9-2-15

The Pitt News T h e in de p e n d e n t st ude nt ne w spap e r of t he University of Pittsburgh

SGB TO ADVERTISE LAWYER To help students address their legal issues with landlords and neighbors, SGB plans to advertise its lawyer more widely Mark Pesto and Dale Shoemaker The PItt News Staff

Away from home and combatting a nefarious landlord, students might feel like they are up against the world alone. Little did they know, Pitt Student Government Board has a not-quite-secret weapon.

For several years now, SGB’s lawyer Mark Galzerano has been available to students free of charge as a formal way for students to handle landlord disputes. To make students more aware of the free legal help, Board member Everett Green and Community Outreach Chair Patrick Corelli said at its first public meeting Tuesday night

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that SGB will now advertise Galzerano’s services through campus television boards, WPTS and UPTV. To schedule a meeting with Galzerano, Green said students must go to SGB’s office and fill out a form. Galzerano will then meet with students on Fridays for individual, 20-minute legal consultations.

If students require further advice or consultation, they can schedule additional meetings with Galzerano at his private office. The consultations are free, but students have to pay for Galzerano’s additional services. Students can turn to Galzerano for legal advice See SGB on page 3

Pitt aims to improve mprove vee fan experiencee

Cuban poetry pg.2

September 2, 2015 | Issue 13 | Volume 106

THE FRESHMEN SHUFFLE

Lucas Zenovi in his converted Tower C dorm | Photo: Nikki Moriello

Amy Beaudine Staff Writer

Pitt’s chief enrollment officer Marc Harding said trying to exactly predict the freshman class size is “like trying to land a jumbo jet on a dime.”

Regardless of the number of applications, the University aims to bring around 3,900 new fresh faces to campus every year, and while Pitt doesn’t hit the number on the dime, it gets pretty darn close.

“The art and science of enrollment management is based on a lot of data, and we stay within 100 to 200 students of our 3,900 student class size goal, which is a great feat,” Harding said.

The art and science of making sure all those students have a place to call home is an entirely different call to ground control. Giving students housing often means getting creative.

This year, the freshmen class

is 4,074 students strong, beating Pitt’s 3,900 target by nearly 200. To compare to the freshmen classes of previous years, Pitt added 3,897 students in 2012 and 3,992 in 2013. But with more students living on campus, Pitt has had to expand housing for 90 freshmen this year.

While other freshmen will live in dorm rooms, Pitt will house those 90 students in 24 converted lounges in LiSee Freshmen on page 3

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News

90 MILES OF POEMS After the U.S. and Cuba mended relations, University of Pittsburgh press will publish book of Cuban poetry.

by Chidi Nwakpuda | Staff Writer

Richard Blanco speaks at the reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba Photo courtesy of Richard Blanco

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This fall, a diplomatic gesture following a long, troubled relationship between countries will be available to all in the form of poetry.

On Sept. 30, the University of Pittsburgh Press will publish renowned poet Richard Blanco’s bilingual work, “Matters of the Sea,” or “Cosas del Mar.” Blanco hopes the work will help mend relations between the United States and Cuba.

Blanco, 47, delivered the poem “Matters of the Sea” at a ceremony in Havana, Cuba, for the reopening of the U.S. Embassy on Aug. 14. He will feature the poem in his upcoming chapbook, a small collection of poetry that often centers around a specific theme.

For Blanco, who is both Cuban and American, the ceremony was a way of connecting his two homelands. “[This] was obviously something that hit very close to home. All my writing has, in one way or another, been aimed at trying to reconcile the two cultural halves of my identity,” he said.

Blanco said he used his poem to metaphorically breach the distance between the United States and Cuba.

“The sea becomes a symbolic element in the poem to evoke the common humanity of the Cuban people, the Cuban exiles and the

American people.”

Charles Skinner, a professor of foreign policy and diplomacy who spent nearly three decades in government service working on central foreign policy issues, said Blanco’s poem did mix the two cultures. Because of this, Skinner said, people will remember the poems in both their poetic and historical contexts.

“I predict that ‘Matters of the Sea,’ ‘Cosas del Mar’ is one of the elements that will be remembered as we try to recall the nature of what is happening in the reestablishment of relations,” he said.

Maria Sticco, a publicist for the University of Pittsburgh Press, said while the manuscript is different from other projects, its relevance in today’s political atmosphere makes the poem important.

“Mr. Blanco was commissioned to write the poem for the re-opening of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, and we wanted to make it available to the public as soon as possible,” Sticco said.

Blanco said he has more plans for his chapbook once it is published, including highlighting his involvement with National Hispanic Heritage Month and using the book’s proceeds for the greater good.

Blanco said he plans to donate all of the proceeds from the book to See Poetry on page 4

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SGB, pg. 1 on any subject, but Green said most students come to discuss landlord complaints.

Green said he did not know how many students met with Galzerano last year.

For students who have more general complaints about their residences in South Oakland, Green said they can talk to him and Corelli. The pair will take the concerns to Oakwatch meetings, where locals discuss how to best enforce safety, sanitation and zoning codes in Oakland. “[In Oakland] it’s really a threeway street, with landlords, students and permanent residents,”

Freshmen, pg. 1 tchfield Towers, Lothrop Hall and Fraternity Houses 8 and 9.

The expanded housing areas will bear much of the same amenities — twin XL bed, desk and dresser — as other freshman dorms, plus the possibility of a TV or table left over from when the rooms served as lounges.

Both first-year men and women will live in the converted lounges, yet the two fraternity houses will host only first-year students who identify as male.

Pricing for the expanded housing will be similar to traditional freshman dorms. For a triple, Pitt charges between $2,750 and $3,350 per semester depending on the building.

The cost of a converted lounge triple will be $2,750 per semester, according to Pitt’s housing website.

Houses 8 and 9 will cost $3,350 per semester, which puts them within the typical price range for doubles: $3,150 to $3,675 per semester. pittnews.com

Corelli said. “Up until last year, there really weren’t that many students on Oakwatch, which is a problem because when you don’t have a seat at the table, you get served for dinner,” Corelli said.

Green said he and Corelli have attended public Oakwatch meetings since the spring semester.

About 75 students attended the board’s first meeting this fall at Nordy’s Place. The meeting was also the first under SGB’s new leader Nasreen Harun, who replaced Graeme Meyer as president after he resigned in May.

Find the full story online at

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Prices for a single in one of the fraternity houses will be $3,650 per semester, whereas Pitt charges $3,250 to $3,450 for a single in Lothrop or other dorms per semester.

In the future, predicting class size maybe more like trying to land a rocket ship on a thumbtack, as Harding said Pitt is getting more and more applicants who are stronger and smarter than ever. If Pitt wants to keep admitting 3,900 students a year, Harding said the University will have to get more selective.

Over the last year, Pitt received 30,631 applications, its highest amount ever. Of those, Pitt admitted 16,499 students, giving it a 53.9 percent acceptance rate. Comparatively, in 2014, Penn State University’s acceptance rate was 55.5 percent, and Carnegie Mellon University’s was 23.6 percent.

For the past 15 years, Pitt’s acceptance rate has hovered around 55 percent. But in 2000, for example, See Freshmen on page 4

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Freshmen, pg. 3 Pitt only brought in 2,940 new students. That year, the average math and reading SAT score of Pitt applicants was 1169. By last year, the average score rose to 1294. Because Pitt has received more applications and still only accepts a little more than half, competition for those spots has increased, Harding said.

“We are getting more selective, but it’s because there’s more competition for those spots,” Harding said. “Pitt’s been on that trajectory for a number of years.”

Freshman Morgan Murphy made the cut in the applications process and is one of the students living in a converted lounge in Tower A. Murphy was confused when she saw she had three other roommates. She had requested a double and thought she and her roommates would have to squeeze bunk beds into a regular two-person room.

“But I also knew that didn’t really make any sense, so I was excited because I thought it would be fun to

Poetry, pg. 2 Friends of Caritas Cubana, a nonprofit organization that works to enhance the capacity of Caritas Cubana, a non-governmental humanitarian group in Cuba associated with the Roman Catholic Church.

Friends of Caritas Cubana provides humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable citizens in Cuba, including the elderly and single mothers.

Not only will Blanco’s chapbook help Cuba financially, many say it will help culturally as well. For Louise Comfort, a professor of public and international affairs at Pitt, Blanco’s poem is an effective way to express cultural identity and acquaint a forpittnews.com

have more roommates,” Murphy, a nursing major, said.

Lucas Zenobi, who lives with two other freshmen in a Tower C lounge, said one of the downsides to living in the converted space is that his alone time is limited to when his roommates are not home.

“It’s cramped, but not cramped at the same time,” Zenobi, a freshman math major, said.

Because Pitt considers the Fraternity Houses and converted lounges as just additional dorm rooms when it needs more space, Panther Central didn’t specially notify the 90 students living in them.

“Students should feel no different when moving into these rooms,” Julie Bannister, Panther Central’s manager, said in an email.

Residence Life Director Steven Anderson said no one has complained about living in a lounge and many students were happy about the change because of the extra space.

“It’s not about what hall you’re in,” Anderson said, “it’s about who you’re surrounded by.” eign audience to a different worldview.

“In order to understand a society from a different perspective, it is essential to learn more about the values and insights of its citizens,” she said.

“Poetry offers a glimpse into how people perceive beauty, what their hopes and thoughts are, how they relate to the world around them.”

Blanco said the beginnings of his poems are rooted in his connection with his environment.

“I began thinking about the sea — the 90 infamous miles that separate the U.S. and Cuba — and how to subvert that and think about how it connects us metaphorically as well,” Blanco said.

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Opinions Column

from the editorial board

Examining history’s place Historical icons of racism have a place in our nation — we call those places history museums, not university lawns or capitol flagpoles.

Students at the University of Texas at Austin continued their fight to remove several statues depicting Jefferson Davis and Woodrow Wilson from the university’s Main Mall. Yet, the metal men were hard to budge as the Sons of Confederate Veterans appealed the decision to remove the two statues, calling it an “ISIS-style cleansing of history.”

Davis and Wilson, historical icons of Confederate racism, have been hallmarks of the university’s Main Mall for 82 years.

This past Sunday, the Davis statue was relegated to the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History in a move that we hope will inspire others to critically examine Confederate icons’ places in modern society.

“As a public university, it is vital that we preserve and understand our history pittnews.com

and help our students and the public learn from it in meaningful ways,” “Jefferson Davis had few ties to Texas but played a unique role in the history of the American South that is best explained and understood through an educational exhibit,” said university President Gregory L. Fenves.

The decision to remove the statues at UT Austin came after Black Lives Matter protestors sprayed their slogan across several statues on campus in June, prompting the circulation of a student government resolution calling for its removal.

In Baltimore, the same slogan was recently spraypainted on a Confederate statue erected by the Maryland United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1903. Like in Austin, the act has opened up conversation on the statue’s role in the city.

Find the full story online at

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NATIVISM: SAME OLD STORY Matthew Moret For The Pitt News

When it comes to their country, Americans never really embrace the “caring is sharing” mantra.

The fact that xenophobia — the intense dislike of people from other countries — is now, once again, a regular feature of campaign coverage is unsurprising. Since xenophobia emerged in the late 1700s, it never really went away. But it’s time to change the rhetoric and to stop feeding into the cycle of treating these views as commonplace simply because they persist.

Trump has dominated the news cycle since he launched his presidential campaign in June, as has every word that he’s said since. As the candidate leading every Republican poll, those words steer the entire Republican against immigration.

Trump recently released a six page immigration plan in August that was simultaneously hailed as “ludicrous” by NPR writ-

er John Burnett, and “the greatest political document since the Magna Carta” by conservative commentator Ann Coulter. The key part of his $166 billion plan is a call for the mass deportation of all 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants currently living in the United States. According to Trump, the “good ones” would be allowed back into the country if they met unspecified criteria.

Trump represents an extreme, but recently, several of his opponents have followed his lead on the issue. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey recently suggested tracking immigrant visas like FedEx packages, and Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana was quoted as saying, “Immigration without assimilation is invasion.” Christie, Jindal, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin have all voiced support for an end to birthright citizenship, which

is Trump’s most radical stance thus far.

We cannot understate the impact of the initiative.

Nonpartisan polling organization Pew Research Center estimated that 7.5 percent of annual births in the United States are to unauthorized immigrants. This means that about 4.5 million people born in America would suddenly have no place to call home.

The only way to achieve this proposal involves passing a constitutional amendment to repeal the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to any person born in the United States, regardless of the parents’ legal status.

This is a prospect so nuanced and controversial that many writers — such as Alan Gomez — say it is likely never to happen.

Nonetheless, Trump is treating the proposal as a legitimate goal.

Why, in 2015, has the conversation on immigration turned from reform to leaving millions of people nationless? The

See Moret on page 6

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Moret, pg. 5 only real way of answering this question is to look at the context of these nativist cycles because we have, unfortunately, been here before.

In 1798, President John Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which tripled the length of required residency for U.S. citizenship and streamlined deportations. At the time, America was in the midst of a trade slump as a result of the French Revolution. Worries of radical French spies grew rampant. This is a consistent theme for America — when the economy slumps, Americans often first attack groups perceived as others.

In the 1840s, Catholic churches burned across Philadelphia in response to Irish workers, who would work for lower wages after fleeing the famine of their own country. Meanwhile, waves of Chinese immigrants began to flood the west coast and found cheap work on railroads, then organizing their own communities within major cities like San Francisco. The Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882 abruptly cut this flow by banning Chinese labor immigration for an entire decade. Forty-two years later, the Immigration Act of 1924 banned all Arab and Asian immigrants and set a yearly limit on the total immigrants allowed to enter.

Comparatively, other counpittnews.com

tries have adopted more open immigration policies.

For example, Canada uses a points system to solicit immigrants through its federal skilled worker program, and only 67 points out of 100 are needed to obtain an entry visa. In the U.S., immigrants are required to file for H-1B temporary visas, which are capped at 85,000 annu-

The commonality here is an influx of low-skill workers.

Unauthorized immigration from South and Central America saw a rapid increase during the 1990s and early 2000s when the number of unauthorized immigrants jumped from 3.5 million in 1990 to the 2007 peak of 12.2 million, according to the Pew Research Center. These

fortable once the people taking advantage of them speak another language?

Conservatives typically counter with the argument that immigrants occupying low-wage jobs result in lower overall wages. It would then seem sensible to support reasonable minimum wages and labor regulations that prevent companies

by Terry Tan

ally, and can only be filed on April 1. Spain has run the most legalization programs, having run six since 1985.

The U.S. has constantly debated legalization of the millions of illegal immigrants The U.S. deported nearly 1 million Mexican immigrants during the Great Depression out of fear that they were taking jobs from white Americans. This should sound familiar because it is essentially Trump’s planned policy, enacted 80 years ago.

undocumented immigrants make up 5.1 percent of our labor force. The number has stabilized over the past five years, but the spike was enough to set off this current chain of xenophobia.

The irony is that cheap labor is the foundation of the American economy. Cutting costs and reinvesting profit is the ultimate goal of capitalism. So why are conservatives, the people most fiercely supportive of free markets, suddenly uncom-

from sending jobs overseas.

But establishment conservatives continually embrace pro-business policies that run counter to both of these initiatives, like providing tax breaks for outsourcing jobs and lobbying against federal regulation of minimum wages. Senate Republicans blocked a bill in 2014 that would punish companies that send jobs overseas by ending their tax breaks. Tim Worstall, a regular contributor for Forbes, wrote an opin-

ions piece titled “The Moral Argument Against Raising the Minimum Wage.”

This contradiction results in the oppression and dehumanization of millions. It persists because people are naturally scared when money is tight. It spreads quickly because people are easy to persuade when scared. And it fades because immigration actually provides an absurd number of benefits, both economic and social.

By occupying low-skill jobs, immigrants encourage Americans to specialize in more highly skilled professions. That pushes innovation within the workforce, allowing the economy to grow in response to shifting markets. Not all immigrant workers fit this mold, however, and those that bring education and skills with them provide an inherent benefit to our overall economy.

On the most basic level, immigrants enrich our culture by sharing their own. This is something to be valued, not feared — and, according to a Gallup poll, 65 percent of Americans do see the value of immigrants, favoring a path to citizenship.

At the end of the day, we are wasting our time by vilifying some immigrants for taking low-skill jobs that we should be willing to hand off.

After all, if you listen to Scott Walker, Canada is the true concern.

Write to Matthew at mdm123@pitt.edu.

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Sports

PITT AIMS TO IMPROVE FAN EXPERIENCE Scott Barnes’ implementation of the Panther Fans Experience Committee will attempt to tackle fan complaints and criticisms head-on.

by Jessie Wallace | For The Pitt News

Turning the tide is no easy feat — especially when that tide is a tsunami of students ditching Pitt football games right after “Sweet Caroline” — but new athletic director Scott Barnes won’t ride those waves alone.

In June, Barnes revealed his plan for a Panther Fans Experience Committee to enhance student morale at Pitt sporting events, as well as increase communication between the Pitt community and the athletic department.

“The best way to do this is by engaging our people and asking for their thoughts and opinions,” Barnes said in an earlier release. “By working together, we can create a fan experience that ranks among the finest in the country.”

The University created the 20-person committee of Pitt students, faculty and alumni in August after a rigorous vetting process. Committee members weren’t able to go into specifics about their first meeting, which took place Aug. 31, but members like David Jedlicka and Anson Whaley are ready to make a difference in the way Pitt Athletics operates.

Jedlicka is a Pitt alumnus and former president

Pitt fans hope to see an improved gameday environment this season. Pitt News File Photos

See Fan Experience on page 9

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JUCO point guard Milligan signs with Pitt Dan Sostek Sports Editor

Jonathan Milligan (10) is Pitt’s newest addition to its 2015-2016 roster. Jon Vashey| KC

T P N S U D O K U

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The Pitt men’s basketball team picked up a last-minute addition to its 2016 class on Tuesday, as it officially announced the signing of former Kilgore College point guard Jonathan Milligan.

Milligan, a 6-foot-2, 170-pound point guard, averaged 14.3 points, 2.6 reSee Milligan on page 10

Today's difficulty level: Very Hard Puzzles by Dailysudoku.com

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Fan Experience, pg. 7

The Pitt News Crossword, 9/2/2015

of the Oakland Zoo, Pitt basketball’s student cheering section.

Because of his dedication to attending as many sporting events as possible, both while in school and as a graduate, Jedlicka fits the mold of an avid Pitt fan.

Jedlicka said he had a few ideas that he prepared to share with the committee during its first meeting but could not go into specifics. He said the nature of the initial gathering was somewhat relaxed and served as an opportunity for committee members to get to know each other.

“It was basically a meet and greet and a session where we just kind of shared ideas with each other,” Jedlicka said.

This first meeting came more than two months after the an-

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nouncement of the initiative and 18 days after the committee members were announced to the public.

More than 800 applicants submitted forms arguing why they deserved to repres ent Pitt athletics through the committee. The form asked applicants questions such as how many Pitt sporting events they had attended since becoming a student and whether or not they held season

tickets for any sporting events.

The school hand-picked 20 applicants in July. Each member’s term lasts two years, and the committee members will attend

to improve the overall relationship between Pitt athletics and its fanbase.

Jedlicka hopes to encourage current Pitt students to donate to the school’s athletic department after graduation. He specifically cited the Panther Club, which uses alumni-donated funds to provide scholarships for student athletes.

“My big thing is to better educate students while they’re here to join Panther Club,” Jedlicka said.

“If we create a Panther Club account as soon as students arrive to campus [as freshmen], by the time they graduate they’ll be in the system and have something to go off of.”

Student transportation to and quarterly meetings to debate from football games is critical for how to increase attendance at new committee member Anson sporting events as well as how See Fan Experience on page 10

“We want fans to be interested in coming to games all the time.”

-Anson Whaley

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Milligan, pg. 8

Milligan garnered interest during the vetting process this offbounds and 3.7 assists per game season from Tennessee, Creighlast year and was named a first- ton, Marquette and North team, all-region and Region XIV Carolina State. He was at one All-Conference player. point committed and signed to Panthers’ head coach Jamie Dix- Florida Gulf Coast University, on said he is thrilled to bring in but he never joined the team a player of Milafter failing to ligan’s caliber so meet NCAA late in the offtransfer reseason.

[Milligan] has the ability quirements, ac“He has the to score from a variety cording to an ability to score Aug. 19 press of spots on the floor. from a variety release from Jamie Dixon of spots on the FGCU .

Pitt head coach floor and break Milligan boldown defenses sters the shalby getting into the lane,” Dixon low point guard depth of the said in a release. “He also has Panthers, as junior Josh Newkirk the quickness and instincts to be transferred to Indiana. Milligan an outstanding defender in our is eligible to play immediately. program.”

“

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Fan Experience, pg. 9 Whaley, who serves as the editor of Cardiac Hill, SB Nation’s Pitt sports blog.

“I heard from a lot of students that they bail on games because there aren’t enough buses,” Whaley said. “If they stay until the end of the game, it could be 45 minutes until they get back to campus. I think it’s important we find a way to help fix that.”

Whaley said the committee is a great opportunity to generate discussion about how the athletics department can improve student and community morale.

“It’s too easy for fans to stay home and watch [the games] on TV,” Whaley said. “Our job is to find innovative ways that get fans to come to — and stay at — the games.”

Whaley also mentioned a research-based post for Cardiac Hill completed last year, which looked at attendance of Pitt football games during the past 15 years. Results showed that the highest attended games were when the team was winning or when they were playing a strong opponent.

“Our goal is to ensure that fans stay engaged even when it’s the third game of the year and Pitt is playing an FCS team,” Whaley said. “We want fans to be interested in coming to games all the time.”

As for Jedlicka, he hopes that by the end of his term, the committee will have improved the overall Panther fan experience.

“It’s a new day for Pitt Athletics, and I’m definitely excited about it,” Jedlicka said.

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