4-21-17

The Pitt News

The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | April 21, 2017 | Volume 107 | Issue 1165

FARM FRESH

New Vegan options pop up in market Janine Foust and Caroline Bourque The Pitt News Staff

Nestled next to the salad bar in Market Central, a new eatery is serving plantbased options out of a cart borrowed from the basketball court of the Petersen Events Center — and it’s attracting vegans, vegetarians and omnivores alike.

Pitt’s Student Office of Sustainability recently partnered with Pitt’s Vegan/Vegetarian Collective, a group which advocates for more plant-based food options on campus, and Forward Food, an organization that trains chefs and cooks to make healthy plant-based meals, to introduce a Students buy produce from the Farmers Market outside of the William Pitt Union. Evan Meng STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER new station serving such foods in Market Central.

The dining hall’s new plant-based ley, a nonprofit organization founded in autism services, is a place where children alternative has already exceeded some Rose Luder on the autism spectrum can focus on 1965 that works with distressed families, students’ expectations, including Emmy Staff Writer something other than their own thoughts. foster kids and individuals with autism. Brown’s, a first-year anthropology and Massive lava lamps and abstract“Kids that are overly anxious are di- Along with in-home therapies and school neuroscience major. She was thrilled to colored patterns projected on the walls rected to this room,” Pompa said. “The services, the organization offers special- have access to more options that accomilluminate Wesley Spectrum’s “sensory purpose is to teach mindfulness tech- ized programs for children with autism at modate her vegan diet. room,” where children lounge in cozy niques that they can apply to any stressful its locations in Wexford, Bridgeville and “This cart is the best thing to ever hapchairs and allow this visual stimulation to Penn Hills. situation.” pen to Market,” she said. center their minds.

Michelle Sloane, the director of public This is just one of many services for Before the Forward Food cart apThe “sensory room,” according to Kate children with autism provided by WesSee Wesley on page 4 See Vegan on page 3 Pompa, the Wesley Spectrum director of

Wesley Spectrum spreads autism awareness in Pittsburgh

News

Pitt Grad eyes congressional seat

Grant Burgman Staff Writer

Tom Prigg is an unmistakable Pittsburgh native, who uses rounded vowel sounds and local colloquialisms to prove it. But come November 2018, the Carnegie Mellon University research associate is banking on his hometown roots to help him secure a seat in the United States House of Representatives.

Prigg is running as the Democratic opponent to Republican incumbent Keith Rothfus for Pennsylvania’s 12th district. After years of considering a congressional run, Prigg has decided to finally enter the world of politics.

“I’ve spent about three years putting all of this together,” Prigg said. “I was going to give up, but then Bernie Sanders happened.”

After last year’s presidential election, Prigg felt inspired by some of the candidates, such as Sanders, whose emphasis on the working class resonated with the values instilled in him as a youth.

“I grew up in McGuffey, in the southwestern Washington area. I was in poverty,” Prigg said. “[People there are] very result driven. What you can do [for them] is all they want to hear.”

Following his upbringing in Washington County, Prigg joined the Army and served in the 82nd Airborne as a scout sniper and machine gunner. After his tour, Prigg graduated from Pitt with a Bachelor’s of Science in Neural-Psychology and Sociology. His subsequent work in biology labs at Pitt and Carnegie Mellon has influenced his approach to politics.

“When you talk about the brain with someone that isn’t a neuroscientist, don’t talk to them like they are a neuroscientist,” Prigg said. “It’s about getting your ideas to the audience so they can absorb those ideas.”

Prigg envisions two key bills he would push if elected — a “Small Business Rescue Grant” and a bill to provide free technical training. Both bills, according to Prigg’s website, will revitalize the economy and help provide stable, living wage jobs.

“Once I establish those, then I have a base,” he said. “Now I can

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Courtesy of Tom Prigg start working to improve other industries.”

Before this happens, Prigg will have to beat a very popular incumbent. In last year’s election, Rothfus won Pennsylvania’s 12th district comfortably by a 23.6 point margin, and in the 2014 election Rothfus won by a similar 18.6 point margin. Prigg, however, said he is confident in his ability to appeal to both parties.

“I am left but I can speak to the right, mostly because that’s how I was raised,” Prigg said. “Most people on the liberal side don’t issue enough plans. What I want to do is issue plans the right will respond to.”

Prigg cites his upbringing as a way to sell his plans to the Republicans in the area. He believes his military and working class

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background will help him gain favor in the 12th district.

Jeff Migliozzi, a junior marketing major and president of Pitt Progressives, said Prigg’s diverse background as a scientist and veteran will appeal to a wide section of the population — even in a Republican-controlled district.

“Being a veteran and being a scientist makes you more respectable in the eyes of a lot of people,” he said. “He’s basically casting a wider net.”

Prigg’s campaign is aided entirely by volunteers at this point — including positions that are paid in most campaigns. One of those volunteers, Carrie Solari, is Prigg’s campaign manager. She met Prigg 16 years ago and was the person who first suggested Prigg’s name to the the Justice Democrats — a political organization whose goal is to “recruit and run Democrats who will represent people, not corporations,” according to the group’s Facebook page.

“I do not receive a salary. I am doing this because Tom and I both have connections to rural, poor areas and lived with poverty,” Solari said. “We just really want to help the people that we know are hurting in our state and district.”

Gerra Bosco, another volunteer, serves as his communications director. After they met in 2009, Bosco quickly realized that Prigg is a “political junkie.” She enjoyed talking politics with Prigg because his views were a result of his own observations, not “regurgitated rhetoric from the news.”

“I think that we, the citizens, have allowed the media to frame the arguments to such a degree that we have limited our ability to discuss — let alone debate — very important things,” Bosco said.

Of all of the groups that Prigg is looking to swing his way next fall, he emphasized the importance of the young voters in the 12th district.

“There is no way change can happen if the millennial generation doesn’t jump in right now,” Prigg said. “If the millennials don’t pick this up we are stuck with what we have.”

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Vegan, pg. 1 peared, Brown usually traveled up to the Perch to grab a black bean burger at Red Hot Chef, or ran around Market assembling a meat- and dairy-free plate. Now she just needs to head back to the cart when she walks into Market.

“It’s so convenient to have a place that serves healthy vegan options that taste great,” she said.

Nick Goodfellow, Pitt Dining Sustainability Coordinator and head of the Veg Collective, said the eatery started out serving 300 portions each at lunch and dinner during the test week right after spring break. After selling out each time, the cart’s increased its portions and now serves 350 per mealtime.

“It’s great to see that people are so receptive to the cart,” Goodfellow said. “It means there’s a good chance that it’ll expand in the future.”

According to Goodfellow, the idea for the cart emerged when the Humane Society reached out to the SOOS about Forward Food. With the help of the Veg Collective, two chefs from Forward

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Food staff came during spring break and trained several Market cooks and chefs to prepare plant-based meals.

Amy Walker, a Market cook who participated in the training, said this is her first time working with plant-based food during her career as a cook. Preparing meals with no meat, dairy-free cheese and lots of herbs was new to her, but she and a lot of students find the food delicious.

“When I serve the plant-based meals, I see people’s faces light up,” Walker said.

“So many people come back for seconds, and a lot of them tell me they’re not even vegan, but they love it.”

Market Executive Chef Bill Ward said the traffic for the cart has been outstanding. Whenever he goes to check out how it’s doing and chat with students grabbing plates of tofu and spinach pesto, the responses he gets are usually positive.

“Tons of people have asked me if this is going to be around next year,” he said.

“It definitely will, and we’ll probably be expanding it.”

Due to its initial success, Goodfellow hopes to expand the popular plant-based options to locations in the Cathedral and

the Perch.

Rachael Rakocy, a sophomore emergency medicine major, said she’s visited the cart several times since its conception, although she is not a vegan. She initially thought the cart was there because something in Tutto Fresco broke and

they had to move their food.

“I’m not really somebody who cares about watching what they eat, but the food’s better than I thought it would be,” she said. “It tastes good, which is what I care about. It being healthy is a pretty cool bonus.”

A Market Central cook serves up a plant-based meal at the Forward Food cart. Daniel Pomper STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Wesley, pg. 1 policy and strategy at Wesley, estimates the organization services a total of 58,000 children and adults in and around Allegheny County. The group helps teach individuals about mental health, drugs and alcohol, family therapy, education and foster care.

“We have a variety of services where the individuals can come on site or we can go into the home or the community,” Sloane said.

Wesley Spectrum sites — the buildings where the institution hosts many of its autism-specialized programs — resemble typical public elementary schools.

A visitor might find children in one of several brightly colored rooms, engaging in crafts or participating in one of the organization’s educational and therapeutic programs.

According to Nicole Gannon, the clinical site manager for the Wexford location, the organization’s services include programs like Wonder Kids, which has made a noticeable difference in helping those on the autism spectrum develop

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“[The bands] are quite popular, they social skills.

“We’ve had quite a few kids that came put on shows for other clients and everyhere with really poor social skills,” Gan- thing,” Sloane said.

For people beyond their high school non said. “They didn’t really have friends years, Wesley at school — y offers behavthey didn’t n’t o ioral health know how to o io rehabilitamake friends ds tion services, or have converrti which insations — and d w cludes theranow some of cl pists who them are goop teach people ing to birthday ay te how to comparties, or are re h municate and even on sports ts m work with teams.” w people on the B e y o n d p autism specchildren, Wessau trum, accordley also offtr ing fers services to o in to Sloane.

We s l e y teens who can n also be seen lounggal runs several outpaing at the Wexxer Jordan Mondell CONTRIBUTING EDITOR tient support ford site’s music ic ti room and strumming guitars as a creative groups for people of all ages. People ages outlet and means of therapy. According 12 and up often attend outpatient groups to Sloane, the Creative Arts program has in the Healthy Relationships Curriculum even produced two rock bands — Flying — where clients learn about self-care, sexual development and maintaining reSock Monkeys and Snow Phantoms.

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lationships. A licensed therapist leads the groups, and teaches participants socialization skills.

“Each child has individual socialization goals,” Pompa said. “One goal might be to talk to a friend, for example. We develop a treatment plan catered specifically to every child’s needs.”

While the organization services over 500 children, teens and adults, they also play an active role in educating the community about autism awareness. Earlier this month, Panera sold cookies shaped as blue puzzle pieces — an international symbol of autism — to raise money for Wesley’s services.

The “pieces of hope” cookies symbolize the complexity of autism and the diversity of the people affected by it. According to Gannon, Wesley is trying to do what few other organizations have done in addressing the individual needs of each child on the autism spectrum through its programs.

“Wesley found there was a gap in available services and treatment, specifically for kids on the spectrum,” Gannon said. “Wesley seeks to fill that gap.”

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Opinions

column

from the editorial board x Pitt Tonight

Top 10 : Things Pitt taught us this year This year brought lessons for the Pitt community and the world as a whole.

For this week’s Top 10, we could go over some of the biggest stories of the year and see how we’ve grown from them. Instead, we’d like to take a look at some things we’ve personally learned this year at Pitt.

Think of this as a series of tips for campus life, from us to you. Here’s 10 things we learned at Pitt this year.

10. You’re allowed to sleep in Hillman if your house is too far away The key is to hide yourself well. When you go to Hillman late at night, it might look like everyone is gone, but don’t be fooled — almost everyone who lives in North Oakland is sleeping just out of view behind the stacks.

9. You really can start working on that final paper the night before it’s due The professor, the syllabus and your roommates all told you it couldn’t be done. But that was before you and five cups of coffee, two bottles of Five Hour Energy and the empty desperation of Hillman at 5 a.m. proved you right and them wrong.

8. Your professors have homes that they go to when they’re not teaching Did everyone else know this? We thought they just slept in the room until we came back. Just one of the many ways they’re different from our high school teachers.

7. If you cry enough, they let you into Market Central for free If you’re not crying, your attempts to get in just count as “bothering the workers.” The first few times were very stress-

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ful, but eventually the staff comes around.

6. How to shower with boiled water We learned this during the water scare in February. And — between us — some of us haven’t gone back to the old way of showering just yet. It’s done wonders for our hair.

5. We learned that love actually doesn’t last forever, ASHLEY You know what? We’re over it. Let’s move on.

4. How to mix food items with close expiration dates into a quick dinner You should try our homemade specialty, leftover spaghetti cereal with a side of old Wonder Bread.

3. The hard-boiled eggs from 7-Eleven will only disappoint you Yes, 7-Eleven has hard-boiled eggs.

Also of note: the hard-boiled eggs they sell in Hillman are just as disheartening.

Weird.

2. No matter how many times they say it, you don’t have to call your RA “Big Poppa” It took us about three years to eventually figure it out. Admittedly, we should have gotten a clue from our RA’s conspicuous lack of gold chains and baby mamas, but we only just caught on. Don’t make the same mistakes we did.

1. We honestly learned that it’s pretty hard to get The Pitt News to print the words [redacted] Ugh, foiled again. Fake news! Sad!

Broken contracts harm passengers’ rights Christian Snyder Columnist

Everyone has their price — even the guy on his way to a funeral, a retired United Airlines pilot said in the face of the airline’s recent viral controversy.

But United simply couldn’t figure that price out last week. The airline chose four passengers, at random, to involuntarily bump from a United Airlines flight April 9.

Three took United’s payoff at a value of up to $1,000 in compensation. However, Dr. David Dao, from Kentucky, refused to leave the plane, citing he had patients to see the next morning. Armed security officers violently removed Dao to make space for four commuting crewmembers.

A video of the incident shows him screaming when officers yank him off his seat, his head striking a armrest and his body going limp while they dragged him down the aisle.

This incident was violent and caught on tape, but passengers are bumped from flights all the time. In 2016, U.S. based airlines involuntarily bumped 40,000 passengers from their flight.

In the recent United controversy, a lack of seats on the plane wasn’t the issue in question. United’s decision to remove Dao, from a plane it stated was not overbooked, was injurious to the rights he secured when he signed the airline’s contract of carriage — the legal document outlining passenger and airline rights. What’s more, United’s decision to eject Dao after he boarded the plane, rather than denying him boarding, placed United entirely in the wrong, regardless of whether or not it required extra seats.

At the legal root of the issue is contract law — law that manages deals between peo-

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ple. When two individuals enter a contract, they are making promises to each other that the law will enforce. People might assume the airline’s contractual obligation is to transport the passenger, but it’s more subtle than that.

Airlines agree to provide the customer with a ticket, not transportation, and that ticket is subject to further restrictions — such as the size of checked baggage or requirements for dogs flying with owners to be “odorless.”

The restrictions in question here are listed in the contract’s section called, “Denied Boarding Compensation.” The section states passengers can be denied boarding on an overbooked flight against their will only in the event no volunteers are found when asked. United’s boarding priority determines which passengers are subject to be denied boarding, taking into account fare class, frequent flyer membership status, itinerary and passenger arrival time.

But United spokesperson Jonathan Guerin stated that the flight in question was not overbooked in an interview with USA Today April 12. So regardless of the nuances to the situation United should have foreseen the necessity of extra seats and planned accordingly. By denying transport to a passenger on a plane that was not overbooked, United already broke their contract with Dao. Lawyers are tricky though — there’s probably some argument to be made that even though the flight in question didn’t have more ticket sales than seats, the fact that United needed the seats for crewmembers could legally consider the flight overbooked beyond efficient capacity.

Regardless, Dao was still forcibly removed from his seat on the plane. United’s See Snyder on page 7

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Correction: In a column published yesterday, “Weed prohibition costs Ameicans millions,” The Pitt News printed the incorrect story. The intended story can be found at pittnews.com. The Pitt News regrets this error.

Snyder, pg. 6

contractual protections reserve for them the ability to deny boarding to passengers, but nowhere in the contract does it mention forcibly removing passengers. Since Dao already boarded the plane, United had absolutely no contractual right to remove him.

Dao should not only sue for the security officers’ aggressive use of force but also for United being entirely in the wrong for ejecting him.

In light of this horrible situation, there’s a solution. United wasn’t able to find willing volunteers because they limited their

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payout maximum to roughly $1,000. Each airline sets this cap on its own — comparatively, Delta’s maximum was $2,000 before this scandal. Every passenger has a price for which they’d be willing to re-accommodate — here, United’s offer was obviously beneath the price that the market of passen-

gers aboard demanded for compensation.

Since the market of passengers on the plane demanded more in compensation, United should have offered more.

airlines will do little to prevent the industry from behaving this way toward the thousands of passengers involuntarily bumped from flights every year. If we are to allow airlines to take advantage of this capitalist system, we should allow consumers to do the same and demand higher compensation.

A b o v e all, we must be fair. Airline travel is stressful enough as it is, and it’ll certainly be more enjoyable for all if there’s no looming Terry Tan SENIOR STAFF ILLUSTRATOR threat of a violent encounteers. And United will now require employ- ter over the airline’s failure to plan.

Christian primarily writes on social jusees book their seats at least an hour before tice and campus issues for The Pitt News. takeoff.

Write to him at cjs197@pitt.edu But these reactionary changes by a few Since the incident, three major airlines have promised to change their ways. American will now guarantee that once passengers have boarded the plane, they will not be removed from their seats. Delta has committed to offering a significant amount more, up to nearly $10,000, as incentive for volun-

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Sports

Women’s basketball announces return of Backyard Brawl See online

From the Diamond to the Dugout: Pazos keeps command

Senior catcher Manny Pazos congratulates redshirt junior pitcher Matt Pidich after an inning-ending groundout.

Stephen Caruso ASSISTANT VISUAL EDITOR

Stephen Caruso

Contributing Editor The Pitt baseball team seemed primed for a rare sweep on a summery Saturday in late March against Virginia Tech.

The Panthers were up 4-0 in the top of the fifth in the second game of the series. Redshirt junior pitcher Matt Pidich was on the mound and had yet to allow a baserunner. The third and final game of the series was coming up later in the afternoon. A win would bring muchneeded momentum for a team 1-5 in ACC games so far.

But a leadoff walk took away Pidich’s perfect game, and a hit right after stole the no-hitter. He rebounded by forcing a

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fly out, but then walked another batter to load the bases.

So, Pidich stared over his mitt, into the eyes of his catcher: the steady senior Manny Pazos.

Looking at Pazos’ experience — four years of starting 20 or more games behind the plate — Pitt head coach Joe Jordano had a stoic description of the catcher. Whether the next pitch will be a 95-mph fastball or a curveball buried in the dirt, Pazos is unfazed.

“He’s a rock back there,” Jordano said.

Right now, Pazos is hitting a little over .200. Jordano has described Pazos as “streaky with the offense,” with an occasional game-winning hit. But give

Pazos a chest protector — or put him in front of a grill with a spatula — and he’ll find ways to contribute to the team.

And despite Pazos’ hard work hitting the gym and building a shorter, more compact swing to punch balls to the opposite field — he is happy to be the team’s backstop first and foremost.

“You try to hit whenever you can, but your defense definitely comes above everything else,” Pazos said, with a big smile he flashes often.

Finding his way to contribute to the team took time, even for Pazos. Coming from a Cuban family, he’s been around the game so long he can’t even remember his first few swings.

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“My mom’s told me stories of me holding a soda bottle in the crib acting like it was a baseball bat,” Pazos said.

In Cuba, his dad played baseball, and “probably could have” made the country’s Olympic gold medal-winning national team. But his dad gave up a shot at glory on the island to bring his family to America.

“That was a lot for me to process.

Like, holy crap, my dad gave up a lot just to be here,” Pazos said.

Pazos was four years old when his family left Cuba and resettled in Miami.

He was already taking the field by then, following the path of his father — though his mom also helped her son learn, occasionally throwing on a helmet and working with him on his swing.

Back in Pitt’s sunny stadium on Pitt’s upper campus, Pazos headed up to the mound to meet with Pidich and prep for Joe Freiday Jr., the next Virginia Tech batter.

Pidich and Pazos have been teammates for most of their career at Pitt.

Over that time, Pidich has learned to appreciate Pazos’ goading behind the plate.

“He likes to get on me and hold me accountable on the mound,” Pidich said.

“He knows when I’m not attacking as hard as I should be.”

After the quick conversation, Pazos returned to behind the plate, sank into a squat and got his glove at the ready.

When growing up in Miami, Pazos originally played the middle infield.

But as he grew up, his coaches noticed a strong arm and Pazos’ desire to have a say in the game. So, as a sophomore in high school, he settled into his first crouch behind the plate. He’s remained at the position ever since.

Usually when he leaves a meeting on the mound, Pazos tries to leave his pitcher with a confidence boost.

See Pazos on page 9

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Pazos, pg. 8 “I try to tell our guys, ‘You’re the best guy up there. I wouldn’t have anybody else pitching at the time,’” he said.

On that afternoon, his words worked.

Pidich bore down and struck Freiday Jr. out, leaving three maroon-clad Hokies twitching nervously on base. Pitt had two outs, but the threat wasn’t over — up to the plate stepped dangerous slugger Rahiem Cooper.

The Virginia Tech outfielder had already hit six home runs and drove in 23 runs in 24 games to start the year. One swing of his bat could tie the game and change the Panthers’ whole series.

Keeping a team loose for high-pressure situations like this — bases loaded, four-run lead, power hitter at the plate — isn’t something a few words on the mound can fix. It’s a long-term project.

Pazos tries to lead the relaxation efforts because “we’ve got to get our minds away from the game a little bit sometimes.” That means you might find him behind a grill, cooking up hamburgers and sausages for hungry teammates on

a day off.

All that preparation and quiet-yetstern leadership from Pazos shows from the dugout, according to his coach. Jordano thinks the senior shines brightest under intense pressure. “[Pazos] does a great job with the pitching star,” Jordano said. “He’s calm, he knows what to look for.”

Pazos and Pidich wasted no time with the batter. Within a few pitches, a dull whack from Cooper sent a soft ground ball up the middle. Pidich snagged it and tossed the ball back to the second baseman, for the inning-ending out.

Immediately, Pazos stood up, let out a holler, and raised his fist high in the air.

He and Pidich walked up and slapped each other on the back. As the two walked back to the dugout, they clasped hands with the rest of their teammates in celebration.

Those jams are the moments that make Pazos happy he’s playing baseball from a crouch.

“Catcher, you’re in the play, every play. You command the game,” Pazos Manny Pazos stands with the umpire while waiting for play to resume. Elaina said. “And I’m a commander.”

Zachos SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Pitt News SuDoku 4/21/17 courtesy of dailysudoku.com

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