that they are doing isn’t aimed at writing a research paper, it's aimed at figuring out how your object fits into the show and thinking about how everything fits together.”

Madeline Conigliaro, a junior studying anthropology, religious studies and museum studies, is enrolled this semester in Fozi’s exhibition seminar. She said for her, the class was a great way to understand how exactly museum exhibitions

The University Art Gallery will open its first online exhibition Wednesday.

Thomas Yang | Senior Staff Photographer said without previous context, their content can be hard to understand, so the exhibition provides an in-depth look into the facsimiles.

“The exhibition gets you interested because it shows you the pictures and the theme,” Fozi said.

“Nobody would be interested in going online and looking for photographs of it unless you had a little introduction into why it’s actually interesting, so that’s what the show really gives you.”

Fozi and her students curated the exhibit in a two-part seminar offered last spring and this fall.

are created.

“This class really quickly showed me the effort it takes to put together a whole exhibit and what kind of time crunches you’re under,” Conigliaro said. “This isn’t something you can do in a week. There’s a lot of little details and things that you have to go through in order to get things done.”

Conigliaro focused on two psalters, or books of psalms and hymns, to study for her role in curating the exhibit — the Utrecht Psalter and the

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Anglo-Catalan Psalter. According to Conigliaro, these psalters embody themes of travel and mobility in medieval art.

“The Utrecht is an older manuscript which inspired multiple other psalters, including the Anglo-Catalan,” she said. “I’ve found out that these two manuscripts traveled throughout Europe and influenced many different cultures along the way.”

According to Fozi, the spring production of the exhibit was disrupted due to the pandemic, in particular because of the way that the disjointed semester affected every student differently. But even though the pandemic disrupted the initial planning for the exhibition, Fozi said she and her students were able to adapt to the situation this fall.

“We decided to put all the facsimiles on hold in special collections in Hillman,” Fozi said. “The students made appointments to go in, and then they took photos of their facsimiles and they made videos for the facsimiles as well.”

Even though the pandemic prevented the UAG from showing the manuscripts in person, Rhor said she believes that the online exhibition was a great idea and could be even better than an in-person exhibit.

“In an exhibition you can’t actually go through the entire book because they’re just on one page, but online you can look at the whole book and really connect,” Rhor said.

Even though Fozi and her students did much research and work on this exhibit themselves, she credits Pitt professors who came before her for accumulating this extensive collection in the first place.

“Three former Pitt professors, John Williams, Carl Nordenfalk and Alison Stones are worldrenowned scholars in manuscript illumination,”

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6

GENDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD:

POET S. BROOK CORFMAN DISCUSSES NEW BOOK

Sinead McDevitt Senior Staff Writer

S. Brook Corfman’s latest collection of poetry, “My Daily Actions, or the Meteorites,� describes an oncoming ecological disaster as “a microwave being slowly built around me.� That quote is just one image from the book reflecting on daily life amid an imagined oncoming apocalypse caused by the titular meteorite.

Corfman, an author and current Ph.D. candidate in the English department’s critical and cultural studies program, read excerpts from the collection during a Zoom seminar on Monday. The poet, whose work explores transgender identity, also discussed their book with Nancy Glazener, director of the gender, sexuality and women’s studies program, and Jules Gill-Peterson, an associate English professor with a secondary appointment in the GSWS department. “My Daily Actions, or the Meteorites,� published in September, is a collection of poems Corfman wrote as part of a daily writing exercise. The format of the book is a series of prose poems, a medium Corfman said they chose for its ambiguity. “The prose poem — which is like a little paragraph, so it doesn’t have line breaks — is a form near and dear to my heart, because it doesn't give you that much information about it before you start reading,� Corfman said. “A different kind of poem might give you more in the way that it’s spaced out or the pattern of the line breaks.�

According to Corfman, the book builds on their first poetry collection, “Luxury, Blue Lace,� which came out in March 2019 and was a more personal story about the poet’s childhood. Because the previous book focused on the past, Corfman said they wanted to make a book more oriented to the present. “I was trying to write a poem that felt as close to me, as close to this idiosyncratic version of my perception [and] my experience as possible,� Corfman

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Poet S. Brook Corfman is a current Ph.D. candidate in the English department’s critical and cultural studies program.

Sarah Cutshall | Visual Editor

said. “Less worried about what a reader or someone else will take away narratively as a way of trying to go in the opposite direction of that first book.�

Anna Weber, the head of events at White Whale Bookstore in Bloomfield, where readers can buy “My Daily Actions� and “Luxury Blue Lace,� attended Pitt’s MFA writing program with Corfman. She said she admires their approach to analyzing and writing poetry. “I've always been so impressed by their work — how they look at poetry and what it's capable of and the work that they produced out of that sort of ethos or philosophy,� Weber said. “I really love how this second book is both a progression of what was starting to be explored in the first book and completely its own beast at the same time.�

During the seminar, Corfman read See Poet on page 8

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7

Poet, pg. 7 excerpts from their book, including part of the first poem in the collection, “Premonition.” Corfman said they often think about the last line of that poem.

“The line from the book that I am most interested in and proud of is the last line of the first poem, which is, ‘Each step toward or away from the door becomes impossibly detailed,’” Corfman said.

Since Corfman wrote all the poems as part of a daily writing challenge, they

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said they did not write “Premonition” with the intention that it would be the first poem in the book but chose to put it first because it set up the rest of the book well.

“So much of the book is interested in detail, in the way I was just talking about how these things collided, and sensation and when sensation is surprising,” Corfman said. “There's a way in which that poem seemed to answer a question or like it was in the slightly different space that then was able to say something about what the rest of the po-

ems were doing.”

After Corfman read “Premonition” and another selection, Gill-Peterson asked questions about Corfman’s work.

According to Gill-Peterson, she first met the poet while teaching a graduate seminar and is now helping Corfman on one of their dissertations. Like Weber, GillPeterson said she was very impressed with how Corfman’s work combined two separate topics as a means of looking at gender.

“Corfman combines two kinds of things in particular that I think are re-

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ally interesting. One is thinking about gender as ritual daily actions, just smallscale kinds of repetition,” Gill-Peterson said. “The second — and this feels really relevant to 2020, although it wasn’t written that way on purpose — is that part of what the book thinks about is what is your identity or what is your gender at the end of the world.”

Gill-Peterson asked questions about Corfman’s experience as a trans person both creating poetry and seeing themself reflected in it. After answering some of Gill-Peterson’s questions, Corfman answered some from members of the audience, several of whom were students from Gill-Peterson’s Queer and Transgender Literature class, where Gill-Peterson taught the book.

The audience asked about Corfman’s experience with publishing, some of the ideas in their book — like how astrology is just as arbitrary as gender — and the extent to which writing poetry helped them in their academic writing.

The seminar highlighted trans literature and trans poetry — including a new movement, to which Gill-Peterson said Corfman contributed, that redefines the ways in which we use language to express gender.

“I would say about Corfman’s work is part of a broader movement, especially in poetry, by queer and trans authors that look to language in particular and the way that language can capture complexity and meaning in a wide array of forms,” Gill-Peterson said.

8

Sports ATHLETICS ACADEMIC SUPPORT STAFF EMBRACES NEW NORMAL DURING PANDEMIC

Alex Lehmbeck Sports Editor

Finals week in Oakland typically features late-night caffeine runs at Dunkin’, confused faces looking for exam rooms and packed study spaces at Hillman Library. When Pitt athletes get out of practice, though, you can usually find them at the Hilda M. Willis Academic Center, located in the Petersen Events Center.

At the Academic Center, Pitt’s athletes can study with their teammates, work one-on-one with tutors and speak to Pitt’s student-athlete academic counselors about their degree paths.

Associate Director for the Academic Support Services For Student Athletes (ASSSA) Christina “Tilly” Sheets gets to see her athletes particularly often during finals week, but things have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of all the adjustments the ASSSA has made since March, Sheets said she misses her everyday conversation with athletes around the Academic Center the most.

“We build really strong relationships with our student-athletes,” Sheets said.

“There are a lot of people that really need those in-person relationships because they aren’t as internally motivated.

They need those external motivators to stay on top of their class work.”

Although the Academic Center remains open for student-athletes, Sheets said the staff has had to significantly reduce the amount of in-person activity to keep students safe during the pandemic.

While the busiest nights would typically include up to 120 athletes in the study center, Pitt allows a maximum of 40 students in the building at a time now. Assistant Director Chris Byland said they have become much stricter with study

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time arrangements as well. “[Before the pandemic] people could kind of come in and come out whenever they felt like it,” Byland said. “Now, we’ve given specific time blocks for teams to make sure we don’t have a situation where we’re logjammed and there’s too many people.”

Sheets and Byland both come from coaching backgrounds — Sheets coached swimming at nearby Chatham Univer-

sition, and accepting an academic counselor position at Pitt in 2006 allowed him more time at home with his family. Growing up a die-hard Pitt fan from western Pennsylvania, it seemed an obvious choice to land with the Panthers.

He said he appreciates the influence he can have on athletes’ lives, but also enjoys playing the “good cop” role with his students.

“We don’t have to yell at them,” By-

The Academic Support Services for Student Athletes program has two locations — one in the Petersen Events Center (pictured) and one at the Hearst Academic Center in the Duratz Football Complex. photo courtesy of pitt athletics

sity before landing at Pitt, and Byland coached high school and junior college football. Wanting to continue making an impact in college athletes’ lives while making time to raise three children, Sheets embraced a new role with Pitt as an academic counselor in 2015.

Byland said he also wanted to leave the “nomadic” lifestyle of a coaching po-

land said with a laugh. “We try to help them, and we don’t necessarily have to put the screws to them from a playing standpoint, so we get to be more friends than a coach.”

Like a coach celebrates victories on the field, Sheets and Byland celebrate milestones in students’ academic careers. ASSSA enjoyed an abundance of

November 18, 2020

accomplishments in the spring, seeing 277 athletes named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll and all 18 Panther teams earning GPAs of 3.0 or higher.

“We’re both competitive people. I want to see people win, whether that’s winning on the field or winning in the classroom,” Sheets said. “When people surprise you and do really well in school, it’s something that you can celebrate together.”

With fewer face-to-face opportunities to build these relationships and celebrate those milestones this semester, the ASSSA staff has taken extra steps to get to know this group of first-years.

“Over the past three months, meeting with them via Zoom or in small groups, or having them come into the study center in their team groups has been a good way for us to get to know our new students,” Sheets said.

Pitt football must prepare for an especially unconventional finals week this semester, where the altered academic schedule puts players in an unfamiliar situation. While exams usually take place during the long schedule gap between Pitt’s final regular season game and college football’s bowl season, the altered academic schedule combined with last week’s postponement plants finals week in the thick of the regular season.

“Obviously, this weekend [we’ll] spend a lot of time on academics, so just fill time where time is void,” Pitt head football coach Pat Narduzzi said during Monday’s press conference. “But obviously their academics and studying for those finals, usually there’s no practice during finals week, so it is a little bit different this year for sure. And it’s worriSee Academics on page 11

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PANTHER DRAFT CLASS FILLED WITH MOST FIRST-ROUND TALENT IN YEARS

Tyler Mathes

Senior Staff Writer Pitt has produced loads of NFL talent over the years, including nine Hall of Famers, but no Panther has been drafted in the first round since 2014, when the St. Louis Rams selected All-American and future NFL All-Decade defensive tackle Aaron Donald with the 13th overall pick.

The NFL Draft will be held April 29 to May 1 in Cleveland. Pitt comes in with a strong class including not only the six players listed below, but at least five others who have a shot at a late selection or at least might receive training camp invites.

I’ve listed the players below in the order I project them to be drafted, but not necessarily the round I think they’ll get picked.

Instead, I’ve listed what round they should be drafted in, based on their talent. For example, I see Paris Ford as a first-round talent, but he won’t come off the board in the

Defensive end Rashad Weaver returned this season after missing a year recovering from a torn ACL. Sarah Cutshall | Visual Editor first 32 picks because most teams who badly

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needed strong safety talent filled those gaps last year.

Patrick Jones II, Defensive End, First round Emerging as an unstoppable force this season, Jones leads all Power Five players in the nation in sacks with eight. The 6-foot5, 260-pound edge rusher is a candidate for multiple awards this season, and for good reason. Outside of the stats, Jones impacts the game in ways most ends can only dream of. Everywhere he goes on the field, the entire opposing offensive line must remain aware of his presence, and he can easily win most one-on-one matchups. He has speed moves, power moves and an incredibly high football IQ. Jones is a day-one defensive end, and he’s used this season to boost his draft stock past that of his former Pitt teammate, defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman, who opted out of the season to prepare for the NFL Draft.

Jaylen Twyman, Defensive Tackle, First round Twyman looked like a lock for the first round back in June, so it’s understandable that he didn’t want to risk injury by playing this season and instead took the time to train privately and prepare himself for

November 18, 2020

his NFL future. Jones skyrocketing up draft boards this season should not take away from the incredible talent Twyman presents.

With 41 tackles, 12 for loss and 10.5 sacks in his redshirt sophomore season, Twyman drew comparisons to Donald, who posted 47 tackles and 11 sacks in his sophomore year. Any time you get mentioned in the same conversation as arguably the best NFL defensive tackle of the decade, you have entered good company.

Twyman is strong, physical and incredibly well-rounded as a pass rusher and runstopper. He overpowers offensive linemen and commands double teams, which opens up rushing lanes for his teammates, even if he can’t get into the backfield to make the sack or the tackle for loss. Team needs might keep him off the board until day two.

Paris Ford, Safety, First round Ford recently decided to forego the remainder of his redshirt junior season, but not before racking up 41 tackles and three interceptions. Tied for the most interceptions in the ACC this season, Ford has solidified himself as a third-round pick, at the latest. Ford ranks among some of the top safeties in the class, and although he doesn’t excel in man coverage, as many of the others do, he makes ferocious hits and possesses elite closing speed.

Ford can become a starting strong safety in his first year if he lands on the right team, and few prospects bring the physicality, motor and athleticism he presents. His size will likely prove his biggest weakness, at 6 feet, 190 pounds, but safeties like Earl Thomas have created long and successful careers for themselves, although undersized.

Rashad Weaver, Defensive End, Second round Jones’ counterpart makes Pitt’s defensive line truly terrifying to play against. Redshirt senior center Jimmy Morrissey summed it up best in an interview from last week.

Find the full story online at

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Academics, pg.9 some, as you can imagine.”

Byland said the ASSSA staff has emphasized early preparation and conducted exam reviews virtually for their athletes, which he said has at least proven more accessible to students than having to show up to an in-person review session. Sheets added that this year’s finals schedule doesn’t feature as dependable of a format as past years, when the staff

knew where athletes needed to be at certain times.

“What I’m finding is that there’s a lot of nontraditional type finals going on in terms of whether it's an additional assignment or a paper or a test that they have an entire day to take,” Sheets said.

“So just organizing yourself and understanding when things are due I think is really important, because that will help you figure out how you’re going to prepare for your finals.”

Sheets said that Pitt has tested the

ASSSA staff for COVID-19 frequently alongside the athletes, helping them feel comfortable in their working environment, adding that they have primarily left it up to the students to decide if they want to attend classes in-person or remotely. Byland said that most of them have chosen to remain online.

“I think most of them felt it was less risky to take classes online versus trying to go to a room and exposing yourself,” Byland said. “Any time you go into a situation that’s not controlled, you risk ob-

viously exposing yourself. I think most of them have tended to just try to take classes online.”

Ammonite (R) Fri: 4:40, 7:10, 9:40 Sat & Sun: 2:10, 4:40, 7:10, 9:40 Mon & Tue: 4:40, 7:10, 9:40 Wed: 4:40, 7:10, 9:40 Thu: 2:10, 4:40, 7:10, 9:40 The Climb (R) Fri: 5:15, 7:20, 9:25 Sat & Sun: 3:10, 5:15, 7:20, 9:25 Mon & Tue: 5:15, 7:20, 9:25 Wed: 5:15, 7:20, 9:25 Thu: 3:10, 5:15, 7:20, 9:25 Freaky (R) Fri: 5:20, 7:30, 9:45 Sat & Sun: 3:05, 5:20, 7:30, 9:45 Mon & Tue: 5:20, 7:30, 9:45 Wed: 5:20, 7:30, 9:45 Thu: 3:05, 5:20, 7:30, 9:45 Mank (R) Fri: 4:20, 7:00, 9:35 Sat & Sun: 1:40, 4:20, 7:00, 9:35 Mon & Tue: 4:20, 7:00, 9:35 Wed: 4:20, 7:00, 9:35 Thu: 1:40, 4:20, 7:00, 9:35

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November 18, 2020

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