The Pitt News
T h e i n d e p e n d e n t s t ude nt ne w spap e r of t he U niversity of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | September 2, 2020 Â| Volume 111 | Issue 18
Football preview 2020
Sports
Johnson adds agility to defense pittnews.com
PROJECTING PITT FOOTBALL’S 2020 SEASON
Tyler Mathes Staff Writer
Pitt football’s 2020 campaign kicks off one week from Saturday at home against Austin Peay, meaning it’s time to speculate on how the Panthers will fare in this strange season. It can be a tough task to predict Pitt’s gameby-game schedule, knowing that at any point they could easily decide to drop games to below-average teams, or randomly beat one of the best teams in college football. Most of the games on the schedule will come down to the offense’s ability to not only score, but keep the defense off the field. We saw the Pitt offense struggle mightily time and time again last season, yet the Panthers defense still kept the team in games late. Can Pitt’s offense put the ball in the end zone this year and buy the defense a lead, or will the defense have to shut out every opponent to win games? The offense and defense split time on the field last year almost equally, so if the Pitt offense can stay on the field for just a few more minutes per game to give the defense rest, the Panthers will emerge as one of the best teams in the ACC. Sept. 12 vs Austin Peay: Win (1-0) An FCS school in the Ohio Valley Conference shouldn’t present much of a challenge for Pitt, who hasn’t lost to an FCS program since 2012. The Governors’ air attack will keep them in the game during the first half against Pitt. Redshirt junior quarterback Jeremiah Oatsvall fell to an injury in game two of the 2019 campaign but will be back at the helm this season for Austin Peay. In only his second game back in about a year, Oatsvall will struggle against Pitt’s top-tier defense, and the Panthers will start the season off with a win. Sept. 19 vs Syracuse: Win (2-0) Syracuse put together a mediocre season last year, and I expect a similar result again. The loss of Damarri Mathis in the secondary will make this a closer bout than last season’s meeting, which Pitt never trailed. I expect the Orange to get off to a hot start, thanks to a
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ground game that improved steadily over last season and will only get better this year. But the Panthers pass rush will cause redshirt junior quarterback Tommy DeVito to struggle and will cool the Orange off and take the win. Sept. 26 vs Louisville: Loss (2-1) Redshirt junior quarterback Micale Cunningham returns to lead a potent Louisville offense into battle with one of the most elite defenses in college football. However, the loss of junior offensive tackle Mekhi Becton on the
game. The Wolfpack defense isn’t anything special, ranking 72nd in total defense last season, and the offense is average as well. Pitt’s defense will make life miserable for the Wolfpack and whichever quarterback wins the starting job by this point in the season. Oct. 10 @ Boston College: Win (4-1) I’m picking Pitt to win this game almost entirely because Boston College lost junior running back AJ Dillon to the NFL. Dillon ran for 178 yards and one touchdown against
Pitt football’s 2020 campaign kicks off one week from Saturday at home against Austin Peay. Thomas Yang senior staff photographer offensive line will lead to constant pressure from Pitt’s pass rush, which led the FBS with 51 sacks last year. I’ve gone back and forth on the outcome of this game, because it could go either way. In the end, I think Pitt’s offense will make one too many mistakes, allowing Louisville to score just enough to walk away with a hard-fought road victory. Oct. 3 vs NC State: Win (3-1) Facing a team coming off of a 4-8 season, we can expect Pitt to cruise to victory in this
Pitt last November, and without him Boston College’s offense has significantly weakened. Junior David Bailey is a very capable running back, but not close to the player Dillon was. Pitt’s defense will have a much easier time getting BC off the field, and the Panthers will storm into Massachusetts and take this game. Oct. 17 @ Miami: Win (5-1) When Miami came to Heinz Field last year, Pitt’s offense could only muster up four field goals. The Hurricanes have quite a few question marks this year on both sides of the
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ball, most notably senior transfer quarterback D’Eriq King and how he will play in a new system. Aggravated by a poor showing against a subpar Miami team last year — and coming off two consecutive wins — Pitt will expand its win streak to three heading into a fierce matchup with Notre Dame. Oct. 24 vs Notre Dame: Win (6-1) In January, former TPN Sports Editor Trent Leonard picked Pitt to win this game, and I will second his prediction. Redshirt senior Ian Book is still under center for Notre Dame, but losing all four of his top targets from last year will put the Fighting Irish at a significant disadvantage. Even with the loss of Mathis, Pitt’s secondary will shut down the new Notre Dame receiving corps, turning last year’s three-point loss into a huge upset late in the season. Nov. 7 @ FSU: Win (7-1) For years, Florida State was a college football powerhouse. Those days are now gone — with former head coach Willie Taggart out the door as well, making room for Mike Norvell to come in and lead the Seminoles’ coaching staff. However, Norvell will struggle in his first year adjusting the team to a new system, especially with so much preparation time lost to COVID-19. Norvell’s defense will fail to stop senior quarterback Kenny Pickett, who earned a spot on the Maxwell Award watchlist this season, from connecting with returning No. 2 pass catcher, redshirt Senior wide receiver Taysir Mack. Nov. 14 @ Georgia Tech: Win (8-1) In his second year as Georgia Tech’s head coach, Geoff Collins will look to improve on the abysmal 3-9 record of his first year. The Yellow Jackets are on their way to competing with the best of the best in the ACC, but a ways away remains until they reach that level.
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PITT FOOTBALL SEASONTICKET HOLDERS PREPARE FOR A NEW GAMEDAY EXPERIENCE THIS FALL Alex Lehmbeck Sports Editor
Jerry Gaughin went to his first Pitt football game with his father in 1969. The Panthers played the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Pitt Stadium, which served as the on-campus home to Pitt football until its 1999 demolition. It didn’t take long for 9-year-old Gaughan to get hooked. The amazing plays, community rituals and roaring crowds made Saturdays at Pitt the true college football experience — Gaughan partook in the festivities with his father every fall. He carried the spirit with him after he graduated from Pitt in 1982, and has been a loyal season-ticket holder ever since. Over the past five decades, he can count how many Panther home games he has missed on one hand. But when Pitt kicks off its 2020 season against Austin Peay next weekend, Gaughan won’t be in attendance. Pitt announced it won’t have any spectators in the stands for at least the first three games of the season, in compliance with Pennsylvania’s health guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pitt football season-ticket holders such as Gaughan have started to plan for the possibility of a season without any of the Saturday traditions they’ve grown so accustomed to. “It’ll be weird,� Gaughan said. “It’s gonna be odd, but as long as they show it locally, we’ll work something out. You have to adapt. The world changes and you have to adapt.� John Marshall, who became a seasonticket holder six years ago, has gotten used to a Saturday routine in Pittsburgh. He drives Downtown with his stepson, takes in the March to Victory and Pitt’s frenzy of connected fans on the way into the sta-
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dium, grabs himself a hot dog and heads to their 500-level seats to watch the show. Marshall said he wasn’t surprised by last week’s decision, but he will miss the Heinz Field experience to start the year. “You can watch it on TV, but I like being there in person so I can take in the whole field and see what’s really happening,� Marshall said. “I’m disappointed, but I’m also trying to say that they’re playing it cautiously and we’re waiting to hear if they allow people back in the stadium [later in the season].� Although many Pitt season-ticket holders will have to adjust to a new normal this year, some fans must delay their introduction to the Panther fandom. Jim Rogers, an avid college football fan, bought Pitt season tickets this year because his daughter began graduate school at the University last year. A Virginia resident, he made the four-hour trip to the Steel City a few times last year to get his first taste of Pitt athletics. He went to multiple Volunteers games with his daughter while she was an undergrad at the University of Tennessee and looked forward to carrying on their football-going tradition at Heinz Field this fall. “I wanted to be a fan as a father to experience some other great moments of college with my daughter,� Rogers said. “It really is a great environment in and outside of the stadium. It’s a beautiful location along the river to spend some time with her and her friends as a family.� Rogers added that he’d love a chance to see the Panthers in person this fall, trusting the University to provide a safe environment for fans if the opportunity arises. “If they said 25% [capacity], that’s fine,
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NARDUZZI, PITT DEFENSE MUST OVERCOME KEY LOSSES TO BUILD OFF IMPRESSIVE 2019 Alex Lehmbeck Sports Editor
Pitt football head coach Pat Narduzzi has developed quite the resume as a defensive specialist. After losing several valuable contributors from last year’s stout Panther defense, Narduzzi has a chance this year to prove his coaching prowess by overcoming adversity to produce one of the nation’s strongest defenses in 2020. After a slow start in his first two seasons as Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator, Narduzzi took a leap forward in the 2006 season. The Bearcats posted an 8-5 record, despite an ineffective offense, thanks in large part to Narduzzi’s defense holding opponents to 19.6 points per game. As defensive coordinator at Michigan State, Narduzzi built a defensive juggernaut. His squad gave up 13.2 points per game in 2013, the third lowest of any FBS team, earning Narduzzi the Frank Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach. Since he became Pitt’s head coach in 2015, Narduzzi’s defense has become better every year. Building off of a 2019 season that saw the Panthers emerge as one of the ACC’s toughest tests on a weekly basis seemed inevitable. Pitt would bring back more talent than it lost, and their top weapons would only develop even more over the offseason. But two key losses in August changed the narrative of Pitt’s defense heading into its Sept. 12 season opener against Austin Peay. Pitt defensive lineman Jaylen Twyman haunted ACC offenses the entire 2019 season. His 10.5 sacks, 41 tackles and 12 tackles for loss earned him All-American honors, with heavy expectations for his 2020 season. But Twyman announced in August his de-
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cision to opt out of the season to declare for the 2021 NFL draft, leaving Pitt without its best player. “This isn’t about COVID-19,” Twyman said in a statement he posted on Twitter. “This is about my family’s needs, now and in the future.” Narduzzi immediately pointed to
mist, isn’t blindly trusting his team’s depth here. Pitt lost junior defensive end Rashad Weaver to a torn ACL weeks before the 2019 season kicked off, and junior defensive tackle Keyshon Camp in the first game. Did Pitt’s defensive front crumble afterwards? They did the opposite, exceeding any
Pitt head football coach Pat Narduzzi (middle) points to players such as Rashad Weaver (left), Patrick Jones and Keyshon Camp to fill roles left by Jaylen Twyman (right) and Damarri Mathis. Kaycee Orwig assistant visual editor
players that could potentially help fill Twyman’s role. “We’ve got depth on the d-line,” Narduzzi said. “It’s just another one of those ‘Hey. I got an opportunity.’ Look what Deslin [Alexandre] did with his opportunity last year. Look what Patrick Jones did with his opportunity.” Narduzzi, a self-proclaimed opti-
expectations placed on them even before Weaver’s injury, finishing with 51 sacks to lead the nation. Pitt returns Weaver and Camp healthy this year, as well as preseason Bednarik Award candidate Patrick Jones II, so they still have multiple explosive pass rushers capable of a leading role. Redshirt sophomore
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defensive lineman Devin Danielson, someone Narduzzi has frequently brought up in this summer’s press conferences, appears to have the power to take advantage of the opportunity in Twyman’s absence. As Pitt’s defensive front worked to overcome their loss, the secondary took a lethal blow. Pitt announced a season-ending “non-football” injury to senior cornerback Damarri Mathis last week. Mathis, who started in 10 of Pitt’s 13 contests in 2019, played a huge role in a secondary whose 16.1% forced incompletion rate ranked second in the nation last year. “We are certainly disappointed for Damarri,” Narduzzi said. “Fortunately, he still has a redshirt season available in addition to the eligibility relief the NCAA will provide this year.” Without Mathis, Narduzzi will have to dig deep into a position in which Pitt lacks experienced depth. Marquis Williams looks to be next in line at the cornerback position, but he’s only played in 12 games for Pitt, mostly in a special teams role. Suddenly, Pitt’s defensive back situation appears much less reliable than last year. Pitt’s defense has made this year’s goal clear. Last year they emerged as one of the nation’s best units, and this time around they want the top spot. “We wanted to be a top-10 last year, now we want to be the number one this year,” Weaver said. “That’s always the goal. If you aren’t trying to be the best, then what are you out there working for, honestly?” Narduzzi’s defense has used injuries and setbacks as motivation to defy expectations in years past. We’ll see how they respond to their latest blows when they take the field Sept. 12.
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Some Pitt schools go test-optional pittnews.com
Student Government Board meeting pittnews.com
PITT SAYS 85% OF STUDENTS HAVE COMPLETED MANDATORY HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING Rashi Ranjan
For The Pitt News About 85% of Pitt students have completed the mandatory health and safety training as of Aug. 26, according to University spokesperson Kevin Zwick. He said the remaining 15% risk losing access to University IT services and campus buildings. The training included a 30-minute training video explaining basic COVID-19 precautions. It mentioned recommended behaviors, including wearing a mask in public spaces, seeking medical help when sick, following social distancing guidelines, refraining from unnecessary travel, participating in contact tracing and following proper protocols for in-person gatherings such as parties. Pitt required students to watch the health and safety training video by Aug. 10 if living on campus and Aug. 23 if living off campus, according to Kenyon Bonner, the vice provost and dean of students. All students were also required to acknowledge a student-generated community compact that included similar precautions. In addition to the health and safety video, students living on campus had to use Pitt’s daily COVID-19 health check website to log their symptoms for seven days before and after they moved into housing. Students living off campus were also required to use the app everyday during their 14-day shelter in place. All students were asked to shelter in place for seven days before and after arriving in Oakland, but the University did not track the requirement. Zwick said since the launch of the app on Aug. 4, only about 5,600 students completed the app’s questions on a daily basis. But some students are unsure of the video’s effectiveness. Kayla Watson, a firstyear environmental studies major, said while she watched the video, there was no
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accountability for students or way to know if students understood the information being presented. “I think it keeps the community somewhat accountable, but it being virtual, I know people were able to fulfill the requirement even if they didn’t pay attention to it,” Watson said. “It wasn’t stressed enough, in
dia,” Watson said. “But I feel like that’s inevitable, especially with college students.” A new code violation regarding health rules was recently added to the Student Code of Conduct. It said that a student who “fails to comply with guidance set forth by the University, federal, state and/ or local authorities regarding public health
Students living on and off campus were required to complete a daily health check during their 14-day shelter in place. Screenshot via https://pittforms.tfaforms.net my opinion, and there weren’t any questions afterward to see who remembered the information from the video.” Watson pointed out that not all students are as willing to follow the rules as Pitt believes they may be. “For the most part, people are staying safe, but I’m also seeing some students that are going out and partying or being in large groups without masks, like on social me-
and/or safety” may be sanctioned. Pitt added 46 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, composed entirely of students. The University has had a total of 96 students and 26 employees test positive since June 26. This comes in the wake of Pitt temporarily suspending nine Greek life organizations — a quarter of all chapters active before the pandemic — for alleged conduct violations. Pitt has also placed
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eight students on temporary persona non grata status, barring them from entering University buildings or property. Student Government Board President Eric Macadangdang said content from the video — like many points included in the community compact he helped create — are difficult to measure. “We have acknowledgements that we respect our peers and make sure we’re not stigmatizing against any race or ethnicity about the cause of the pandemic,” Macadangdang said. “But there are things in here that literally cannot be measured. Surveying students about mask-wearing or doing counts around campus is one idea to have some quantitative data.” Macadangdang also said he is trying to make the University hear student opinions. “Something we’re talking about in SGB is how we can be effectively surveying students to get a feel as to where students are in terms of comfort level and in terms of feeling like they are being supported by the University,” Macadangdang said. “If students are not satisfied in terms of the virtual nature, that’s important, since it may influence what the spring semester could potentially look like.” He added that he hopes students are willing to come together as a group to reduce the likelihood of infections on campus. “I’m very optimistic that the positive peer pressure can help promote good behaviors among a lot of the students,” Macadangdang said. “Unfortunately, there are bound to be some who ignore guidelines, and there will be consequences. But it’s my hope that most students will acknowledge our responsibilities as a community.” Contributed reporting by Benjamin Nigrosh.
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Tickets, pg. 3 if they say 50%, I’m good, if they say 75%, I’m good, if they say 100%, I’m good,” Rogers said. “And I think different people will opt in or opt out at each one of those levels at this point until we can confirm that everything’s OK. But I’m OK with whatever they decide.” Marshall said his decision to attend or not attend games this year would depend on the status of the virus in Pittsburgh at the time. Like Rogers, he said he’d be happy to comply with all precautions the University might request to make the games safer, from reduced capacities to wearing masks. “I’m 68 years old, I’ve got a couple of underlying conditions, which makes it kind of tough for me,” Marshall said. “I wanna go, I wanna see Pitt play in person, but once we get this COVID thing under control I think it might be more of a plan than it is right now.” Panther season-ticket holders now have three options for their payments — “re-invest” as a donation to the Panther Club, roll over to the 2021 season or request a refund. Gaughan, Rogers and Marshall all plan to roll over their purchases to
Pitt announced it won’t have any spectators in the stands for at least the first three games of the season, in compliance with Pennsylvania’s health guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. TPN File Photo the 2021 season. While Pitt has prohibited fan attendance in September, many ACC schools have announced plans to hold upward of 10,000 fans per game this year. With uncertainty surrounding the future of Pitt’s
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home games, several fans are exploring the possibility of traveling to see the Panthers play in one of these road venues. Although Gaughan had made plans long ago to see the Panthers play Miami in Hard Rock Stadium on Oct. 3, the ACC’s
revised schedule means Pitt won’t play the Hurricanes until two weeks later. Gaughan doesn’t plan on making the trip anymore. “For obvious reasons I cancelled it,” Gaughan said. “I’m cancelling my travels for this year.” With traveling, tailgating, spectating and celebrating, a college football game day can often be a full-day experience. Without access to all of those activities at Heinz Field for now, fans have already begun to plan how they’ll make Saturdays feel special from home. “We’ll probably tailgate in my driveway or one of my buddy’s driveways,” Gaughan said. “My buddy has a big-screen TV, so we’ll probably just tailgate and watch the game on his back porch.” Although the stadium experience will be missed, Rogers still plans to come to Pittsburgh to cheer on the team with his daughter. “We’d probably go less up to Pittsburgh and she may come here, but we’re definitely college football fans, so we’re going to watch games if they’re on,” he said. “I don’t think we’d necessarily have six meetings to watch it on TV altogether, but it would be fun to create a couple of those to do something like that.”
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‘THEY KILL US HERE’: SURVIVOR OF UYGHUR CONCENTRATION CAMPS RECOUNTS TORTURE
Anushay Chaudhry Staff Writer
Mihrigul Tursun tearfully recalled on Tuesday the torture she suffered in the Uyghur Muslim concentration camps in Xinjiang, China. “I asked why I was in prison. I asked why I was tortured,” Tursun said. “What did I do wrong?” Tursun shared her story during a virtual event hosted by Pitt’s centers for Governance and Markets and Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, as well as the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh and Congregation Beth Shalom. The organizations held the event to raise awareness about the ongoing genocide of Uyghur Muslims in China. The Chinese government has detained at least 800,000 and possibly more than 2 million Uyghurs in “reeducation centers,” marking the largest mass internment of an ethnic-religious minority group since World War II, according to The Guardian. In the camps, Uyghurs are forced to undergo psychological indoctrination programs as well as physical torture, including waterboarding and sexual abuse. Tursun was born in East Turkistan, also known as Xinjiang, in 1989. She studied in a Chinese school, before moving to Egypt, where she married and gave birth to triplets. Tursun said she returned back to China so her parents could meet her children. But when she arrived at the airport, Tursun said the Chinese police separated her from her children, handcuffed her, put a black sack over her head and questioned her for three hours before taking her to a prison. “I didn’t know what was happening to my kids,” Tursun said. “They were only 45 days old. They needed to be fed. My kids need me.” Tursun said she was notified that her children were in the hospital a few days after being taken to a camp. When she arrived at the hospital, she said a doctor told her that all three of her children had an operation on their necks, but prevented her from seeing them. “You cannot see them, they told me. I was blacklisted and just came from prison,” Tursun said. “I am not important.” Tursun said the police gave her the dead body of her oldest son the next day. Tursun believes he was dead for at least three days before she was released from the camp to visit the hospital. Tursun added that she was then immediately detained by police and taken to a camp for the second time. This time she was questioned by the police, tortured, subjected to electric shock
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and physically abused for three days. “While being tortured, I muttered, ‘Oh Allah,’ accidentally, which means ‘help me God,’” Tursun said. “They told me the Chinese Communist Party had more power than Allah. They told me Allah could not save me.” Tursun also talked about the everyday indecencies of the camp. She remembered a white pill she was forced to take every two hours that made her feel numb. The Chinese police only allowed her to drink water after she took the pill, though. She also recounted the room she slept in with 68 other women, which she said was so small the women had to take turns sleeping. Tursun said her feet were tied and her hands were hand-
Tursun said. “This is not a detention camp. They kill us here.” She added that she saw many familiar faces in the camp. “Someone is my doctor, someone is my neighbor, someone was a high school teacher,” Tursun said. “I know these people. They are not bad.” Nury Turkel, the commissioner of the U.S. Commision on International Religious Freedom and co-founder of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, agreed. Turkel — who escaped a camp with his mother in 1995 — said while the Chinese government claims it’s fighting against terrorism, those imprisoned are not criminals.
Pitt’s centers for Governance and Markets and Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, as well as the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh and Congregation Beth Shalom, all collaborated to host a virtual event Tuesday to raise awareness about the geneocide of Uyghur Muslims in China. Zoom screenshot cuffed to her feet while she slept, which still affects her today. “Even now my back, wrists and feet are in pain,” Tursun said. “Even now, I cannot sleep normally. I feel as if I might die.” Tursun said witnessing death and torture was not uncommon in the camps. According to Tursun, in the three months she was in a camp, she saw nine women die. She said she met one woman who was imprisoned for 19 months. “They didn’t let her go out to see the sun once. They didn’t let her shower for over a year,”
“Half a million Uyghur Muslim children have been taken away or separated from their parents,” Turkel said. “Fathers looking for their kids recognize their faces on Chinese state-run propaganda material.” Turkel said the accounts of torture by survivors like Tursun are clear evidence of genocide. “There’s been an 80% decrease in Uyghur population growth in three years,” Turkel said. “Something horrific is happening.” Tursun said she was eventually allowed to return home, but was constantly watched by two
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Chinese police officers. They lived, slept and ate with her and her family. Tursun said the police told her that if she told her parents about the torture, they would be subjected to the same treatment. “My father said, ‘I remember your hair used to be beautiful,’” Tursun said. “I did not know how to tell him why I did not have hair. They took my hair.” After she visited her parents, Tursun was then taken to prison for a third time where she was threatened with life in prison. She said she begged for her young kids to be sent to Egypt and was released to travel with them. But the Chinese government forced her to sign an agreement and film a video saying that she was not tortured in the camps. “If I said anything, they would show my video,” Tursun said. “No one will believe you, they told me.” Tursun eventually sought asylum in the United States, where she lives now. Tursun said her family was forced to denounce her publicly after she left China, so she hasn’t seen or heard from them in years. Tursun said remembering these details are difficult, causing her to tear up for most of the event. “It is not easy to talk about what happened to me,” Tursun said. “Each time I talk about this I remember this time. I have lost everything.” While these camps are located thousands of miles away, Jennifer Murtazashvili, the director of the Center for Governance and Markets, said Pitt administrators can help by sponsoring similar events. “We had hoped for greater support within the University community for this event, especially considering the many University conversations we’ve had in recent months about diversity and how state power can be used unjustly against minority communities,” Murtazashvili said. “Some administrators were silent when asked for co-sponsorship, while others felt that it was too sensitive a topic.” Turkel said the best thing students can do to show their solidarity with Uyghur Muslims is contact their representatives and urge them to support the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would prohibit certain imports from Xinjiang, where the concentration camps are located. It would also impose sanctions on the people responsible for the human rights violations. “If this doesn’t move you to take an action,” Turkel said, “I don’t know what will.”
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‘CHRONIC STRESS’: COUNSELING CENTER, STUDENTS ADJUST TO VIRTUAL MENTAL HEALTH CARE Vaibhav Gupta Staff Writer
For Kama Sharma, a junior neuroscience, psychology and French triple major, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a number of new struggles to maintaining good mental health. She said one of the biggest is helping someone through a mental health crisis with no face-to-face contact. “Conversations about mental health are hard to have over Zoom,” Sharma said. “Finding ways to support another person when you do not have those resources available in person is the hard part.” With the onset of the pandemic and resulting social distancing protocols, mental health has become a major point of concern for Americans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fear and anxiety about the pandemic can be “overwhelming,” and social distancing can make people feel isolated and lonely. The traditional dynamics of a college semester have also changed as classes and clubs either meet online or social distance. There will be no in-person classes at Pitt until at least Sept. 14, and the University has implemented strict health and safety guidelines surrounding social distancing. The pandemic has also worsened Sharma’s personal anxiety. Sharma — the president of Active Minds, a club with a focus on promoting conversations around mental health on campus — said the current climate leads to stress. “There’s a lot of uncertainty about when COVID or social distancing are going to end,” Sharma said. “A lot of that has been causing what our ex-president has called chronic stress. It’s not acute stress but chronic stress, which is a constant state of discontentment and stress in general.” Sharma added that the current situation is causing people who would not experience symptoms of depression, anxiety or stress to experience them to an extent. She did note that people are now better able to comprehend the importance of mental health services and empathize more with individuals experiencing mental health problems. “It’s bringing people to the realization of what mental health is and how to take care of yourself,” Sharma said, “because even someone who might not have depression might be experiencing isolation, which is a symptom of depression.”
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The University Counseling Center is open and accepting students experiencing mental health challenges, according to Jay Darr, the center’s director. Some of the services available for students include virtual or telemental health services, such as workshops, outreach activities, drop-in conversations, 24/7 crisis support as well as group and individual therapy. Darr added that all types of responses are normal to a changing environment, including fear, worry, irritability, decreased ability to concentrate and changes in appetite and sleep. He also said it is important to recognize the impacts the pandemic has had on preexisting barriers to
“The University still has a long way to go to help,” Floyd, a sophomore economics major, said. “I want to see the University include more student leaders in their decision-making process so they can better make decisions to support us.” Darr said there are challenges the UCC is facing in a virtual environment, but it’s working to address them. “There are challenges with providing services during an abnormal situation,” Darr said. “We continue to become smarter in the provision of telemental health services, overcoming inevitable technical interruptions, being flexible as our team continues to manage working from
The University Counseling Center services available for students include virtual or telemental health services, such as workshops, outreach activities, drop-in conversations and 24/7 crisis support, as well as group and individual therapy. tpn file photo accessing mental health care, particularly for BIPOC communities. Not all students are completely satisfied with the University’s programming, though. Danielle Floyd, the chair of the wellness committee for Student Government Board, said while Pitt has been flexible this semester, it should have put more emphasis on student opinions in transitioning counseling services.
remote locations, creating and encouraging participation in opportunities for self-care, support and action.” Floyd added that SGB is also playing a role in the improvement of mental health on campus through various programming. Floyd said all SGB programs for Mental Health Awareness Month, which will be celebrated in October, will focus on addressing both the COVID-19 pan-
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demic and the Black Lives Matter movement with the virtual roundtable, COVID-19, Intersectionality and Mental Health Workshop. Floyd said she believes including both is important to address the intersectionality of broader social issues. “We implemented programs to focus on how our rapidly changing world affects student’s mental health,” Floyd said. “And what factors such as race, inequality and now COVID-19 play a role in negatively impacting a student’s mental health.” SGB will also host multiple programs for the month with more than 15 events involving 10 different student organizations. Floyd said having many smaller programs will help further engage the student body in such conversations. Sharma also said she believes Pitt needs to do more to expand mental health services on campus or help students better recognize existing programs through the UCC. “Just how little students at Pitt know how many resources are available to them is amazing,” Sharma said. “There was a survey, which revealed that a lot of students didn’t know that the Counseling Center was open during the summer.” Sharma said she is forming a mental health student coalition with representatives from Active Minds, National Alliance of Mental Illness, SGB and Oakland Outreach to work on a proposal to have mental health chairs in other student organizations. “This is something that we’re hoping to change this year, where groups will have mental health chairs, which will be trained in UCC policies and procedures,” Sharma said. “They will be trained on how to handle someone in crisis and get the student the help they need, so that we can correctly support them.” Sharma also said while the situation is not ideal, the future seems promising. She said she hopes that with increased focus on mental health, people take the issue seriously and it becomes more accepted in society. “Everyone is realizing the effects of coronavirus on their own mental health regardless if they have a mental health illness or not,” Sharma said. “Seeing where the conversion about mental health proceeds will be key.”
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Opinions TURN YOUR ZOOM CAMERA OFF Genna Edwards
Senior Staff Columnist I recently discovered my new favorite Zoom feature — the turn off video button. While many students likely use it so they can check their Tinders in peace during class, I’ve discovered that it comes in handy for one very particular ailment — body-checking and overall low self-esteem. Body-checking is a behavior most associated with low body image and eating disorders in female-presenting people, and occurs when a person “checks� on
their body and weight in a mirror, scrutinizing themselves. Levels of bodychecking are higher in adult women than adult men. Now, you view yourself on Zoom as you would in a mirror. And as other writers have already mentioned, having to see yourself in a little square day by day next to other faces, faces that you’re bound to compare yourself to, isn’t exactly healthy. For women, it can be much worse due to social pressures to always appear presentable. I suggest we embrace turning our cameras off during
Tenet (PG-13) No passes through 9/21/20 Fri: 3:30, 4:45, 8:00, 8:45, 9:50 Sat - Mon: 12:25, 1:40, 3:30, 4:45, 8:00, 8:45, 9:50 Tue: 3:30, 4:45, 8:00, 8:45, 9:50 Wed: 3:30, 4:45, 8:00, 8:45, 9:50 Thu: 3:30, 4:45, 8:00, 8:45, 9:50 Bill & Ted Face The Music (PG-13) Fri: 3:20, 5:25, 7:30, 9:35 Sat - Mon: 1:15, 3:20, 5:25, 7:30, 9:35 Tue: 3:20, 5:25, 7:30, 9:35 Wed: 3:20, 5:25, 7:30, 9:35 Thu: 3:20, 5:25, 7:30, 9:35 The Personal History of David Copperfield (PG) No passes through 9/13/20 Fri: 4:30, 7:00, 9:45 Sat - Mon: 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:45 Tue: 4:30, 7:00, 9:45 Wed: 4:30, 7:00, 9:45 Thu: 4:30, 7:00, 9:45
lectures — you’ll love it, or you won’t, in which case you can blame me. The pressure to keep up appearances is directed largely at female-presenting people, Renee Engeln, a psychology professor at Northwestern University and author of “Beauty Sick: How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women,â€? writes. “We need to wear makeup, color or blow out our hair, do our eyebrows or lashes ‌ Whereas men are probably missing out on some haircuts and that’s about it,â€? Engeln said. “So when men see
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themselves on a video platform, they don’t look that different. The reality of the differential demands we put on women are just showing up in a different context.� I’ve definitely had this experience many a time during lockdown. I’d find myself apologizing for not having the energy to put on makeup in the morning, or for my hair being a mess. Then it struck me that the men in my Zoom calls never said anything like that about themselves. So why was I doing it? See Edwards on page 12
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LORI LOUGHLIN’S PRISON SENTENCE FURTHER EXPOSES BIASES IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM Remy Samuels Staff Columnist
Many college students remember the infamous college admissions scandal that was all the buzz in May 2019. One of the most scandalous parts about it was that it involved two high-profile actresses — Lori Loughlin of “Full House” and Felicity Huffman of “Desperate Housewives” — who bribed admissions and standardized test proctors in order to ensure their children’s acceptances into top universities. It was recently announced that Loughlin was sentenced to two months in prison for her involvement, and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, was sentenced five months. Last year, Huffman received a mere 14 days in prison for paying $15,000 to have her daughter’s exam answers secretly corrected in 2017. These light sentences are yet another example of the flaws in the U.S. criminal justice system. While there are thousands of Americans serving years in prison for marijuana possession or for crimes they did not even commit, people such as Loughlin and Huffman continue to use their privilege and wealth to finesse the system in their favor. Amid the Black Lives Matter movement, injustices within the prison system have been particularly exacerbated. For instance, according to the NAACP, 5% of illicit drug users in the United States are African American, yet African Americans represent 29% of those arrested and 33% of those incarcerated for drug offenses. Since October 2016, there have been 1,900 people exonerated of wrongfully accused crimes, and 47% of those exonerated were African American women. Now obviously drug charges and bribing University of Southern California admissions are two vastly different crimes. But it begs the question — if Loughlin was a lot less famous, less wealthy or a person of color, would she have been able to negotiate that same two-month sentence? There were even reports back in January that Loughlin hired a “prison coach” to teach her “prison etiquette” — such as avoiding eye contact with other
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prisoners — and martial arts. If it wasn’t for her celebrity status and white privilege, I’m almost certain a prison coach would not have been part of her pre-incarceration regimen. A controversial case that has recently resurfaced in reaction to Huffman’s two-week sentence is that of Kelley Williams-Bolar — a single, Black mother from Ohio who was imprisoned for falsifying her address in order to enroll her children in a better public school. This happened nearly a decade ago, but it is still extremely relevant today. Williams-Bolar had recently divorced
ies.
This is what is called “boundary hopping” or “district hopping,” and while this is not an uncommon thing, it is uncommon for parents to be charged with a felony, rather than just receiving a fine or telling the parents to unenroll their kids. The Copley-Fairlawn school went as far as to hire a private investigator who stalked Williams-Bolar in order to prove she was “out of bounds.” She ended up getting convicted and handed two concurrent five-year sentences, though they were ultimately suspended down to 10 days.
Actress Lori Loughlin bribed admissions and standardized test proctors in order to ensure her children’s acceptance into top universities. Joseph Prezioso/AFP/Getty Images/TNS her abusive husband and was attending the University of Akron and working as a teacher’s aide all while raising her two daughters, Kayla and Jada. She wanted them to have more opportunities than she had growing up. But because the schools in Akron were low-performing and poorly funded, she decided to send her daughters to a highly regarded school in the Copley-Fairlawn school district. However, the girls were ineligible to attend school there, even though their father actually lived within that district’s boundar-
But research shows that some school districts have become increasingly strict and more aggressive when they suspect a student may be boundary hopping. Maura McInerney, an attorney with the Education Law Center, said there is often implicit racial bias involved in these cases. “Disproportionately, we have this implicit racial bias that’s driving these referrals,” McInerney said. “That’s driving people to call the school district and say, ‘You should investigate this family.’”
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Also in 2011, Tonya McDowell, a homeless single mother in Connecticut, was charged with similar crimes to WilliamsBolar for using her babysitter’s address to enroll her son in a school in a wealthier district. McDowell was sentenced to five years in prison — which included a conviction for selling narcotics — and the babysitter lost custody of her own children and was evicted from her home. All of this happened because a mother wanted her son to go to a school with quality teachers and access to basic things such as books and crayons. In the grand scheme of things, Loughlin, Huffman, Williams-Bolar and McDowell all had the same goal — to achieve a better education for their children. They each tried to take advantage of a system they thought was unfair, but they did this through very different means. Williams-Bolar’s and McDowell’s children were prevented from going to certain public schools because they did not have the means to live in those wealthy districts, but for Loughlin and Huffman, means was not the issue. Because they did not believe their children could be accepted into top universities based on their own merit, they decided to bribe their way in, and ultimately prevented other qualified applicants from admission. Loughlin was one of 33 parents who used bribery and fraud to get their children into top colleges and universities. Whether her two-month sentence is justified or not, she is just one of many privileged parents who have further exposed the injustices within both the admissions process and the criminal justice system. Ultimately, the real victims here are the qualified individuals who are deserving of spots in top schools, as well as those who face harsh consequences for trying to give their children opportunities that were not available to them. Remy Samuels writes primarily about current social issues. Write to her at ras288@pitt. edu.
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Edwards, pg.9 I tried, first, to simply stop caring about how I look. I showed up to my first day of classes with sunken eyes and a messy bun — my go-to quarantine look — but then realized a lot of my peers didn’t have their cameras on. Some professors were okay with that, trusting we were listening even if they couldn’t visibly see us listening, nodding our little heads. So I turned my camera off. And boy, oh boy, did some beautiful feeling overtake me. I didn’t have to see my face, didn’t have to see my double chin — so I forgot about it, forgot about my physical form, and for the first time in maybe forever I just learned. Just sat there and learned. I wasn’t worried about my classmates seeing my body, I wasn’t worried about having to stare at my body myself — I became a voice with things to say, unattached from a pesky physical form. Inhabiting a body that presents itself to the world as a woman is a tricky time indeed. Although I try not to focus on how I look, and I know I’m in college to learn and not to be hot, it can be super hard to have judging eyes on you everywhere. Women aren’t given the same lee-
way that men are with looks, and it does show up in academic life. With the option to turn the camera off, or hide my self-view, I can inhabit a space where I no longer have to fall ill to the way I’ve been socialized as a woman. We are taught that if people are watching us, if people can see us, we need to be aware of our bodies. Is my hair sticking up? I’ll fix it and not fully hear what my professor is saying, so preoccupied with my flyaways. That guy is looking at me. Let me pull my shirt hem down a bit. What was the question? My stomach is coming out of my jeans — adjust, there we go. So although I miss in-person classes as much as the next guy and I abhor the barriers of intimacy that Zoom presents, there is one good takeaway from my Zoom time. I’ll be keeping my video off whenever I can, and maybe the staring at myself less will do me some good. Genna Edwards writes about film, gender, and culture for The Pitt News. You can drop her a line at gee9@pitt.edu.
Promiti Debi senior staff illustrator
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Culture ‘A WAITING GAME’: MUSIC GROUPS NAVIGATE CAMPUS COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS
Maggie Young
Contributing Editor Jordan Bender, a percussionist in both the Pitt Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble, said neighbors in his apartment building will likely notice him practicing his marimba, but at least he’s not using his snare drum. “The whole building [would] hear it, or at least the people under me and around us,” Bender, a senior computer science and music performance double major, said. “Out of respect to everyone who lives here … that would just be too extreme.” But he said other campus musicians don’t fare as well in terms of rehearsal space, since students still can’t access campus buildings such as Bellefield Hall and the Music Building. Various music groups on campus face a challenging year in terms of access to spaces, equipment and each other’s company due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but many plan to utilize their living spaces and recording technologies to safely create pandemic-era virtual audio experiences for listeners. Heinz Chapel Choir, one of the largest student music groups on campus, declined to comment. These difficulties presented themselves to Roger Zahab, the orchestra director, leading up to the ensemble’s first rehearsal on Aug. 26. The group of 45 gathered via Zoom to play collectively as Zahab gave cues, but each musician turned off their microphone. Instead of listening to everyone else live, which Zahab said would create chaos, musicians played alongside a preexisting recording of the pieces, but not without making adjustments. “When you’re playing together, you can gauge how loud you should be compared to what you’re hearing,” Zahab said. “In the internet universe, you have to be in tune, in time and in dynamic range with yourself.” Instrumentalists recorded themselves using their phones or programs such as Garage Band. Though not ideal, Zahab said these technologies do the job. “The recordings that are possible with an
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iPad are quite good,” Zahab said. “The quality of phone recordings is better than what we used to have in magnetic tape.” According to Bender, the Jazz Ensemble will have twice-weekly online rehearsals this semester, with time slots allotted for each instrumental group. He doesn’t know whether or not he will hear other musicians while he practices, but he assumed this rehearsal will be similar to that of the orchestra, including the nuances lost without in-person rehearsals. “You kind of have to pretend like they’re all
pages. Emma Cash, the group’s president, said one member of the group has recording equipment they will share with other members, so everyone can record their parts on their own. “We’re just trying to do as much music as we can while still following University guidelines and policies,” Cash, a senior chemistry major, said. For students without access to recording devices, Bender and Zahab said the music department is working to give them USB microphones.
The Pitt Symphony Orchestra gathered via Zoom on Wednesday for its first rehearsal. Zoom screenshot there when it’s just you playing,” Bender said. “It’s definitely going to be a weird and interesting experience, because it’s going to be more like you’re in a recording studio than you’re actually in an orchestra.” Not all groups will transition to collective online rehearsals. Pitches and Tones, an a cappella group, plans to instead have individuals work alone throughout the year and contribute to a new EP on the group’s Spotify and SoundCloud
But not all musical equipment is as easily exchanged. Bender said he plays upward of 12 different types of percussion instruments during performances for either group. He owns several instruments, such as a glockenspiel and tambourines, but he usually relies on several Universityowned instruments housed on campus. “People in the music department are trying to figure out a way and they’re being extremely helpful,” Bender said. “But there’s only so much
September 2,2020
they can do and I can do. It’s more or less a waiting game.” Zahab has access to Bellefield and the Music Building and has been able to get instruments for performers who left equipment there in March, including one particular student doing the semester from home who drove from Philadelphia to pick up his bass. With the instruments members can access, Zahab said he and the orchestra’s team of sound engineers plan to arrange all of the recordings students send to him into a cohesive performance. These will air in prerecorded concerts in October and December. Both the orchestra and Pitches and Tones plan on adding new members to the group in preparation for their respective future music installments. Auditions for all five a cappella groups took place in a Google doc, where interested students could audition from home by filling out the doc and attaching a YouTube link of their performance. “We’re super happy that we can do that because we were worried, obviously in-person auditions aren’t really an option, but we’re excited to welcome new people into the group, and they can do the EP with us,” Cash said. Auditions were open until Tuesday night, and vocalists will now go through a callback process. Cash said about 30 people had auditioned for at least one of the five groups as of Monday. “That’s a little bit less than we usually get,” Cash said. “But it’s still a really good number considering.” Zahab said he welcomes auditions at any time, and has received 10 to 15 so far. He mentioned plans for potential in-person rehearsals in small groups if the University moved to the least restrictive Guarded Risk posture and University buildings reopened. In the meantime, he just wants to uphold an agreement he made with musicians over the summer. “I just promised that, somehow, in the fall,” Zahab said, “we would make music together.”
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‘SWOONING’ OVER ART: CONTEMPORARY CRAFT TO OPEN TO THE PUBLIC Annabelle Walter For The Pitt News
Art is something that has the ability to bring people together. Artist Swoon’s exhibit at Contemporary Craft, “The Heart Lives Through the Hands,” does this quite literally, bringing living people in close contact with surreal human figures. The exhibition is the first at Contemporary Craft, a self-named “space for creativity,” since it closed its Strip District building for relocation last October. The gallery will open at 22% capacity on Thursday in its new Upper Lawrenceville building, and while the exhibit is free, visitors must reserve a timed ticket on the space’s website. The first thing visitors see when entering the exhibit is an asymmetrical collection of church tiles, pieces that Swoon worked on while revitalizing an old church in Braddock, a nearby Pittsburgh suburb. Swoon has passed on this project to someone else this year, hoping to “make her sole living as an artist,” according to her assistant, Kate Lydon. But these tiles weren’t just the work of Swoon. Lydon said while revitalizing the church, the artist enlisted the help of local children, teaching them how to create intricate designs on the tiles. This taught children a valuable skill while giving them a hand in revitalizing a building in their own community, Lydon said. Stephanie Sun, the director of operations and finance for Contemporary Craft, said the church project in Braddock was one of the events that first introduced Swoon to Contemporary Craft. Although this is her first solo show in Pittsburgh, she has worked with the gallery before. “I have many interactions with Swoon and have worked with her before.
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One of her works was in our social justice exhibition — “Mindful: Exploring Mental Health Through Art” in 2015 [and 2016] and has hosted a print sale in our space to fundraise for her Braddock church building revitalization project,” Sun said. Another piece, “Dawn and Gemma,” depicts a mother and child. The piece
Sun also said the choice to feature Swoon in the gallery’s new building opening hinged on the relationship between the artist and Contemporary Craft and their closely aligned beliefs and interests. She said she felt both parties are heavily invested in the greater Pittsburgh area, and aim to share art with which all people can identify.
Artist Swoon’s exhibit at Contemporary Craft, “The Heart Lives Through the Hands.” Courtesy of Contemporary Craft is mounted onto a many-sided “found” object and created using a technique that involves layering paper and paint to achieve the desired result. Visitors can view the pieces at a close range, which Contemporary Craft welcomes. Sun pointed out that the exhibition has no lines on the floor restricting access and/or movement, so visitors can get as close to the art as they want to.
“Her work is also incredible technically and visually diverse and tells human stories,” Sun said. “The sense of connection to people and the community through her art is one of the key reasons why we choose Swoon as our inaugural exhibition to open the Lawrenceville building.” Contemporary Craft originally planned to open the new building in
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April, but had to delay the process due to COVID-19 safety concerns, Sun said. She noted that opening now is not ideal due to the pandemic, the organization felt it couldn’t afford to remain closed for much longer. “A huge part of the reason to open during the COVID-19 is for the sustainability of the organization. We have been closed since October 2019 due to the relocation,” Sun said. “Without a proper space to welcome the public, we couldn’t generate earned revenue.” Sun said the new building is wellsuited to Contemporary Craft’s needs — it was large enough to host classes, exhibitions and Contemporary Craft’s store. The building was also within the organization’s budget and required very little restoration. “[The building] sparked ideas right from the beginning of how we can do very little in renovation to transform it into a space the organization needs,” Sun said. Sun said the organization worked with a group of museums and galleries to determine the best safety measures for reopening. “We were able to learn from the group and carefully plan our opening and safety protocol that is suitable for an organization of our size,” Sun said. Sun also said seeing other galleries reopen and hearing enthusiastic responses from previous Contemporary Craft visitors convinced the organization to open its doors and safely welcome the Pittsburgh community into the new building. “The successful reopening of peer organizations and the enthusiastic response from our visitors upon hearing the news of our opening, is really what encouraged us to move forward with opening,” Sun said.
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