The Pitt News
The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | March 15, 2018 | Volume 108 | Issue 127
TAKE A LOAD OFF
FORBES QDOBA PERMANENTLY CLOSED Janine Faust
Assistant News Editor
but also for so many people around the country, is, ‘How do we create equitable, inclusive and welcoming communities and campuses that also acknowledge and address racial realities?’” Iyer said. She argued that the United States has faced racial anxiety as a result of changing demographics, xenophobia and Islamophobia, resulting in an overall climate of fear and hate. Iyer said these feelings have always been present, but have become more visible with vandalization of Islamic or other religious spaces. “We see it in the form of hate violence,” Iyer said. “We see it when mosques are not allowed to be constructed in lots of areas around the country, from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to Sterling Heights, Michigan.” Iyer offered several ways to improve
The Qdoba restaurant on Forbes Avenue has drizzled its last queso and handed out its final free student drink. “This Qdoba location has closed permanently,” a sign posted Wednesday at the restaurant reads. “Thank you for 16 great years!!” The owner, Chad Brooks, said the closure was a corporate decision. He said a new restaurant called Crave-A-Bowl will open a test location at the storefront on Forbes between Oakland Avenue and Atwood Street. Brooks added that he is just as sad to see it close as students are. “This was not our plan. We had 16 great years,” Brooks said. “We have been a good piece of the fabric of Oakland for all that time.” Olivia Phillips, an undeclared first year, was furious when she saw the sign Wednesday night. “What the hell, this is not OK. What’s wrong with them?” she said. Colin Woodruff, a first-year chemical engineering major, pointed out there was a Chipotle across the street. “Yeah, but it’s not the same,” she said. “I know,” he replied. Other students had reactions similar to Philips and Woodruff upon seeing the closing sign in Qdoba’s window. Friends Julia Hartigan, a junior math major, and Erica Fan, a junior philosophy major, both stopped and gasped upon seeing the sign. Fan said she was shocked since she had heard the venue was closing but thought “it was just a rumor.” Hartigan
See Deepa Iyer on page 2
See Qdoba on page 3
Students of the South Hills Beauty Academy offered free beauty services at the Day at the Spa event hosted by Pitt Program Council in the William Pitt Union Wednesday afternoon. Elise Lavallee CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Activist, students discuss race relations Zane Crowell Staff Writer Deepa Iyer was working in the Civil Rights division of the Department of Justice when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center September 11, 2001. She immediately thought about two different groups of people — those killed in the attacks and those in the South Asian community she belonged to. “I remember … grieving for what I knew would be the inevitability that people who looked like the communities that I’m from would immediately be seen as the scapegoats for what had happened on that day,” Iyer said. Iyer recounted her experiences to about 45 people in attendance at the Asian Studies Center’s event “A Conversation with Deepa Iyer” Wednesday night in the William Pitt
Union. Iyer, an author, professor and activist, discussed her recent book, “We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, and Sikh Immigrants Shape our Multiracial Future,” which is about solidarity of communities of color and the future of race relations in the United States. Affected by the rising paranoia caused by 9/11, Iyer left the Justice Department to work for South Asian Americans Leading Together — a nonprofit that advocates for civil rights of South Asians in the United States. Through serving as executive director for 10 years, she learned about how the post-9/11 climate impacted South Asian communities, especially young people. Her experience led her to ask how the future of racial relations could be shaped. “I think the collective inquiry for us here,
News
PROFESSORS COMPETE FOR COURSE GRANTS Noah Manalo Staff Writer Pitt is giving professors the chance to change their courses — but they’ll have to compete and collaborate for the limited funding. The University will accept the final proposals for the 2018 Course Incubator Grants March 30. This is the first year the grant — which is intended to allow faculty to radically redesign classes with enrollment sizes of more than 100 people — is being offered. Two to four of the four finalists will receive grants, with the winners to be announced in April. The finalists for the grant include professors from the Slavic languages, chemistry, biology and economics departments. Each of these professors works with a team of other faculty, the University Center for Teaching and Learning staff and, in some cases, students to craft their proposals of changes to their courses.
Chemistry professors Sean Garrett-Roe and Tara Meyer submitted proposals for General Chemistry I, and biological sciences professor Suzanna Lesko Gribble submitted for Foundations of Biology 1. Other professors who submitted proposals include Slavic languages and literature professor Olga KlimovaMagnotta — who is seeking a grant for Russian Fairy Tales — and economics professors Jane Wallace and Katherine Wolfe for Principles of Microeconomic Theory and Principles of Macroeconomic Theory. Lorna Kearns, the director of Next Generation Learning at the Center for Teaching and Learning, said the idea came from Provost Patricia Beeson — who plans to step down later this year — but the desire for revitalization came from students and professors as well. Kearns said the grant is intended to help professors with large class sizes who often face constraints due to the size.
“If you have a class of 300 students, it’s very difficult in a 50- or 75-minute class to include everybody,” she said. “Active learning techniques seek to address that. And we think that we will be able to implement some of those with the projects we hope to see being transformed over the summer.” According to the competition description, for a proposal to be eligible, it must be approved by the “appropriate chair, dean, or campus president” and should be for courses with enrollment of more than 100 students. While only four proposals passed through the preproposal phase of the grant process and are now finalists, Kearns said the University Center for Teaching and Learning could work with professors whose proposals did not advance and help implement some of the changes desired for those courses as well. Klimova-Magnotta said the University Center for Teaching and Learning is very ac-
Deepa Iyer, pg. 1 attitudes, saying people shouldn’t shy away from conversation about race and should recognize the effects of historic inequity such as colonialism and slavery. There are other minorities experiencing racism, she noted, and pressed the importance of addressing anti-African-American racism. “You might have heard that statement, ‘When black people are free, all people are free,’” she said. “That’s a really important way to analyze liberation or think about it.” Following the discussion, the event featured a Q&A session with Iyer answering questions and responding to stories told by the audience. One student talked about coming from a Christian background and feeling ostracized by other Indians, which led to the question of stepping away from intercommunity dialogue. “We have so much work to do within our own community, it’s ridiculous,” Iyer said. “It’s really important to actually work internally to do some of the hard work. It’s harder
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Deepa Iyer, a South Asian American activist, writer and lawyer, spoke to Pitt students about her recent book, “We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future” in the William Pitt Union Wednesday evening. Issi Glatts ASSISTANT VISUAL EDITOR to do that than it is to go out to a rally with a sign.” Lakshmi Subramanian, who graduated from Pitt with a master’s degree in physical therapy, attended the event even though
she had never heard of Iyer’s work before. She told Iyer about how her very traditional parents were accepting of her being both gay and having a Muslim girlfriend. Iyer said she thought that was a very positive outcome.
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tive in the grant proposal process and frequently meets with each finalist to discuss different ideas and structural changes. The four finalist courses each received a preliminary planning grant for the faculty to purchase materials such as literature or to travel to other universities to either attend a conference, go on a retreat or observe large lecture courses taking a similar approach to their proposals. Klimova-Magnotta said the Slavic department wants the material in Russian Fairy Tales to better relate to students outside of the class. She also said there is a desire to move away from a typical hour-long lecture and incorporate more active learning, such as answering through clickers or whiteboards. “We saw examples at this conference where people managed to make these classes interactive even when they have 400 or 600 students See Grants on page 3 “I think it’s about having the conversations but realizing it can be messy and that it’s a long-term thing ... I think it’s great that your parents reacted in the way that they did,” Iyer said. Bhavini Patel, a graduate student studying International Relations at the University of Oxford and a founding member of the Alliance for South Asians in Pittsburgh, attended the event because she was familiar with Iyer’s work. She said Iyer was particularly influential to her. “Her work reflects the importance of socially conscious leadership, and the importance of building a movement founded on shared narratives,” Patel said. Iyer closed the event by asking those in attendance to act as activists in their own communities. “As I close, I ask you to be bridge builders and disruptors ... to build across difference, to understand history, to inform ourselves, to move beyond quote ‘fake news’, to lead with our own examples and to disrupt the status quo and to organize others as well to do it,” Iyer said.
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Grants, pg. 2 in a classroom,” Klimova-Magnotta said. “This is something we want to do to make sure the students do a lot of fun but very effective learning activities during this lecture time.” Wallace said the economics department has been conducting research on how to better teach larger classes. Members of the department are attending conferences and observing classes where technology is incorporated in large classrooms. Additionally, they’re meeting with former students and teaching assistants, and are reading research on pedagogy, economics and teaching large classes. Improving the classroom setting means incorporating learning tools from whiteboards to clicker systems such as Top Hat or Macmillan. Professors also desire better and paid summer training to prepare staff for the upcoming school year. Gribble said the large lecture styles can be difficult for professors to work with, and that there is a need to change the approach to active learning across the introductory course as a whole. “We don’t want the students to feel like they are just anonymous in this course. We want them to know that we want them here,”
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Gribble said. “We want to provide them a good experience and that they belong in the sciences and that there is a place for them.” The amount of money each grant recipient receives depends on the budget included in the proposals, which includes the costs of summer staff, new technology and any other materials the courses may need. “We are looking to them to tell us what they need to do the transformation that they propose,” Kearns said. Meyers said all of the courses are deserving of the grant based on what she has seen in their proposals. “There is a big push from the upper levels of the administration to make the larger classes be as helpful as possible to people,” she said. “From my perspective, all of the proposals and groups that I saw all have great ideas that probably should be funded.” Kearns remains open to the idea that all four projects may be funded. Kearns also stressed that these implementations are not new for universities in general. “The notion of transforming large classes to make them more engaging, more active and have a better impact on students is something that is happening at a lot of universities around the country,” Kearns said.
Qdoba, pg. 1 was speechless. “I’m trying to think of some words,” she said. “I’m deeply saddened.” Andrew Klang, a junior applied math major, stopped in his tracks and stared, mouth agape, when he saw the closing sign. He said he went to Qdoba five to six times a month last year and was surprised that a place that had hundreds of customers every day would close. “I need to process this,” he said. “It’s completely abrupt ... It felt like a staple on campus.” Some students found out about the news the hard way. Etienne Ayoub, a junior computer science major, had come to Qdoba intending to cash in on the Wednesday student discount when he saw the sign. “I hope they bring it back somehow,” he said. “I’m used to coming here once a week.” Calvin Pegg, a senior finance major, said he was upset Qdoba was closing because it had good student discount deals and “better queso than Chipotle.”
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“This is crazy, it’s so sudden,” he said. “This was a staple of my education. I am shooketh.” Mohit Jain, a junior computer science major, said he was used to coming to eat at Qdoba about four times a week and likewise considered it better than Chipotle. “I just found out about this place last semester,” he said. “I’m surprised it’s closing permanently. That sucks.” Even students who were not regulars at the restaurant were shocked and upset. Kellan Kolar said he has only been on Pitt’s campus for a year, but Qdoba closing “felt like another piece of home, gone.” “It seemed like a steady fixture, like 7/11,” the first-year English literature major said. Halee Peloso, a senior rehab science major, had only been to Qdoba a few times. But she was surprised it was closing so soon after the remodeling following the incident less than two years ago, when emergency workers drilled a hole in the wall to rescue a student who fell between two buildings trying to impress a woman. “They came back with the new design, I liked it,” she said. “If I knew it was closing I would’ve gone more.”
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Opinions column
from the editorial board
Third parties show need for all candidates to step it up If any aspect of the massively hyped special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District went unnoticed, it was Libertarian Party candidate Drew Miller. After a preliminary count of the ballots cast Tuesday, Miller emerged with a paltry 1,379 votes — slightly more than half a percent of all votes cast in the election, which would usually relegate a candidate to total insignificance. But in a race where Democrat Conor Lamb leads Republican Rick Saccone by only a few hundred votes, Miller’s thousandodd supporters suddenly seemed much more important to the bigger parties in the election’s aftermath. “I woke up this morning to [what] I would call a healthy amount of hate mail from Republicans,” Miller told The Incline in an interview yesterday. “On Twitter, I can’t even read all of them because they’re people telling me to go to hell, and they’re very upset because they’re blaming me for [Saccone’s loss].” Miller seemed to enjoy the spite, adding later on Twitter he expected to soon become “the most hated man in America” because of his role in siphoning off votes from the major party candidates. But for all the self-absorption from the candidate who spent much of the campaign petitioning CNN to include his picture in its coverage of the race, he does have a point — Democrats and Republicans shouldn’t take their monopoly on political power for granted. Evidently, the concept that a local candidate and the local branch of a national political organization should fit that locale’s attitudes isn’t one that comes easily for national party lead-
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ers. Saccone’s support for right-to-work laws in the strongly union district was undoubtedly political suicide for the Republican in the special election — but GOP strategist and former Trump aide Jason Miller instead chose to fault the candidate’s “establishment” vibe in the race’s aftermath. In an interview Monday with the Washington Examiner, another blamed Saccone’s “porn stache” for the loss. Even on the Democratic side, the danger of overgeneralization persists. In an article Tuesday for New York Magazine, writer Jonathan Chait suggested the party’s woes in Congress could be at an end if it simply reruns candidates like Lamb in Republican-leaning districts across the country. And on Monday, Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, told USA Today he thought Lamb “embodies ... what the next iteration of the Democratic Party is going to look like.” The upset in the 18th District this week could bode any number of outcomes for the midterm elections in 2016. By one measure, more than 100 seats in the House of Representatives are less Republican-leaning than the 18th and are still represented by Republicans. Along with a benefitting from an unknown Libertarian challenger, Lamb did a good job appealing to the specifics of his district Tuesday. Come November, If Democrats field candidates who are appropriate for their districts, they can translate dissatisfaction with the Trump administration and GOP-controlled Congress into a Democratic wave. If they don’t, they might face candidates swooping in and picking up significant votes for third parties.
ARMING TEACHERS TAKES A STEP IN THE WRONG DIRECTION
Alexis Buncich Columnist Teachers have a long list of supplies they absolutely need for their classrooms: poster boards, markers, textbooks, pencils and now — if President Donald Trump has his way — guns. With recent debates over the best way to approach mass shootings, some Americans believe the best way to protect against those who target schools is to arm the teachers within them. Notably, Trump came out in support of the idea in the aftermath of last month’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, even proposing giving bonuses to teachers who carry weapons. And in an interview on “60 Minutes” last weekend, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos agreed that arming educators would be a good way forward. “For those who are — who are capable, this is one solution,” DeVos said. Despite the apparent consensus within the Trump administration, the notion that teachers should carry weapons to shoot intruders is a step in the wrong direction. With talk of promising improvements in America’s approach to gun legislation and mental health treatment, it’s ludicrous to turn around and tell those who are supposed to be cultivating the next generation that it’s also their responsibility to prevent gun violence. The proposal is a distraction from working toward real changes to gun policy, and its effectiveness is questionable. Expanding the right to carry a gun
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creates little significant change, positive or negative, when it comes to shootings. A 2002 study from researchers at Florida State University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the College of William and Mary examined right-to-carry laws over a more than 20-year span. They found that both laws limiting and laws expanding right to carry have almost no impact on the number of public mass shootings in the jurisdictions that enact them. This certainly doesn’t bode well for the effectiveness of armed teachers against future instances of shooting violence. And with teachers likely not carrying their guns directly on their bodies, but locked away so as not to be a safety hazard, it’s hard to know whether or not having access to a gun would be helpful in a school shooting situation. There’s no way to guarantee a teacher would have time to access the hidden location of the gun, unlock whatever container it is stored in and load the gun with ammunition. That time would be better spent helping students to escape, if possible. The only way a gun might be useful in a school shooting situation would be if it were easily accessible. But allowing teachers immediate access to weapons creates a major safety risk, with students potentially able to access a teacher’s gun. And teachers themselves might even pose a risk to school safety. A teacher at a high school in Seaside, California, inadvertently injured a student Tuesday when he accidentally fired a weapon during a See Teachers on page 5
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Teachers, pg. 4
Students gather at the U.S. Capitol to protest gun violence Wednesday, March 14, 2018 in Washington, D.C. TNS youth rather than arming our teachers. Americans as a whole seem to recognize how poor a choice arming teachers would be. A poll conducted by Quinnipiac University earlier this month found the majority of American voters oppose permitting teachers and school officials
to carry guns on school property. For many, that role would be better served by armed security guards whose sole role is to defend students and faculty against aggression. In the same Quinnipiac poll, 82 percent of voters supported having armed security officers in schools.
The Pitt news crossword 3/15/18
demonstration. In Georgia, a high school history teacher fired a gun after barricading himself in his classroom earlier this month. So far, arming educators has a poor track record, to say the least. As it’s still unclear exactly what benefits might come from giving each teacher a gun, it remains irresponsible to spend money training and arming teachers instead of using it to improve classrooms themselves — many of which are horrifically underfunded. At a meeting with National Rifle Association leadership last month, Trump promised he would devote federal funding to training teachers to handle firearms. And while he hasn’t discussed any specific numbers, it’s likely the expenses from such a program would be a huge monetary commitment. We shouldn’t be using public funds to buy guns for teachers at a time when they have to use their own paychecks to buy school supplies. This should be common sense. If we really want to create a better tomorrow, we should turn our resources toward more effectively educating the
Of course, in the aftermath of February’s massacre, concerns have arisen over the apparent inability of Parkland’s security guards to prevent the deaths of 17 people in the school. One guard standing outside at the time of the attack claimed he heard the shots — but didn’t go inside because he thought they were coming from outside the building. This guard’s experience shows that a mass shooting will always be shocking and difficult — there’s no way to predict how school staff will react under the circumstances. School resource officers are trained professionals, but they still have the capacity to make bad calls regarding others’ safety. If a professional specifically trained for these situations will still make mistakes, it’s even more likely a teacher would make devastating mistakes as well. Teachers should love their students. And in an emergency, many will do everything possible to protect them from harm. But carrying firearms at school simply isn’t in the job description. Alexis primarily writes about local issues and student life for The Pitt News. Write to Alexis at alb413@pitt.edu.
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Culture
MAKING ART IN THE ARCTIC:
PITT ALUM PLANS VOYAGE TO HONE HER CRAFT Elizabeth Donnelly
on paper and through 3D constructions. Her art will be focused on millennial American masculinity, implementing In just six short months, Theresa grids to represent societal and politiBaughman will be spending her days in cal structures. According to Baughman, subzero temperatures in pursuit of comgrids mirror American culture as it goes bining her art with anthropology. through continual processes of construc“As an artist, I am much more inPhotos courtesy of vested in the process of making the piece Theresa Baughman than I am the final product,” Baughman, 26, said. Baughman is embarking on a monthlong voyage in October as an artistin-residence for the Arctic Circle. The Lawrenceville-based Pitt alumna, who graduated in 2015 with degrees in studio arts and anthropology, will be boarding a traditional three-masted Barquentine shipping vessel to sail around the Arctic Ocean, docking at Svalbard — a Norwegian island that is one of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas. The Arctic Circle residency is open to scientists, educators and artists internationally, who collaborate during the program while also conducting their own research. Baughman is currently writing grants and fundraising through events and her GoFundMe page to afford the $9,700 for residency fees, cold weather gear and plane tickets. At Pitt, Baughman studied studio arts and cultural anthropology — focusing her artistic talents mostly on sculpture and printmaking. Baughman describes her artistic style as a contemporary take on minimalism, as it incorporates mostly neutral colors. During her residency, Baughman said she plans to implement her knowledge of cultural anthropology and art through the use of grid patterns, both For The Pitt News
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tion and destruction. “The biggest draw to the Arctic for me is the extreme environment. This is something that I’m interested in exploring on a personal level,” she said. “But also for the grid metaphor and the parallels between a changing physical climate and a changing social climate.” Baughman went on her first residency — the Wyoming Field Studies Program offered through the Honors College — while a Pitt undergrad. Though she
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went on to complete three more residencies during her time at Pitt, Baughman said she distinctly remembers being fascinated by the weather in Wyoming, which caused the organic materials in her sculptures to have extreme reactions. “Instead of [being] frustrating, I only became more fascinated and began to crave environments that felt out of my control,” she said. “It was like experiencing the Earth for the first time without any preconceptions of how things should or shouldn’t be. I was instantly hooked.” As chair of the studio arts department and leader of the Wyoming residency program, Delanie Jenkins became close with Baughman during her time at Pitt. Jenkins suggested Baughman apply for the Wyoming residency after seeing her unusual art installation — a giant toothbrushing machine — in the Frick basement. “In some ways, she is like an excited experimenter — she gets into something and she becomes focused, perhaps a bit obsessed,” Jenkins said. “She explores and follows a specific topic through material research, scholarly research and a hands-on approach.” Jenkins said Baughman’s work stood out because it held a different perspective than other pieces in the department. Jenkins appreciated how Baughman was always pushing at the boundaries of media and what constituted art. One project of Baughman’s in particular that stood out to Jenkins was a series of different molds of plastic bags. To make these pieces, Baughman poured wax or plaster into regular ziplock bags — creating an object that was a solid rendering of a formerly empty material.
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Spectacles film series considers religion in film with ‘My Name is Khan’
Vikram Sundar Staff Writer
Moviegoers and religious scholars gathered for a film screening Tuesday in the hopes of viewing religion through a cinematic lens. Spectacles — a film series that analyzes religious and cultural motifs in movies — screened “My Name is Khan” in room 407 of the Cathedral of Learning from 7-9 p.m for an audience of about 15 people. In addition to holding film discussions, Spectacles’ members — who consist of Pitt religious study majors — analyze religious and cultural themes in mainstream media while also considering public perception of religion in today’s society. “My Name is Khan,” is a 2010 Indian Bollywood film from director Karan Johar. It tells the story of Rizwan Khan, a Muslim man from India with Asperger’s syndrome who embarks on a journey to the United States.
The film follows Khan’s life, from his impoverished upbringing in India to his immigration and subsequent residence in the United States. He arrives on the shores of San Francisco and quickly falls in love with a Hindu Indian woman, sharing a life that is happy and serene — until the events of 9/11 take place. The events that follow demonstrate the hardships and anguish Khan and his family experience in a post-9/11 environment, brimming with prejudice and ostracism for Muslim Americans. After the screening, senior Karam Elahi, a religious studies and biology major, held an open discussion along with fellow club member Mohammad Sajjad, a senior majoring in religious studies and natural sciences. The speakers asked questions on the main themes of the film, highlighting some of the key points the film conveys — including ideas of acceptance and compassion in times of political conflict.
“The reason I chose this film is because it kind of goes into the nitty-gritty of prejudice in the U.S. after 9/11,” Elahi said. “This was one of the first films to actually illustrate that effectively, so I thought it would be very interesting to show that to everybody else and have a more thought-out discussion regarding it.” Audience members engaged in questions and comments about the film’s impact in today’s social climate, in addition to discussing how the film brought awareness to Asperger’s syndrome. One audience member said he thought the film did a good job in explaining that the best way to show people your own beliefs is through action. Elahi said he wanted to include a film in the series with more serious subject matter, as opposed to the more lighthearted films in the series — such as the animated children’s film “Spirited Away” and the comical documentary “Kumare.” Sajjad said there was one scene in partic-
ular that did a good job of accurately characterizing the division in Muslim attitudes post-9/11. In this scene, Khan enters a city mosque to pray, but directly across from him, a man preaches to others his fallacious interpretation of Allah’s will, asking them to sacrifice themselves to destroy their oppressors. While the man is encouraging hatred, revenge and violence toward Americans, Khan walks over to the group and calmly tells them Allah would never want the sacrifice of his disciples. Rather, Khan says, Allah’s will is for unity and empathy towards your fellow man. “Khan’s response is that you should be acting out of compassion and love, not vengeance,” Sajjad said. “So I think the movie overall does a pretty good job of showing two sides of the story.”
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The Pitt News SuDoku 3/15/18 courtesy of dailysudoku.com
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Article, pg. 6 Julia Betts, a fellow artist and friend of Baughman’s from their artist residency together in Wyoming, said her favorite of these was a skin tone-colored wax mold — which Baughman affectionately referred to as “Baby.” Betts said she admires the piece for Baughman’s employment of contrasting textures. “This piece was really transformed from original object. It was weird and confusing, kinda gross, but kinda pretty,” Betts said. “Like attraction combined with repulsion.” Betts, 26, described Baughman’s process as full of trial and error — she will see what happens with the materials she is using and then will form her process around what she observes. Betts said Baughman combines her interests in anthropology and art while visiting new places by collecting artifacts and using them to create a piece that revolves around the place it came from. Before studying at Pitt, Baughman took classes in audio engineering at Columbia College Chicago. She said she plans to incorporate these skills during
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Theresa Baughman, a 26-year-old artist and Pitt alumna, will be spending a month sailing around the Arctic Ocean as an artist in residence for the organization Arctic Circle. Photos courtesy of Theresa Baughman
her trip by collecting audio, which she will mix into an experiential artwork for display. “I find that all of my work is related in some way, whether it be hatmaking, sculpture, music or anthropology,” Baughman said. “I am always thinking
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about and working through some idea, so it really is just about which medium is the best for making that idea come to full fruition.” Since graduating from college, Baughman has worked a variety of odd jobs to support herself and continued making art while also earning a small income operating Fizzpop — a small business that sells pop culture-oriented pins and patches she makes. “Finding a job after graduation can be really scary,” Baughman said. “Especially in a field that is drastically underpaid and undervalued.” Baughman said sharing her ideas and learning from the projects of other researchers on the Arctic voyage will be the most exciting part of her residency as she embarks into the vast unknown next fall — exploring new territory, research and art. “I love to dig deep into anything and everything that I’m curious about and see what happens when I come out on the other side,” Baughman said. “It is rarely what I think it will be, and I love that.”
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Sports Wenhao Wu SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Courtesy of Pitt Athletics
PITT BRINGS NEW IDOWU GETS SET FOR QUARTERBACK TO TOWN SENIOR SEASON Alex Lehmbeck Staff Writer Pitt football midyear junior college enrollee Ricky Town comes to Oakland with three years of college experience spanning three different schools. But despite his winding journey across college football, the quarterback has yet to play a single snap of Division I football. Town was aggressively recruited out of high school. Currently listed as a three-star recruit, Town was the fourthranked quarterback out of California in 2015, behind big names like UCLA’s Josh Rosen and Washington’s Jake Browning. Town committed to USC over toptier offers that included Florida State, Georgia, Miami and Stanford. He had previously committed to Alabama but decommitted after offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier left for the University of Michigan. “[Town] has an advanced feel for the game that is way beyond his years,” Greg Biggins wrote for 247sports. “[He] boasts a strong arm and the quickest release in
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the region. He’s not hyper-athletic but does a great job moving around the pocket.” But before playing his first game for USC, Town decided to transfer to the University of Arkansas, where he immediately redshirted. At Arkansas, Town did not play during the 2016 season and decided to transfer to a junior college. He chose Ventura College, located in his hometown of Ventura, California. Town threw for 1,160 yards and 12 touchdowns with a 60 percent completion rate for Ventura in 2017, playing under head coach Steve Mooshagian, a former offensive coordinator at Pitt from 1997-1998. Town came into contact with Pitt’s coaching staff during the offseason and decided to make his return to Division I football with the Panthers. “It was just a unique opportunity,” Town said on a Pitt LiveWire video. “I could definitely see myself helping this team. I got to meet with Coach Watson and Coach Narduzzi, and I knew those See Quarterback on page 10
Michael Nitti Staff Writer
Pitt senior linebacker Oluwaseun Idowu first came to Oakland from North Allegheny High School in 2014. There, Idowu played running back but transitioned to linebacker shortly after walking onto the Pitt football team in the fall of 2014. After redshirting his first year, it wasn’t until his second season of eligibility that he found consistent playing time in 2016, when he was third on the team in tackles with 74 total. Idowu led the team in total tackles with 94, tackles for loss with 11.5 and sacks with five this past season. The Pitt News caught up with Idowu following the Panthers’ second practice of the spring. The Pitt News: As a team, you guys kind of took a step back from the 2016 season. What’s your biggest takeaway from a team perspective? Oluwaseun Idowu: I would say it’s just growth as a team in general. We had a lot of young guys last year, a lot of guys growing up throughout the season. This year we have everybody returning, so everybody’s
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kind of hungry from how last season went. We’ve got young guys growing up, guys returning. We have a bunch of older guys — a bunch of seniors this year. So from that, we take whatever we learned last year and throughout the last couple years and improve on it. I think we have a lot of knowledge coming in this year compared to last year. TPN: What do you try and pass on to the younger guys? OI: The biggest thing we always talk about is the mentality. It’s a tough, dog-eatdog mentality. No matter what it is, we’ve always gotta go at it to the very end. We just gotta keep that going and improve on that as much as we can. TPN: Statistically, you had your best season last year, leading the team in tackles and sacks. Do you have any personal goals that you set every season? OI: You always try to reach for more, but at the end of the day you have to focus on the team goal, which is an ACC Championship [and] a National Championship if possible. That’s my main goal and someSee Idowu on page 10
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Quarterback, pg. 9
Idowu, pg. 9
were the two men I wanted to play for.” Town, who arrived on campus this semester, has already gotten used to Pittsburgh climate, 2,500 miles away from Ventura. “Pitt’s been great so far,” Town said in an interview. “I’ve really been enjoying my experience of getting to walk around and seeing Pittsburgh and all of the history. The snow’s definitely different than Southern California, but all in all, it’s been a really nice place.” With two years of eligibility left at Pitt, Town wants to make an immediate impact. He will have to compete for the starting job with soon-to-be sophomore Kenny Pickett, who led Pitt to one of the greatest upsets in program history in his only start last year against No. 2 Miami. Despite this quarterback competition, Town says he has already developed a close relationship with Pickett. “First day I got here, Kenny hit me up and we went and threw,” Town said. “Kenny’s a great guy. I’m looking forward to competing with him and learning from him and helping each other out.”
thing to focus on for me. I think everything outside of that will take care of itself ... No matter what I do, I try to play at an ACC Championship level. TPN: You were a running back in high school, among other things, and you walked on at training camp and ultimately became a linebacker. You were one of the best defensive players on the team last year. What’s that feeling like coming this far, where everything’s kind of changed? OI: It’s a really great feeling. Every once in a while I’ll talk to my teammates, we’ll be hanging out, I’ll just be like, “Man, think about where we were three years ago, four years ago.” We’ve come a long way, I’ve come a long way. Everybody knows the story. It’s a good feeling to have that recognized and also have that to look back on. Like, “Wow, you’ve been through so much, you made it through all this adversity and now you’re here, where you set your eyes on to get to. You’re on your way to make it to the the next level and all these other things are about to happen for you in life.” But you gotta keep a certain amount of
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humility and never forget where you came from. TPN: Are there any specific weaknesses from last year you’re trying to work on, or something you could just be better at this year? OI: Just to eliminate certain times where I was absentminded and be locked in 100 percent. There is no perfect, but just trying to always reach for some kind of perfection. I want to try to take it to the next level each time I step on the field and focus on little details like knowing what the line is doing — not just my job, but other guys’ jobs around me and how that fits in with what the offense is doing now is really where I’m at with that. I try to see what offenses are trying to do with us, where they’re trying to attack us, how I can help with that, how I can see things ahead of time — jumping on stuff like that. Taking my knowledge to the next level is really the main thing. TPN: What’s your off-season routine like? OI: Pretty much watching a ton of film, being in the weight room and taking care of my body. It’s a long season, it’s a long time, a long process to get to the season.
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That’s an everyday routine — getting in the film room, helping out the young guys, of course. And that helps me out as well — to teach them and learn new things I might not have seen at times as I teach them. TPN: Is there anyone in the NFL or who’s played in the NFL that you look up to or model your game after? OI: Ever since I was in high school, I’ve looked after Patrick Peterson. He’s a real cool, collected guy. Larry Fitzgerald is always someone coaches talk about here — he’s a Pitt man, he’s a good man. Landon Collins, younger guy, I’m a big fan of his. All those guys I try to model my game after and how I carry myself on the field. TPN: Obviously you’re focused on this season, but is the NFL draft something you think about in the back of your mind, knowing it’s your last year? OI: Even going back to freshman year, we come in with the mindset of, “Hey, we’re trying to get to the league.” Everybody’s trying to get to the league — that’s a goal. It’s the last year, it’s coming close to that time to make those things happen, so I’m really excited for what’s coming up next. Gotta put some work in. No doubt we’re gonna get there.
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I N D E X
Rentals & Sublet • NORTH OAKLAND • SOUTH OAKLAND • SHADYSIDE • SQUIRREL HILL • SOUTHSIDE • NORTHSIDE • BLOOMFIELD • ROOMMATES • OTHER
For Rent South Oakland 2BR houses available in August. Unfurnished, no pets. $950+ gas and electric. Call 412-492-8173 311 Semple St., two blocks from Forbes Ave. 2BR, living room, updated kitchen with dishwasher and disposal, front porch, basement, back patio, carpeted. Must see
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Employment • CHILDCARE • FOOD SERVICES • UNIVERSITY • INTERNSHIPS • RESEARCH • VOLUNTEERING • OTHER
- clean! $1320/mo plus utilities. Call 412-389-3636. 3BR apartment, central air, washer/dryer, water included in rent, available 8/1/18. $1,340/mo. Call 412-398-6119. 3BR house on Niagara Street $1000/mo +all utilities. Recently renovated with new windows, wiring, cable installed in all rooms. No pets. On Pitt shuttle route. Near Pittsburgh Playhouse. Call 412-303-4716.
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• EDUCATIONAL • TRAVEL • HEALTH • PARKING • INSURANCE
South Oakland 4 BR HOME - SEMPLE STREET, LOCATED NEAR LOUISA. EQUIPPED KITCHEN, FULL BASEMENT. NEW CENTRAL AIR ADDED. RENTING FOR AUGUST 2018. (412) 343-4289 or 412-330-9498. Apartment/house for rent. Available immediately. Newly remodeled 2, 3 or 7 BR, utilities included, laundry available.
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• ADOPTION • EVENTS • LOST AND FOUND • STUDENT GROUPS • WANTED • OTHER
37 Welsford St. 412-337-5736 or email hfarah1964@ yahoo.com Apartments for rent. 2, 3, and 4 bedroom apartments available. Some available on Dawson street, Atwood street, and Mckee Place. Newly remodeled. Some have laundry on site. Minutes from the University. For more info please call Mike at 412-849-8694
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Two business days prior by 3pm | Email: advertising@pittnews.com | Phone: 412.648.7978
South Oakland Before signing a lease, be aware that no more than 3 unrelated people can share a single unit. Check property’s compliance with codes. Call City’s Permits, Licensing & Inspections. 412-255-2175. FOR RENT AUGUST 1, 2018: Remodeled, spacious 3BR, 1.5BA home near Schenley Park. $1725/mo + utilities. Central air,
March 15, 2018
laundry, dishwasher, patio. Parking spot available. Pitt shuttle & bus across street. Panther Properties of Pa. SHOWING: pantherproperties2@ gmail.com. PHOTOS: panther-life.com/ available M.J. Kelly Realty. Studio, 1, 2, 3 and 4 Bedroom Apartments, Duplexes and Houses. N. & S. Oakland from $750-$2500. mjkellyrealty@gmail. com. 412-271-5550. www.mjkellyrealty. com
South Oakland
South Oakland
STUDENT HOUSING. Updated 4, 5 & 6 Bedroom Houses w/ multiple baths. Dishwasher, laundry, some w/ air conditioning and/or parking. August availability. 412-445-6117.
Ward & S. Bouquet Streets - Studio, 1, 2 & 3BR apartments. Free parking. Move in May 1 or Aug. 1, 2018. Call 412-361-2695
Studio & 1 Bedrooms Available Fall 2018. Heat included. 412-261-4620.
SOUTHSIDE FLATS 1, 2,and 3 BR houses and apartments, some with AC. Call Mike 412-708-1695.
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Rental Other HIGHLAND PARK APARTMENTS; 1 BEDROOM Victorian, Gas included $885. 2 BEDROOM Mediterranean style $885. 3 BEDROOM Victorian, Gas included $1295. Leave name and number on voicemail 412-255-3333 or email Ted.Harchick@ gmail.com
Employment Employment Other Join KEYS Service Corps, AmeriCorps. Mentor, tutor, and inspire Pittsburgh area youth. Summer and fall positions with bi-weekly stipend and education award. Full and part-time. Possible internship credit. Call 412-350-2739. www.keysservicecorps.org
and strong computer skills required; no experience needed & we will train you at our Shadyside office; free parking. $13/hour plus generous season end bonus. Mozart Management 412-682-7003. thane@mozartrents. com
TAKING APPLICATIONS FOR SUMMER, Ice company close to campus. Some weekend work available. Production/ driving/maintenance positions available. Good pay, part-time/ full time. Contact Mastro Ice Company 412-681-4423. mastroice@aol.com
Seasonal Marketing Assistant Shadyside property management firm established in 1960 needs two Seasonal Marketing Assistants to work with Excel, Word and the internet from approximately NOW to August; four days/week from 9am-6pm. Saturday and/or Sunday hours a must; some flexibility in days and hours will be considered; most hours will be solitary on the computer with no phone work; 40 words per minute
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March 15, 2018
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