2-10-17

The Pitt News

The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | february 10, 2017 | Volume 107 | Issue 120

anti-sanctuary campus bill moves forward

IRANIAN GROUP, ACADEMICS FIGHT BAN

Amanda Reed

Assistant News Editor

With the potential passage of an antisanctuary bill looming, the state and some Pennsylvania universities are at odds.

But Pitt — where a sanctuary campus petition and a letter in the same vein have been circulating for weeks — has remained silent on the issue, making it unclear if a bill currently sitting in the state House would affect the University’s funding.

The Pennsylvania Senate passed a bill — then called SB 10 and sponsored by Sen. Guy Reschenthaler — on Feb. 7 that would withhold funding from municipalities and counties that do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The bill, now called HB 14, is currently in the House, which will not be in session until March 13. A vote for HB14 is not yet listed on the House’s calendar, which goes up to March 16.

“This is a controversial issue, but the bill is simple,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jerry Knowles, in a January Facebook post. “Institutions that comply with federal law will receive state funding as normal. Those who decide not to follow the law would not receive state funding. We cannot select which laws we want to follow and obey and which laws we want to ignore and break.”

See Sanctuaries on page 10

Pittsburghers braved the cold to attend the Academics United demonstration to show support for citizens affected

by President Trump’s immigration ban executive order. Elaina Zachos SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER in attendance not only as a member of the associ- mediate affect, a San Francisco-based Ninth CirMax Datner ation but also as someone impacted by President cuit Court of Appeals refused to uphold Trump’s For the Pitt News Donald Trump’s travel ban, the central issue of the immigration orders in a 3-0 vote later that night.

Setareh Sarachi stood in a crowd huddled The President fired back in an angry all-caps event. under the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy tent in Sarachi will graduate in the spring, and she tweet, writing “See you in court! The security of Schenley Plaza Thursday afternoon, surrounded is sure her mother, an Iranian citizen, will not be our nation is at stake!” by protesters guarding their signs against the But those gathered on Thursday, including able to attend. swirling winter weather.

“Everybody’s so confused,” she said. “Every- Sarachi, said they were already concerned about The group was there, starting at noon, for the body’s hopeful for something, but at the end, we their security. As an Iranian, the process of com“Academics United - No Visa and Immigration all know that’s not going to happen. She’s not go- ing to the U.S. involves applying for a visa outside Ban: Pittsburgh” event hosted by the Iranian Stuof Iran, doing an interview and going through a ing to be here.” dent Association of Pittsburgh. Sarachi, a secondAlmost as if the small gathering had an imSee Protest on page 10 year master’s student of information science, was

News

Kelly Glavin plays melodica in an impromptu music session with Czech keyboardists COURTESY OF KELLY GLAVIN

PITT musicians TAKE TALENTS ABROAD Maggie Medoff For the Pitt News

As the cauldrons of traditional Roma goulash boiled at a picnic in a southeast Hungarian village, local keyboard players improvised new melodies.

In that town, called Vegegyhaza, Pitt senior Kelly Glavin got a chance to share her melodica — a wind instrument played with piano keys — with Czech musicians.

“The boys at the picnic loved playing keyboard and played throughout the picnic,” Glavin, a member of Pitt’s Carpathian ensemble, said. “I eventually jammed with them. Everyone there was fascinated by the melodica and tried it out.”

Glavin, a double major in neuroscience and psychology, traveled to Hungary and the Czech Republic in 2014 as part of the Romani culture study abroad program.

Through the two week program, students

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participate in community cultural tours, activities and music events in Hungary and the Czech Republic. Glavin learned about the cultural and political life of European music and was exposed to a variety of new meters and rhythms — song composition in these genres is astronomically different from those of Western music.

The Pitt music department runs multiple study abroad programs for students in on-campus musical ensembles, groups or clubs looking to experience performance in other countries. These programs give members of Pitt ensembles including the Carpathian ensemble, the Heinz Chapel Choir and the Women’s Choral Ensemble the opportunity to practice their craft in unfamiliar regions.

Tour costs vary, depending on where the group travels and for how long — but, at least for Heinz Chapel Choir members,

international tours cost about $3,800, and each member receives $2,000 from the Heinz Foundation. After fundraising enough money to cut $200 off of the member costs, Women’s Choral Ensemble members paid $220 to go to Canada in summer 2016.

The Carpathian ensemble, directed by Jonathan Heins and Adriana Helbig, focuses on Roma, Klezmer and Armenian music and other eastern European styles.

In their most recent voyage beyond Pittsburgh’s boundaries — a two-week trip in June 2014 — students attended the World Roma Festival, Khamoro, in Prague, explored Budapest and hosted the “jam session” in Vegegyhaza. Glavin said the program taught about the history of Roma persecution and political unrest.

“The Roma have been persecuted in Europe ever since they arrived there. But they have been revered for their musical talents for just as long ... and they use that to help them in their fight for justice,” Glavin said.

Rachel Martin, the current president of the ensemble, originally joined the group to fulfill an extra world music credit but stuck around when Professor Helbig told her the trumpet would meld well with the other represented instruments: the flutes, clarinets and accordions, for instance.

Martin, a senior applied developmental psychology major and music minor, said before she joined the group, she knew virtually nothing about Eastern and central European music.

“We’re so overwhelmed with Western music that we don’t really get a chance to hear other types of music, let alone folk music,” she said.

After being exposed to new genres, Martin also discovered a lot about cultural isolation and international relations. In the past, when the U.S. has had conflicts with Turkey, the ensemble has had to refrain from playing Turkish pieces. According to Martin, it’s a question of respect and navigating what’s appropriate at the time.

“Watching the politics of the world change kind of influences what types of songs and music we play,” Martin said.

The Women’s Choral Ensemble, direct-

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ed by Lorraine Milovac, is known for its repertoire of traditional and sacred classical songs, folk music, popular music and showtunes. Its members have also had their fair share of travel opportunities.

In a 2016 excursion to Ontario, Canada, the group watched The Famous People Players puppet troupe, took The Graffiti Tour, attended a worship service and performed at several Canadian high schools.

The ensemble had been fundraising for its 2016 tour since senior Lexi Bovalino’s first year at Pitt. Performing in Canada allowed the group to finally see its hard work come to fruition.

Over the course of their travels, Bovalino, a marketing and human resources management major, and the ensemble spent time in the Second City comedy club in Toronto, which offered Bovalino insight about Canadian humor and perspective.

“At first, I wondered what educational element a comedy club could provide — but I soon realized that you can tell a lot about a culture from the jokes they tell,” Bovalino said.

The groups also take trips inside the states. Dr. Susan Rice, a longtime lecturer for the music department and the tenth conductor and director of the Heinz Chapel Choir, has been organizing performance tours — both domestic and abroad — for the past couple of years.

In the past, the previous director, John Goldsmith, led the choir’s tours throughout the Balkans, Peru, Bolivia, China and Hong Kong — Goldsmith passed away last week and his memorial service will be Feb. 24 at 11 a.m. in Heinz Chapel.

The group visited Brazil in 2016 and will continue to go abroad for more performance opportunities and exploration in the years ahead. The next planned trip is a tour through England and Scotland this May. Expect Pitt’s musical groups to continue taking on the world. Despite political, military or cultural clashes between countries, music is a shared language, Galvin said.

“I think music is the best way to be exposed to a culture,” she said. “So many aspects of a culture are hard to grasp due to language barriers. But music is universal.”

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The Pitt news crossword 2/10/17

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Opinions A column titled “Send tobacco ban up in smoke” that ran in The Pitt News Wednesday incorrectly identified Malcolm Juring as a “member” of the Student Government Board. Juring is the SGB’s Wellness Committee Chair. The Pitt News apologizes for this mistake.

from the editorial board

Top 10: Lonely Valentines 10. Stare out a rain-streaked window We recommend finding a large, spacious window. Maybe one in Cathy, if you can. Take out a faded Polaroid photo of an old flame, and sigh every once in awhile. When people ask if something’s wrong, just say “nothing, I’m fine” and go back to staring out that window.

column

COMMUNITY FIGHT FOR ESQUIVEL-HERNANDEZ STILL A WIN

9. Brush up on your mating calls to avoid this embarrassment next year Are you familiar with the call of the Japanese bush warbler? How about the sac-winged bat? Are you more of a bawling howler monkey or a whining tungara frog? These are the guttural sounds you need to perfect.

8. Alphabetize all of your past rejections Start with the freshest rejection texts, then go back through all the snubs you received in high school via note. If you can remember the times you were verbally spurned, write them down. You’ll want to keep the collection organized so you can whip them out at a moment’s notice at your next pity party.

7. Cut up old magazines and send a ransom note/love letter to your TA There’s nothing more romantic, is there? It’s probably a good idea to send to multiple TAs, just in case it freaks one or two of them out. Statistically, you’re guaranteed to find love.

6. Go to the bar If you’re more of the wallowing type, the dingy and deserted atmosphere of a bar on Valentine’s Day is sure to do the trick. Meet us at Hems by 10 p.m. We’ll be the ones in the back with beer pitchers full of scotch. But we’re going to ask for gummy worms, too. You know, to spice things up.

Read the rest online at Pittnews.com. pittnews.com

Amber Montgomery Opinions Editor

As the national debate on immigration rages on, a case in Pittsburgh is highlighting a new way to tackle immigration rights.

Martin Esquivel-Hernandez, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who became a familiar name in the Steel City, was detained in prisons in York, Pennsylvania and Youngstown, Ohio for nine months before being deported back to his home country on Tuesday. EsquivelHernandez’s case resembles that of many other undocumented immigrants around the country except in one key way — the massive amount of community support

Liz Stahl STAFF ILLUSTRATOR for Esquivel-Hernandez is rare. Most immigrant rights protests focus on immigration as a whole, but what’s made this scenario impactful is that it’s centered around Martin and the Esquivel-Hernandez family specifically, an effort that adds a human aspect to a larger debate on immigration.

Despite the deportation, EsquivelHernandez’s case shouldn’t be considered a complete loss. Rather, immigrant rights activists should take note of the ways his movement was — and is increasingly becoming — a success.

Martin is a husband and a father of three — two girls, Luz and Samatha, and five-year-old Alex. The youngest is has

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full U.S. citizenship since he was born after Martin’s wife, Alma, came to the country with his two daughters. EsquivelHernandez’s story, like that of many immigrants, is a complicated and perilous one, and every moment of it is illuminated by his commitment to his family and bettering his community.

Martin joined the Mexican army in 2011, when he was assigned to take down drug cartels in the country. The cartels retaliated, threatening the EsquivelHernandez family and eventually forcing them to leave the country in search of safety and opportunity. Martin sent his pregnant wife and two children ahead of him to the United States to make their way to Martin’s mother in Pittsburgh and he followed shortly after.

Since joining his family in 2012, Esquivel-Hernandez has become an active member of the Pittsburgh community, advocating for better Spanish language options in schools, volunteering within the local Latino and Christian communities and standing up for immigrant rights despite his own precarious immigration status. But after receiving several traffic violations last spring for driving without a license, Esquivel-Hernandez was eventually arrested in his home by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials — just one day after he and his family marched in an immigrant rights rally in Beechview.

He was originally taken to a prison in York, Pennsylvania, and charged federally with illegal reentry, which is a felony, in June. But the charges were dismissed in December in exchange for a misdemeanor charge of using false identification to enter the country, which he plead guilty to, and moved to a private prison in Youngstown, Ohio. The distinction between the charges is important, as the latter meant EsquivelHernandez wouldn’t necessarily be considered a priority for deportation. But ICE declared his case a priority in January, citing his four previous attempts to enter the See Hernandez on page 7

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Hernandez, pg. 6 United States before reuniting with his family in Pittsburgh.

While these changes in the EsquivelHernandez case developed, Pittsburghers around the region stood together to voice their support for Martin and his contributions to the community through numerous protests, letter-writing campaigns and petitions. Mayor Peduto even offered his support to the family and helped set them up with a pro-bono lawyer for Martin’s case.

“The coalition we’ve formed is the greatest thing I’ve ever been apart of,” said Christina Castillo, an organizer at the Thomas Merton Center involved in Martin’s case since the very beginning.

“We’ve all come together for this one person who represents something a lot larger than what he knows.”

Between the organization and individuals supporting Martin’s, more than 1,400 people signed a petition and more than 800 sent letters — 500 of those written within the first 24 hours of the campaign — to an ICE Field Director in Pittsburgh, Rebecca Adducci. These documents asked her to consider Esquivel-Hernandez’s role as the sole breadwinner for his family, as a community leader and of the threat of violence he faces in Mexico as argument to deter his deportation.

A protest planned for Tuesday was supposed to be supporters’ last ditch effort to convince ICE not to deport Esquivel-Hernandez, but things took a more somber turn after news broke that he was deported that morning. The protest went on anyway and the protesters numbered over a 100, all standing in solidarity with Martin and his family.

“We decided to host the action anyway because it’s important for the family and community to know that even when someone gets deported, it doesn’t mean we’re going to go away,” Castillo said.

We should look at the progress made in Esquivel-Hernandez’ favor in Pittsburgh and work to adopt similar tactics in immigration fights around the nation.

Castillo and other supporters don’t see the case as isolated from wider immigration issues. She spoke Thursday about the importance of what Martin, his wife Alma and their three children represent: a family separated while trying to find safety

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and opportunity in a new home. In this way, larger ideas about what immigration is and means, as well as how it affects individuals and families, are localized and become more relatable — thus spurring people to join the movement. Without Martin being willing to place himself and his family as symbolic figures for immigration rights, the fight wouldn’t be as prominent in Pittsburgh as it is today.

The immigrant communities and organizations that have partnered under Martin’s case won’t stop fighting for legislative, social and educational change.

While Castillo emphasized a need to hold representatives accountable for legal initiatives that will make undocumented immigrants safer, she also noted the important ways that educational and social changes can shape communities and contribute to helping immigrants.

Educational programs that disseminate information about what immigrants can offer to communities — like diversity, growth and economic development — and actively combat stereotypes, like misconceived notions about immigrants taking jobs away from Americans, can help change the perception of immigrants from just foreigners to friends and neighbors.

While it’s clear we’re in need of better legislation that protects immigrants, it’s changes like these, that get at immigration issues on a base level, that can create more long-term and sustainable change in communities. And they do so because they focus on the communities themselves and changing them from within.

Esquivel-Hernandez was, and is, a member of the Pittsburgh community.

His supporters made that very clear. And his family will be taken care of while he’s gone, just as he took care of the community while he was here.

“If anything, the deportation proves how much more we need to come together and work harder,” Castillo said.

Martin’s fight is over for now. But what he stands for is still alive and well in Pittsburgh, and it’s not going anywhere.

Amber is the Opinions Editor at The Pitt News. She primarily writes about gender and politics.

Write to her at aem98@pitt.edu.

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Sports

TIGERS TAME PANTHERS, 54-46 Mackenzie Rodrigues

Connell-Serio said. “It’s a disappointing performance offensively. We can’t beat anybody in this The Pitt women’s basketball team continued league scoring in the 40s. We have to be able to its trend of playing well in the first half of games put points on the board.”

The Panthers grabbed the first possession of and failing to perform in the second half in yet the game, but Clemson forward Nelly Perry reanother loss Thursday night.

Returning to the Petersen Events Center after bounded a shot from Pitt sophomore forward a two-game road trip, the Panthers (12-12 overall, Brenna Wise and took it to the basket for the 3-8 ACC) fell to the Clemson Tigers (14-11 over- first points of the game. Panthers center Brandi all, 3-9 ACC), 54-46. Pitt has now dropped five Harvey-Carr then quickly found her spot in the games in a row after exceeding expectations early paint and put up a jumper to get Pitt on the board.

Clemson’s tight defense proved successful in on in conference play.

Pitt head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio listed keeping the Panthers from making it to the basket. The Tigers tallied six points before Pitt firsta number of reasons for the team’s subpar play.

“Once again, just not taking care of the bas- year guard Alayna Gribble came off the bench Brenna Wise finished with seven points and eight rebounds Thursday night ketball, missed layups, missed open shots,” McSee Basketball on page 9 against Clemson. Anna Bongardino STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Staff Writer

FOUR VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS JOIN ALLACC ACADEMIC HONORS LIST Steve Rotstein Sports Editor

After capping a record-breaking career on the court, senior middle blocker Jenna Potts wrapped up her undergraduate career with a 4.00 GPA and a consistent place on the Dean’s List.

Potts highlighted the Pitt volleyball team’s four selections to the 2016 AllACC Academic Team Thursday. Joining her, the ACC named three more Panthers: sophomore Kamalani Akeo, junior Mariah Bell and redshirt freshman Stephanie Williams. All four players also made it onto the All-ACC First Team or Second Team for their on-court Kamalani Akeo (3) and Jenna Potts play.

Pitt’s four representatives tied with (14) earned All-ACC Academic honors. Meghan Sunners ASSISTANT VISUAL Florida State and Georgia Tech for the EDITOR most All-Academic selections out of 15

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ACC schools.

In order to be eligible for consideration, a student-athlete must have earned a 3.00 grade point average for the previous semester and maintained a 3.00 cumulative average during her academic career. They also must have contributed athletically during the 2016 season.

Potts picked up her third All-ACC Academic award after graduating in December with a degree in media and professional communications. She posted a perfect 4.00 GPA in the fall semester to raise her cumulative GPA to 3.853, and she has made the Dean’s List every semester at Pitt.

The senior also earned first-team All-ACC recognition after totaling 150 blocks in the 2016 season, second-most

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in the conference. She finished her career as Pitt’s all-time leader with 573 blocks and 509 block assists.

Akeo, a human resources management major, followed up on her ACC Setter of the Year Award with her first All-ACC Academic honor. She made her way onto the All-ACC Second Team after finishing the season with 1,300 assists, tied for the most in the conference.

The All-ACC Academic award is also a first for Bell, a double major in information sciences and administration of justice. She, too, earned second-team All-ACC honors in 2016 after recording a team-high 43 aces, good for third-best in the ACC.

Find the full story online at

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Basketball, pg. 8 and nailed a three.

Pitt junior guard Aysia Bugg sped up the offense and rocketed a long pass to sophomore forward Kalista Walters, who scored her first points with a layup. Clemson added to its lead with a triple from junior Nelly Perry, but Wise put up a 3-point play with a layup and a foul shot to make the score 11-10.

Perry sank another 3-pointer for Clemson, but a matching triple from Gribble brought Pitt back within one point. Harvey-Carr followed a Clemson layup with one of her own, and a freethrow from Gribble tied the game at 16 at the end of the first quarter.

After an exciting first quarter, the offenses slowed to a crawl at the start of the second, as neither team scored for the first two minutes. After Clemson guard Victoria Cardaci added to the score with a 3-point shot, the Panthers answered with a layup from Walters to make it 19-18.

Pitt took the lead for the first time in the game when Walters swiftly drained a jumper from just outside the paint to make it 22-21 with 3:39 left in the second quarter. Stiff defense from both teams prevented any further scoring until 1:12 remained in the half.

A foul on Wise sent Clemson to the free throw line, allowing the Tigers to take a 23-22 lead into halftime.

Going into the break, Walters topped the Panthers with eight points, closely followed by Gribble with seven points. Perry led the way for Clemson with 10 of the team’s 23 points.

“We were keeping up with them in the first half,” Wise said. “You go into the locker room, you make adjustments — what can we do different to extend the lead — and I think they made adjustments that we didn’t respond to. But at the end of the day, it comes down to hitting shots.”

The Tigers put up four points in the third quarter before Pitt put a stop to the run with a jumper from first-year point guard Jasmine

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Whitney. The Tigers retaliated, scoring the next five points and putting Pitt in an eight-point hole, 32-24.

“For some reason, we came out in the third quarter flat once again,” McConnell-Serio said.

“They hit shots, and we didn’t. We got looks in the first couple possessions, we got stops. We held a team to 54 points. At halftime, they had 23, so it’s not our defense, it’s our offense.”

Pitt forward Destinie Gibbs started the final quarter with her first basket of the night, but Tigers guards Jaia Alexander and Aliyah Collier each put up a basket to push Clemson’s lead back to nine at 43-34.

With six minutes remaining in the game, the Panthers started clawing back.

Pitt sophomore guard Cassidy Walsh broke away for a layup, drew a foul and converted a pair of free throws for her first points of the night.

Gibbs drilled a jumper from just inside the arc, quickly followed by a Walters layup to cut the deficit to five.

The Panthers continued to find scoring opportunities with Bugg and Walters putting up two points apiece to make it 46-44. But that was as close as they would come, as the Tigers closed out the 54-46 win.

“We made a lot of little mistakes that got us down, and by the time that we had a chance to come back, it was late in the fourth,” Walters said.

McConnell-Serio said her team needs to regain its aggressive playstyle in order to snap this losing streak.

“We’re an underdog in every game,” McConnell-Serio said after the game. “We were picked last in this league, so we go into each and every game with the mindset we play with everything to win and nothing to lose. I think we’ve gotten away from that where our players are now playing tight and hesitant.”

The Panthers will travel to Durham, North Carolina, to take on the Duke Blue Devils Sunday, Feb. 12, at 2 p.m.

The Pitt News

Editor-in-Chief ELIZABETH LEPRO

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Amanda Reed | Assistant News Editor Alexandria Stryker | Assistant Copy James Evan Bowen-Gaddy | Assistant News Editor Copy Staff Henry Glitz | Assistant Opinions Editor Maria Castello Alexa Marzina Bayard Miller | Assistant Sports Editor Matthew Maelli Amanda Sobczak Meghan Sunners | Assistant Visual Editor Mia DiFelice Bridget Montgomery Michelle Reagle Corey Foreman Emily Hower | Assistant Layout Editor Rachael Crabb Kelsey Hunter Matt Moret | Online Engagement Editor Kim Rooney Kyleen Pickering

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Protest, pg. 1 vetting process.

“My mom was supposed to go for her interview on February the 15th in Armenia because we don’t have a U.S. embassy,” Sarachi said. “After this executive order, they cancelled all appointments.”

Members of the Iranian Student Association — students from Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University — and members of the community waited in line Thursday to order food from the Conflict Kitchen. The menu featured pan-fried potato and onion patties and barberry rice, among other Iranian dishes, in a one-day-only selection in solidarity with the gathering.

Senior Abrisham Eskandari, who was waiting in line to order, said her family has also put a halt on any visits in the near future. “[The situation is] a hopeless thing, because I know for sure they can’t come here,” the chemistry major said.

In addition to concerns regarding her family, Eskandari said she is worried about the global effects of the ban.

“You also kind of wonder what else could happen,” she said. “I’m Iranian-American, dual national. So if the U.S. isn’t allowing dual nationals from England, what’s England going to do?

Would England try to oppose this law by saying ‘OK, American dual nationals can’t get visas to visit us’?”

Yashar Aucie, president of the Pitt ISA, spoke with The Pitt News just a few weeks ago about how his sister had been detained for four hours at the airport trying to return from a family visit in Iran. He felt comforted hearing similar experiences from others, but couldn’t help wishing that more had braved the blustery day.

“Unfortunately, it got cold — we were expecting much more people,” he said, adding that “it was great because we had nice stories.”

Sarah Leavens, a lecturer for Pitt’s English Department, handed out flyers urging people to sign a petition to make Pitt a sanctuary campus.

Among the petition’s requests were that Pitt add immigration status to its equality clause, which lists attributes protected against discrimination, and a request that the University not share students’ immigration statuses with federal investigators.

“We just believe in everyone being protected,” Leavens said.

By the end of the day Thursday, Sarachi had heard the news of the San Francisco court’s decision.

“I think all the supports and movements are being seen and heard,” she said. “We are still hoping for the best to happen.”

The Pitt News SuDoku 2/10/17 courtesy of dailysudoku.com

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Sanctuaries, pg. 1 The only two self-declared sanctuary campuses in Pennsylvania are the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. The colleges are private institutions, so state funding is an issue there as it would be at any of Pennsylvania’s state or state-related universities, including Pitt, Pennsylvania State University, Temple University and Lincoln University.

Penn State’s president is the only to have outrightly decided against the label. Instead, the bill is a preemptive act, discouraging other public universities from becoming sanctuary campuses by threatening their federal funds. Gov. Tom Wolf requested roughly $147 million of the commonwealth’s 2017-18 budget go toward Pitt — about $2 million more than was allotted to the University in last year’s budget. State funds make up about 7 percent of the University’s total budget.

It’s so far unclear whether Pitt will heed that warning. Chancellor Patrick Gallagher has toed the line in declaring Pitt a sanctuary campus despite pushes from the community to do so.

Nine Pitt faculty members drafted a petition asking Chancellor Gallagher and Provost Patricia Beeson to declare Pitt a sanctuary campus in early December. Peter Campbell, an assistant English professor, helped spearhead the effort with English professor Sarah Leavens — as of Feb. 9, the online petition has nearly 620 signatures.

In an email sent to all petition signees, Campbell said the authors plan to submit the petition to the Chancellor and Provost on Monday, Feb. 13.

Along with pushing paper, Pitt students and Pittsburghers have taken to the streets to voice their support of Pitt and the city remaining a welcoming place for refugees and immigrants.

In November, 300 people marched from the Cathedral to the South Side to protest Trump’s anti-immigration policies. Protesters gathered at the Pittsburgh International airport Jan. 30 to decry what many — including the president himself at one point — have called a ban on Muslims. The President has since said the ban is targeted at prevent-

February 10, 2017

ing terrorism.

Pitt students also gave Vice Chancellor Kathy Humphrey a letter in November asking to make Pitt a safe space for undocumented students. The letter was part of a nationally organized campaign — National Walk-Outs for #SanctuaryCampus — where roughly 55 students gathered to demonstrate.

The petitions and letter drops are meant to garner a direct response from the University. In December, Campbell requested that if the Chancellor was not going to explicitly use the word “sanctuary,” he at least acknowledge the letter and petition’s request.

Gallagher sent out a note in support of Pitt’s international students the day Trump’s ban took effect, but he has not issued a response to the petition or to the letter. A spokesperson for Gallagher, Susan Rogers, has not responded to several requests for comment on the issue.

Paul Johnson, an assistant professor in the department of communication, said Thursday that Pitt should take all the necessary steps to support refugee and immigrant students, regardless if it becomes a sanctuary city or not.

“HB 14 represents an attempt to coerce universities into violating human rights by tying a willingness to deport individuals to funding for that institution,” he said in an email.

If the bill passes the House, it would be up to the discretion of Gov. Tom Wolf on whether it becomes law. J.J. Abbott, Wolf ’s press secretary, said the governor is still reviewing the bill. Wolf does have the power to veto whole legislative measures.

While students push their universities to take a stand, and Pitt remains silent, the state legislature isn’t budging.

“If a college or university that receives state taxpayer funding adopts a policy that is intended to thwart or circumvent the proper enforcement of federal law, then the state government has not only the right but the duty to withhold further funding until such time as the policy is revoked,” Rep. Stephen Bloom, who is one of HB14’s sponsors, said in an email Thursday.

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