4-15-15 by The Pitt News

Vol. 105 Issue 151

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Wednesday,April 15, 2015

Former NYT editor looks ahead

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TIPPY TOES

Natalie Daher & Danielle Fox The Pitt News Staff Far from flipping on cruise control, Jill Abramson went from steering The New York Times as its first female editor to navigating journalism’s digital depths in uncharted waters. Once the leader of the fourth estate and now the entrepreneur willing to shell out $100,000 for a “whale” of a story, Abramson still speaks about journalism with the buoyancy of a newcomer. She’s hardly weathered after 17 years as a leader at the Times, and returned to a familiar harbor last fall, teaching narrative nonfiction at her alma mater Harvard University. She’s spent her career shattering glass before reaching past the shards to hoist others up. After her firing from the Times last spring, Abramson now looks to refresh longform journalism with an online startup deal, while writing a book on journalism’s

Abramson

The Pitt Ballet Club rehearses for the Pitt Dance Ensemble Spring Informal Show. Meghan Sunners | Staff Photographer

Board debates neutrality, discusses name change

Abbey Reighard Assistant News Editor

Change its name, change its name — the Student Government Board will have students vote to change the Board’s name to the Student Government Association. Students can vote on the name referendum through their MyPitt portals. Voting will open on Thursday at 8 a.m. until Friday at 8 p.m. Leading up to its rebranding, the Board disagreed on isJill Abramson talks journalism, leader- sues of neutrality at its final meeting of ship. Jeff Ahearn | Assistant Visual Editor the semester.

At Tuesday’s public meeting, the Board voted on several of the bills regarding changes to the Student Government Governing Code, introduced at last week’s public meeting. The Board amended some of the bills, while deciding to table other bills or sections of bills until the Board reconvenes in the fall. The Board voted to remove two subsections regarding neutrality, which stated that the outgoing Judicial Committee Chair, the incoming Judicial Committee Chair, the outgoing President, the incoming President and an incoming

Board member who received the highest number of student votes and was not a member of the incoming president’s slate would vote for the Judicial Committee. Judicial Committee Chair Kyle Hoch said last week that the Committee decided to propose the section, which included the fifth person as a Board member with the highest votes who also did not run on the same slate as the president, to increase neutrality. Read the rest online at Pittnews.com.

April 15, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 1

ABRAMSON changing landscape and awaiting a personal first — becoming a grandmother. A decade since her last visit to Pittsburgh, Abramson reclined on a green easy chair at the Wyndham Hotel to talk leadership, Rolling Stone’s retracted article and what happens when you’re a badass. Natalie Daher: You mentioned in an interview with Cosmopolitan last summer that it can be “dangerous to be a badass.” A lot of contemporary pop culture across the board has been portraying women as “badass” — this new brand of woman who is down for anything. What do you think are some limitations, if any, of this modern femininity? JA: Some women who have been bold and outspoken on women’s issues and about feminism have faced a predictable backlash and have been attacked, sometimes very viciously. Some of the comments that I’ve seen in response to what I’m describing as “bold” or you might describe as “badass” commentary have just been overtly sexist and unpleasant and unfair. It’s fine to engage someone on the substance of ideas, but some of the commentary, it seems, will move very quickly into personal attack. You have to develop a tough hide if you’re going to be very bold. Danielle Fox: What role do men play in narrowing the disparity and removing the double standard? How could women start this dialogue with men? JA: Men as much as women should be invested in gender equality. It’s a mistake to view the discussion of issues involving gender equality as a discussion that women are having, and it’s vital to invite men into the conversation. I, in fact, just wrote a short piece about Emma Watson who is involved in this campaign, HeForShe. And she doesn’t hesitate in calling herself a feminist, but this particular campaign is geared toward trying to involve men in the fight for gender equality. ND: You created a race and ethnicity beat at The Times. How can newspapers, and media in general, propel social change while still remaining unbiased? JA: There has been very high-quality, unbiased coverage recently of police misconduct in cases where black people have been killed. And by shining a light and reporting accurately on these cases, journalism is fulfilling an important role in our society. DF: Sometimes, as college students, we

feel that we’re only pushed to pursue avenues that could really beef up our resumé, like learning to code. How do you feel about that pressure on students? If you were a student today, do you think you still would have participated in theater, or would you have just focused on journalism? JA: I’m kind of an endlessly curious person. I’m not someone who, even today, would deny myself interesting experiences only because I’m honing a resumé. Having a variety of experiences and exposing yourself to different walks of life and different cultures actually makes you a better journalist in the end. I have nothing against learning coding or developing some of the technical skills that are in such demand as our society becomes completely digitally literate. I think you do need skills, and I applaud students who get them. But I wouldn’t trade Shakespeare for a particular program or coding technique. DF: How do you think the Columbia Journalism Report [about the retracted Rolling Stone article “A Rape on Campus”] and the resulting suit will affect journalism? How have you talked about the article with your students? JA: My students reading the story could readily point out its shortcomings, way before the report came out. I thought the report was excellent. It confirmed the glaring weakness in the piece, which was basically built around one source and one source’s point of view. And that proved to be an insufficient, well, I should describe it stronger than insufficient. It just proved to be a very dangerous approach, lacking in thorough reporting and corroboration and fact-checking and editorial oversight. ND: One of the main concerns about the story’s flaws is that it will discredit future accounts of sexual assault victims, which is immensely devastating to colleges across the country. What do you think the role of the media should be in preventing that? JA: The bar for reporting these cases [should be] the same as reporting any investigative or enterprise story, which is that you have to thoroughly truth-test stories. Yes, on sensitive matters, you have to report with sensitivity. But when there are multiple people involved in a situation, you should try to get the point of view and comment and collect the facts from many points of view, not just one.

Abramson

April 15, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

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FROM PAGE 2

ABRAMSON ND: One of the other things you mentioned on Friday was that being authentic to yourself was one of the main keys to success. We also thought of the quote by David Carr, “We all walk this earth feeling like we are frauds,” which can be true in a lot of ways. How do you, as a teacher and editor, guide your reporters and students to achieve some semblance of their own authenticity — if that’s possible? JA: I think so many of my students are only now just beginning to discover who they are, and to encourage and embrace that process is necessary. You are all still really young, and that’s wonderful. Before you can be an authentic person, you have to grow into who that person is. I think in college that is still something that is in development, and it’s thrilling as a teacher and someone who is now in her sixties, it’s very beautiful to see that happening in you. ND: Speaking a bit to the future, what’s on the horizon for you besides writing a book and the startup and teaching classes? JA: My plate is full, and I’m going to be a grandmother. My daughter [Cornelia Griggs] is pregnant with our first grandchild. She’s a surgeon in Boston, so I’m hoping that I can be of some help [laughs] to her at least for part of the week that I’m up at Harvard. I’m teaching [narrative nonfiction] again in the fall. DF: Any idea for the first book you’ll buy your grandchild? JA: You can’t miss with “Goodnight Moon.” ND: Can we ask if there are any new tattoos in the sketches? JA: No, I only seem to do them every decade, so nothing new till I’m 70. I cross my fingers I get there [laughs].

Bridget Montgomery Sarah Mejia Michelle Reagle Megan Zagorski Sydney Mengel Amanda Sobczak

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EDITORIAL

April 15, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

OPINIONS

Give aid to students, not only schools Colleges should give needy students financial aid, but should they receive a financial award in return? A foundation in northern Virginia thinks so. This month, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation awarded Vassar College a $1 million prize for supporting high-performing, low-income students. The Foundation will award the same sum annually to a college or university that consistently enrolls and graduates low-income achievers, according to The New York Times. Although the Cooke Foundation aims to benefit low-income students, the foundation could better allocate the $1 million if it gives it to accomplished underprivileged students. Colleges and universities should extend welcome and affordable admission to students of all socioeconomic backgrounds. Why should we award schools for doing exactly what they should be doing, especially in today’s higher education climate of skyrocketing tuition and enormous student debt? Rather than giving colleges large cash prizes, foundations and institutions should invest in individual students, even before they enter college. We cannot ignore the root of the education accessibility problem for the socioeconomically underprivileged. Students from poorer backgrounds and communities usually do not have

the academic and extracurricular resources to stand out on college applications that their more affluent counterparts often have. So, foundations should invest in more programs to provide high school students with extracurricular leadership, academic, musical and sporting activities. If poorer students gained access to more test preparation, more tutoring, more music lessons or more athletic competition, they would be more attractive as college candidates and would thus fare better in the college admissions process. It doesn’t matter if a school offers financial aid if those who need it most can’t achieve admission. If foundations only put their money toward universities, they would merely create more competition among alreadycompetitive higher education institutions. That competition, we believe, should be between the individual students, and at a younger age, so that they may thrive and gain admission to more colleges that they choose. Education accessibility for the socioeconomically underprivileged is an investment for prosperity tomorrow. We must focus our investment on an individual level, so that we may afford each individual a realistic chance of educational and professional success.

TNS

COLUMN

The importance of the GOP: It’s for young people, too Marlo Safi Columnist

“Dad, I’m a Republican.” I could imagine what was racing through my liberal father’s mind — that his 18-year-old, first generation Syrian-American daughter was identifying with a party associated with old, rich and white bigots. It’s not just my father who holds this common misconstrued perception of the GOP. I identify as one of the comparatively few Republicans on Pitt’s campus, and, from my experience, students often misinterpret the Republican Party and what it champions. I was raised by Syrian immigrants who came to America in their 20s. They identify with the opposing party, but I forged my own beliefs and views and found a party that matched my ideals,

which include protecting civil liberties, limited government, and real social equality. I now identify as a Republican. While college students commonly trumpet liberal ideologies, most misconceive aspects of the Republican Party that, if properly identified, would be attractive to them. To start, the Republican Party is closely aligned with this country’s founding principles. Its patriotic resonance is no coincidence — with pride, we adhere to the values and ideals instituted by our country’s Founding Fathers. “I think that it’s important not to forget what the Founding Fathers had envisioned for this country,” Cameron Linton, president of Pitt College Republicans, said. “Society changes, but the principles this country was built upon should not.”

As a member of Pitt College Republicans, I know that many contemporary Republican politicians stress abiding by the Constitution. “My touchstone for every question is the Constitution,” Ted Cruz, Texas Senator and 2016 GOP presidential candidate, said. The mainstream media often mocks Republicans for their overzealous patriotism. But, having experienced the more oppressive Middle East, I appreciate this aspect of the GOP platform. I take pride in the degree to which they advocate for being proud of American values, such as our freedoms ensured in the Bill of Rights. Critics often accuse Republicans of hating the poor, opposing welfare and being greedy capitalists blessed with privilege and lacking regard for the less fortu-

Safi

April 15, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 6

SAFI nate. People accuse big businesses of being too money-hungry to raise the minimum wage, for example. These accusations against Republicans and their free market principles are simply not true. We believe in equality that stems from opportunity, not condition. Government cannot be the only method by which we achieve equality. Government should try to create equal opportunity, but it does not need to guarantee equal results. That is up to the individual. Governmental efforts to redistribute wealth have not made the poor significantly richer. A 113th Congress House Budget Committee report shows a 15 percent poverty rate in 2012 versus 17.3 percent at the onset of President Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” a decline far too slim and reliant on natural economic cycles to be considered a triumph for big government. The Republican Party seeks to counter the poverty rate by promoting strong families, education and work. The Rev.

Robert Sirico, author of “Defending the Free Market,” writes that jobs are the best anti-poverty program. A House Budget report called “The War on Poverty: 50 Years Later” also suggests the breakdown of the family as one of the main causes of poverty. Although more men and women are seeking high powered careers that can sometimes get in the way of stable family relationships, there is no reason that career ambition and a successful family life, if one wishes for that, must be mutually exclusive. According to The New York Times, 38 percent of public school students were eligible for free or reduced lunches in 2013, and this rate is rising. Our government must reform our social programs to elevate individuals from such indigent conditions. But Republicans understand that the government taking from the rich to give to the poor exacerbates the already worsening problem by creating “class warfare.” The GOP encourages a system in which everyone works hard for prosperity. One’s background certainly influences certain available opportunities, but with the help of charity, scholarships and hard work, every American has the opportunity to gain suc-

cess. For some more than others, such success is often difficult, but if individuals can achieve success anywhere, America allows them perhaps their greatest chance. No system is perfect, but ours is a system that most of the world’s population only dreams of having.. Moreover, for our country to achieve economic growth, we must limit the size of government. Specifically, the federal government should stay out of social matters whenever possible, and reserve governance and public policy to the state and local levels. More than 42 million Americans are now on food stamps, according to The Wall Street Journal. This number of people are destitute and totally dependent on the government.. The large number of citizens on social welfare is one example of big government’s effects of creating a dependence that citizens could possibly exploit, and this is unfair to the impoverished. Large federal government intervention in society affects more than just our country’s indigent population. Substantial federal government regulations can cause the destruction of small businesses. According to Forbes, at the end of 2012, the

7 number of federal regulations affecting small companies was 13 percent higher than in 2008 — an alarming increase. The Federal Register, the official government journal of federal regulations, totals more than 80,000 pages. Imagine having to comply with an 80,000-page rulebook — that’s the struggle of American business owners. Their struggle is an ugly reality of big government. Republicans favor a freer, capitalistoriented economic system in which individuals and businesses are less burdened by an overreaching government. Taxes are a central part of this goal. “I think that I’m a Republican because when I got my first paycheck in my first year of high school, the government took 20 percent of it,” Linton said. True equality, small government, low taxes — these are the principles that create a fair, peaceful and prosperous society, and thankfully these principles remain the foundation of today’s Republican Party. Marlo Safi primarily writes about politics and public policy for The Pitt News. Write to Marlo at mes260@pitt.edu.

April 15, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

WRESTLING

SPORTS

Wilps, Thomusseit look back on prolific Pitt careers

Max Thomusseit (above) and Tyler Wilps (below) will graduate this spring after successful wrestling careers. Nate Smith | Staff Photographer

Logan Hitchcock Staff Writer When Max Thomusseit and Tyler Wilps joined Pitt’s wrestling team, each was joining forces with an older brother. But by end of their careers, they would be like brothers themselves. The pair of redshirt seniors will leave behind countless hours of blood and sweat, handfuls of accolades and their home for the last five years when they accept their diplomas this spring. Their arrival at Pitt was no coincidence. Following their older siblings, Zac Thomusseit and Matt Wilps, the younger duo started alongside them five years ago. Five years later, their combined accomplishments total 178 career victo-

ries, four conference championships and seven NCAA championship appearances. “We’ve trained together for five years,” Thomusseit said. “I pushed him, and he pushed me. It’s like a brotherhood.” Of those NCAA championship appearances, Wilps — who qualified three times — earned All-American status twice, headlined by his runner-up finish this season. Thomusseit, who qualified every full season of his career, made three appearances in the round of 12. The championships — two in the ACC by Wilps, and one EWL and one ACC championship for Thomusseit — helped validate the program’s transition from

Wrestling

April 15, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 8

WRESTLING the Eastern Wrestling League to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013. Pitt head coach Jason Peters said the two will leave a lasting legacy on the program. “What they have done for Pitt wrestling and the University of Pittsburgh was pretty special,” Peters said. Peters, who was an assistant coach with the program when Wilps and Thomusseit came to Pitt, has watched their careers flourish from mat-side. Thomusseit enjoyed instant success, notching 27 wins in his freshman season and earning an EWL runner-up finish and Freshman of the Year honors. His first year culminated in a NCAA championship appearance. Wilps, on the other hand, redshirted his first year at Pitt and battled through the subsequent season, earning honors as the team’s top freshman and just missing a berth at the NCAA championships. “I would like to be pictured as the guy that was not expected to do what he did,” he said. After a final season in the EWL during the 2012-2013 campaign, the two developed their talents quickly during the team’s first two years in the ACC. Wilps won two ACC championships and earned All-American honors in each of his final two seasons. Meanwhile, Thomusseit earned an ACC runner-up finish in 2014 before winning the ACC championship this season, earning the No. 2 seed at the NCAA championships. Despite wrestling plenty of matches on the highest stage and against toplevel competition, both wrestlers were coy about naming a defining moment that highlights their respective careers. “Every match was great,” Thomusseit said. “I never beat anyone I didn’t expect to beat,” Wilps said. The confidence that oozes from the pair is a product of their competitive relationship and hard work. That relationship, built in the wrestling room, now has no bounds. “We could not see each other for five years, and it wouldn’t change a thing,” Wilps said.

The pair might not see each other much in the future. Both will graduate this spring and head in separate directions. Wilps said he will apply to medical schools this spring. Thomusseit said he will move south, hoping to earn a job with other former wrestlers, including his brother, at Hendrick Motorsports. Regardless of where they end up, each said that he is thankful and aware of the legacy he will leave on Pitt’s wrestling program and the University in general.

Wilps said he wants his legacy “not necessarily to have been an All-American, or do as well as I did, but more as a testament to someone who has done everything he needed to do, to do it and that hard work does pay off.” Thomusseit added that collegiate wrestling has shaped the rest of his life. “The University of Pittsburgh and the wrestling program have been one of the best things that has ever happened to me,” Thomusseit said. “It’s made me into the person I am.”