9-22-15

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

September 22, 2015 | Issue 27 | Volume 106

Pitt releases results of sexual assault survey Percent of survey participants who Elizabeth Lepro, Lauren Rosenblatt and Dale Shoemaker The Pitt News Staff

When it comes to sexual misconduct on Pitt’s campus, students are afraid to step in, seek help and file reports, according to a survey of the University’s sexual climate.

The results of the 2015 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct, which Pitt released Monday, showed that female students and transgender or nongender conforming students were more likely to experience harassment or sexual assault on campus. While many respondents were aware of resources on campus like the Wellness and Counseling Centers, many didn’t know what would happen after they reported an assault.

Pitt was one of 27 colleges in the Association of American Universities that surveyed its students from April 22 to the end of May on the prevalence of sexual misconduct on campus. A total of 6,234 students completed the survey for a response rate of 19 percent campus wide.

Roughly 20 percent of Pitt female undergraduates and graduate

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experienced nonconsenual penetration or sexual touching during college data from aau campus climate survey

national results

Undergraduate Females

pitt results

Undergraduate males

23.1 % 21 % 5.4 % 6.2 % Undergraduate tgqn*

24.1% 19.6 % *Transgender men, transgender women, gender queer, gender nonconforming, questioning and not listed students who responded to a sexual climate survey last spring said they have experienced “nonconsensual penetration involving force or incapacitation or sexual touching” during their college careers.

Responses from male respondents showed that 6.2 percent of undergraduate men and 1.3 percent of graduate men were victims of nonconsensual sexual penetration or touching. Male students were gen-

September 22, 2015

erally more optimistic than women and transgender or non-gender conforming students about reporting incidents of sexual assault to the See AAU on page 2

1

News

undergraduates who said they were victims of nonconsensual penetration or sexual touching during the current school year was 13.2 percent, while male undergraduates reported 3.3 percent.

The results indicated that women and members of the transgender, genderqueer and non-conforming community are most at risk of sexual assault.

By senior year, 23.6 percent of female undergraduates reported experiencing nonconsensual penetration or sexual touching by force or incapacitation.

“Sexual harassment and violence have no place in our university. We need to take aggressive actions to address this important national issue on our campus, and the survey will give us the data we need to focus our efforts,” Chancellor Patrick Gallagher said in the release.

At Pitt, 11.2 percent of heterosexual students reported they had been a victim of sexual assault, compared to 15.2 percent of non-heterosexual stu*Transgender men, transgender women, gender queer, gender nonconforming, dents. Nationally, 60.4 percent of nonheterosexual students reported being questioning and not listed sexually harassed, compared to 45.9 sexual assault incidents occurred on percent of heterosexual students. pg. 1 campus, with almost 70 percent of The survey also examined how students responding that an incident University and were less afraid of relikely students who had experienced that occurred on campus property or seen sexual assault or misconduct taliation from their offenders.

Pitt released the entirety of its sur- happened in a University hall or dor- were to report the incident to Univervey, as recorded by research firm We- mitory. sity or health officials.

Th e number of female undergradustat, in a 129-page report with an adAlmost 40 percent of female and ate students at Pitt who participated male undergraduates who responded ditional 92 pages of data tables.

According to the national results, in the survey and were victims of to the survey thought that the Uni47.7 percent of students who took the nonconsensual penetration or sexual versity was “very” likely to conduct survey “indicated that they had been touching for the current school year, a fair investigation of the incident, victims of sexual assault” since enter- was 11.7 percent. For male undergrad- compared to roughly 18 percent who ing a higher institute of learning. At uates that number was 3.4 percent. thought a fair investigation was “exPitt, more than 63 percent of forced Among all 27 AAU schools, female tremely” likely. The most common pittnews.com September 22, 2015

Percent of participants who

reported bystander intervention upon witnessing sexual assault or sexual misconduct

Undergraduate Undergraduate Females males yes 50.5% yes 48.4% No 49.5% No 51.6% Undergraduate Tgqn* yes 32.2% No 67.8%

AAU,

reason for not reporting an incident of sexual assault was shame or difficulty dealing with the emotional consequences.

In contrast, the highest percentage of transgender, genderqueer, non-gender conforming or questioning undergraduate students responded “somewhat” likely in response to questions about whether the University would conduct an investigation.

Roughly 23 percent of TGQN respondents said they didn’t think the University would protect the safety of the person making the report at all.

Marcus Robinson, the president of the Rainbow Alliance at Pitt, said this is because there’s typically a distrust for administration among marginalized groups.

Robinson said he doesn’t place any blame on the current administration.

He added that he’s seen a lot of positive change in the University’s efforts to address sexual assault on campus this year, including the creation of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the numerous sexual assault awareness events.

“All the events during orientation are going to be helpful moving forward,” Robinson, a junior anthropology and neuroscience major, said.

While around 80 percent of undergraduate male and female students said they knew about resources the Wellness Center and the Counseling Center offers, 40 percent said they were not at all knowledgeable about what happens when a person reports an assault. Eighteen percent of female and male undergraduates knew about the Title IX Office and/or the Office of See AAU on page 3

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AAU pg. 2 Diversity and Inclusion.

According to University spokesperson Ken Service, Pitt is planning to bolster awareness of its available and less well-known resources.

Service said Pitt is putting together a program to address the issue in a holistic manner that involves students, faculty and staff. He could not give specifics of the program but said it would include a combination of education and prevention methods as well as making students aware of the resources available to them, such as the new Title IX office and the bystander intervention training.

Service said there would not be an official release date for this program — rather, it would be an “evolutionary process.”

“Any one incident of that sort is one more than we should have,” Service said. “We have to change the culture of

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this institution.”

Suzy Hinkle, president of the Campus Women’s Organization at Pitt, said the numbers regarding how many people did nothing were “shockingly high.”

Among the bystanders to situations that involved a drunk party, a total of 79.7 percent indicated that they did nothing.

“Pitt is definitely doing a lot to change how sexual violence is treated at the administrative level and at the cultural level, but we have far to go,” Hinkle said.

Robinson said it’s the responsibility of everyone on campus to be a part of a supportive culture regarding sexual conduct.

“The stuff in [the report] is serious and incredibly disappointing to know,” Robinson said. “I think it’s everyone’s responsibility — people who attend this campus, it’s our job to look out for each other.”

Employers plan to scout students at career fair Imaz Athar

For The Pitt News

This Thursday, Pitt students will fill the Pete for a different kind of workout, sporting their dress shoes instead of sneakers.

The Office of Career Development and Placement Assistance will host its annual Fall Career Fair on Sept. 24 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Petersen Events Center. More than 200 national and local employers will recruit for part-time and full-time jobs and internships.

The companies come from several different industries including business, engineering, retail, pharmaceuticals, technology, healthcare and government with representa-

September 22, 2015

tives from national companies such as Geico, Rite-Aid Pharmacy and Target, as well as Pittsburgh-based companies, such as Pittsburgh Mercy Health System.

In the past, 3,000 students have attended the fair.

According to Joel Anne Sweithelm, special events and marketing coordinator, the Career Fair is open to undergraduates, graduate students and alumni. More than half of employers will recruit for internships and full-time opportunities at the fair.

Find the full story online at

pittnews.com

3

Opinions

Column

from the editorial board

Transparency needed to curb sexual assault The White House is right. It’s on us — all of us — to solve the issue of sexual assault.

Pitt voluntarily joined the national movement against rape culture last spring, when it and 27 other universities participated in a survey of student attitudes and experiences regarding sexual violence and harassment.

The Campus Climate Survey, conducted by the Association of American Universities, released its final national results yesterday.

Following suit, Pitt released our campus’ results shortly after. Upon opening your Pitt email yesterday, you probably saw a detailed and urgent response to the report entitled “Sexual Violence on campus,” from our own Chancellor Patrick Gallagher. The promptness Pitt displayed in getting this information — and all of this information, even the parts that didn’t make us look too great — to us is extremely admirable, but as Gallagher wrote, the AAU report illustrates “a sobering story.”

Here’s why.

Extrapolating the survey’s results to Pitt’s enrollment would show that of the about 18,000 undergraduate students, 16.3 percent had experienced sexual assault at Pitt — equating to 2,934 students.

According to the report, 10.1 pittnews.com

percent of female undergraduates have “experienced nonconsensual penetration involving force or incapacitation since entering the University of Pittsburgh,” while 15.6 percent of female undergraduates have experienced nonconsensual “sexual touching” of some kind during college. Undergraduate males surveyed at 2 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

This is not an individual problem, it is a campus problem.

The sheer number of students who reported experiencing sexual assault in the survey is surprising because the majority of victims did not report these instances to the University in the first place.

Sixty-two percent of the victims of penetrative acts involving force never reported the incident because they didn’t think it was serious enough. Another 60 percent said they never reported the incident because they felt embarrassed, ashamed or thought it would be “too emotionally difficult.”

In the eyes of the victims of sexual assault, our campus atmosphere is not sensitive or supportive enough for them to seek help.

Pitt’s participation in this report provides us with the information required to ignite action. It will be an uphill battle, and as the Chancellor

acknowledged, “the survey results make clear that we have much more work to do.”

We must combat the current factors blocking victims from reporting abuse — mainly, shame and embarrassment.

A possible way to do this is through instituting a campus Sexual Assault Hot line. Through privileged and confidential counselors, who do not have to report any information to Title IX, Pitt can provide 24-hour sexual assault help over the phone. These counselors could offer objective support and direct victims to campus resources.

On a larger scale, a national Sexual Assault Hotline already exists.

It’s called the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, and it offers “Confidential, judgment-free support,” to victims — you can call the hot line at 800.656.HOPE (4673).

Pitt’s own hot line can model itself off RAINN’s hot line, while simultaneously catering to the specific needs its students.

Overall, we ask that the University continues to be transparent in its efforts to combat sexual assault — this report is an important first step.

But if our goal is “zero incidents of sexual harassment and violence at Pitt,” as Gallagher said, continued transparency is essential.

September 22, 2015

Facilitate innovation, offer computer science classes

Matt Moret Columnist

In many high school classes, there is always one kid who feels the need to raise a hand and ask the most frustrating question known to academia: “So when are we ever going to need this?”

Perhaps these students feel as though their classes no longer prepare them for the shifting world they will eventually enter. Of course, the “Three Rs” of reading, writing, and arithmetic are all still relevant skills, but at their core, these skills aren’t valuable if students cannot apply them to real world contexts — and currently, the real world is a digital world.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio realizes this reality. Last Wednesday, he announced an $81 million plan to require computer science classes at all of the city’s public schools within 10 years.

The computer science classes may classify as electives in middle school and high school, but public schools must at least offer them.

Currently, very few do.

According to the city’s DepartSee Moret on page 5

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Moret, pg. 4 ment of Education, fewer than 10 percent of New York City’s 1,700 public schools currently offer any sort of computer science class. Nationally, only 15 states offer academic credit for computer science classes in high school, according to Forbes. In fact, a study by the National Center for Education Statistics found that computer science was the only STEM-related field to experience a decline in student participation over the past 20 years, dropping from 25 to 19 percent in 2012. In total, onlyy 10 percent of K-12 schools offer computer science education at all.

There is an unfortunate ironyy here. While the number of students who take computer science classes drops, the number of jobs in the field continues to outpace many other industries. By 2020, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there will be 1.4 million computer science-related jobs in the United States, with only 400,000 Americans possessing the requisite skills to fill them. These positions include everything from technical support to software developers and system analysts.

John Ramirez, director off Pitt’s undergraduate advising for the Computer Science department, said that gradually exposing K-12 students to computer programming will certainly make them more prepared for the college level.

“The requirements of programming, such as problem analysis and logical and deductive reasoning, sometimes require time and exposure for development,” Ramirez said.

Obviously, there are many barpittnews.com

riers to immediately introducing this new curriculum. The availability of computers, for instance, is a genuine issue. However, of the cities who are making computer science mandatory, like NYC, a large part of their funding will go toward bringing computers into schools without them.

Yet, while 34 percent of principals and 31 percent of superinten-

the skills necessary to teach computer science. New York City, for instance, estimates that it will need to train nearly 5,000 new teachers in order to meet the curriculum requirement.

There are already a number of attempts to solve this teaching problem. Microsoft recently committed $75 million to its Technology Education and Literacy in Schools

Aby Sobotka-Briner STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

dents polled by Gallup last year said the availability of computers was one reason they do not teach computer science classes in their schools, only 6 percent and 1 percent, respectively, said it was the main one.

Much more endemic is the lack of qualified teachers. Forty-two percent of principals and 73 percent of superintendents told Gallup that they have no teachers with

program, which pairs computer science experts with K-12 teachers to co-teach classes on the subject.

The program focuses on urban and rural areas. As Microsoft President Brad Smith told USA Today, Microsoft is aiming to have TEALS in 700 high schools by 2018, and in 4,000 within 10 years. It’s a start.

Parents and students realize the value of this education. Last year, 64 percent of parents told Gal-

September 22, 2015

lup that computer science is just as important as currently required courses. Nearly a quarter said that it was more important. 90 percent of students said it was at least somewhat likely that they would seek out computer science training following high school. However, fewer than 20 percent of principals said demand for computer science classes is high among students.

Clearly, there is a communication gap here and it has facilitated public education’s stagnation.

When we fail to adapt our educational priorities, we are failing the next generation.

We fail our children by letting them fall behind their wealthier peers, who are much more likely to have access to computers and to attend better schools.

We fail our college graduates, who may want to teach the topics they love but have nowhere to do so. And we fail ourselves by letting our workforce become antiquated.

Innovation is an integral part of the American story. Let’s not leave computer science for the history books.

Matt Moret primarily writes on politics and rhetoric for The Pitt News.

Write to Matt at mdm123@ pitt.edu p

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Smart minds thrive at Thrival Festival

Jack Trainor and Matt Maielli Pitt News Staff

Thrival Festival sounds like the name of an electronic dance party, but it’s actually Pittsburgh’s most intellectual and revolutionary gathering of the minds.

This week’s third annual Thrival Festival will host 30 innovation lectures all over the city, including the South Side, Allentown, Hill District and East Liberty. This year’s festival features speakers from all over the country bringing their ideas and experiences in various fields, from urban planning to feminism, to the Steel City.

Next weekend, a two-day music concert will cap the event with more than 25 acts including Panic! At the Disco and Ghostface Killah.

Visit Pittnews.com to listen to two of the week’s most important, visionary talks on the future of city planning and neighborhood innovation with discussions from mayor Bill Peduto and Drew Davidson, director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center.

The best talk you missed: Monday, Sept. 21: Public Revolutionaries: Ideas and Individuals Shaping 21st Century Metro Areas Mayor Bill Peduto moderated Thripittnews.com

Bill Peduto, John Fetterman, William Generett Jr. and Tara Sherry-Torres manned a panel at Thrival Festival Monday Valkyrie Speaker STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

val’s first lecture of the week on changing perceptions of leadership and community development at City Theatre in the South Side. The sold-out event featured Peduto, notable Braddock mayor John Fetterman, who recently announced his bid to run for state senator, William Generett Jr., president and CEO of the public-private partnership Urban Innovation21 and local minority activist and artist Tara Sherry-Torres.

Peduto led the panel through a series of debates about Pittsburgh’s future as it continues to develop out of the economic depression that crippled it from the 1970s through the early 2000s.

The panelists also expressed their concern for preserving Pittsburgh’s identity as it continues to grow, acknowledging that the city’s lack of diver-

sity, in both leadership and citizenship, must change.

Torres called specifically for some incumbent leaders to step down for younger minority leaders of varying sexuality, race and income in what kicked off Thrival Festival with an inspiring discussion of Pittsburgh’s future.

The best talk you can still hit today: Tuesday, Sept. 22: Creative Chaos: Diversity and Innovation Sometimes chaos is a good thing, at least for the sake of innovation.

Tuesday afternoon at the entrepreneur incubator Work Hard Pgh in Allentown, Dr. Drew Davidson will explain as much. Davidson’s lecture explores his work on a four-year study of

September 22, 2015

how diversity impacts innovation, specifically with the curriculum at Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center.

The curriculum consists of teams designing, creating and building prototypes of their ideas under the guidance of faculty supervisors. The supervisors observe how stress, communication, conflict and a host of other variables influence the overall process. They will also assess how these variables affect the final product, including its practicality.

Davidson has discussed diversity on multiple mediums, including as editor of ETC Press and its accompanying Well Played series. Davidson’s expertise covers perceptions of media and what it’s capable of, as well as narratives across media.

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Heads up Five Guys, your reign as the face of Oakland’s hamburger scene is coming to an end.

Three days ago, Pittsburgh’s own Stack’d moved into the corner of Forbes Avenue and Oakland Avenue, expanding from its original Shadyside operation into the hole Joe Mama’s and Olio Trattoria’s left behind.

The restaurant specializes in custom-made burgers and fries, yet food fades to the background the moment you walk in, where a wave of chatter, pop radio and sports television overwhelms the place. During Sunday’s Steelers game, the restaurant’s group-friendly tables and bar were overflowing with patrons high-fiving and yelling at one of the restaurant’s five TVs. We were seated after a five-minute wait. The waitress handed me and my friends menus and offered us waters,

patties stack’d high Eric Acosta

For The Pitt News

but the varied list of pale ales and lagers made water an afterthought.

Unlike Hello Bistro, Stack’d’s burgers are not prearranged. Diners fill out a menu card, checking off what kind of bun you want, how big of a patty you crave, if you are a ketchup, Thai chili or pierogi on top of your burger kind of person. The questions go on and on.

I ordered what I thought was a simple barbecue Swiss bacon burger, but when the heap of meat arrived at my table, I was unsure if I’d be able to finish it.

Its sheer height at six inches, stacked with four strips of bacon, letuce and tomato on top of two thick patties, was intimidating. “Too big to fail” does not apply to burgers, but at that height any sandwhich is bound to topple over. One of Stack’d’s subSee Stack’d on page 8

Valkyrie Speaker STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Public Theater opens season with “Anne Frank” Alessandra Roberto For The Pitt news

After every rehearsal of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” actress Remy Zaken goes home and sobs as she tries to reestablishment the distance between herself and the famous holocaust victim.

With May 8 marking the 70th anniversary of the Nazi regime, Frank’s diary remains one of the most moving reminders of the Holocaust’s destructive events. The Pittsburgh Public Theater will honor this memorandum by adapting Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett’s Pulitzer and Tony Award winning play into its seasonal debut from Sept. 24 to Oct. 25.

“The Diary of Anne Frank,” the classic memoir of a girl who comes of age hiding from Nazis in her attic, is starting off the PPT’s 41st season at the pittnews.com

O’Reilly Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh. Seventy years later, the theater is adamant not to let us forget WWII’s atrocities, which is why tickets for anyone aged 26 and under are half price.

“The purpose of why we do this is to bear witness to these events and to remind people that it definitely happened, and is still happening today,” said Zaken, who plays Frank. “We just have to keep telling the story over and over again.”

As an actor playing a role as tragic as Frank, Zaken said the burden of carrying the character’s emotions and experiences can be too great to bear sometimes.

Zaken described her approach to each character as a separate layer of skin that she must remove at the end of every day. If not, the hardship of the character will etch its way into her life

and stop her from transitioning from the performance to normal life.

When it comes to reviving the teenage Frank, who was 15 when she died, Zaken said she must approach the role cautiously, with an air of juvenile casuality.

“I know that [Frank] had a lighter side, she liked to play pranks,” she said. “And she had a serious side, she wanted to be a journalist, so she is just an ordinary person going through extraordinary circumstances.” While this fact can be reassuring, it doesn’t stop her from sobbing after every show.

As a Jewish actor, Zaken dreamed of playing Frank ever since she started professionally acting at 13. She was cast for the role 13 years later after acting in various other somber theater performances, including the role of a young girl assaulted by her father in

September 22, 2015

“Home Sweet Home,” and TV shows, like “Law and Order” and “Gossip Girl.”

Randy Kovitz, who plays Anne’s father, Otto Frank, is a fierce supporter of the play’s intensity.

“We shouldn’t have any sensitivities when it comes to telling the story,” Kovitz said. “It’s important that people see the emotional connections and the horrific events being played out in front of them so they never forget.”

Kovitz recalled a recent story an elderly couple who survived the Holocaust, but was savagely attacked in Amsterdam and called names like “dirty Jews.” Kovitz encourages the younger generation to watch the play “in its raw form so everyone can see the horrors that happened to get rid of See Anne Frank on page 8

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Anne Frank, pg. 7 anti-semitism.” Also a Jewish actor, Kovitz hopes to create an emotional connection with the audience to showcase the unfairness of the war.

Chris Laitta, playing Anne’s mother, Edith, said sharing compassion and empathy between the characters is the key to creating a successful performance.

“No one knows the real story of Anne Frank because she had two diaries that Otto ended up compiling into one,” Laitta said. “That’s why it’s so important for us as actors to create a bond between the characters and to show the humanity that was lost in the pages.”

Part of that humanity comes through comedy. David Wohl, who plays Mr. Van Daan, another Holocaust victim who hid with the Franks, said he understands the necessity of adding a bit of humor to the tension so the audience can connect with the characters. Too

much emotion may repel them.

“Just because something is a drama, doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of humor,” Wohl said. “And you can’t overstate the gravity of it.”

Wohl also emphasized the importance of not trivializing the story as actors, given the weight of the situation, and finding the middle ground between how much of the self goes into their characters.

Zaken said moving her audience is a difficult part of every role she plays, but the real challenge is separating real life from the character’s experience.

“Every person has a different fingerprint, everyone has a different je ne sais quoi, and after all of my research, I just have to bring my version of seriousness to the role,” she said. “At the end of the day, I, as Anne, have to be in the moment, but I, as Remy, have to know that when you let it pierce you, it really does pierce you all the way through.”

Stack’d, pg. 7 tleties is the small wooden stick that holds each sandwhich together — the mark of a true gourmet burger and often-overlooked secret that keeps the burger together long enough to enjoy it holistically.

Stack’d also offers alternatives for piled-high burgers too, like wings and salads. What it doesn’t have, though, is a dollar menu. Though Stack’d offers far more toppings than Five Guys’, which are free, only the first four come free of charge. With shareable appetizers hanging around $7 and burgers ranging from $8 to $15, high-quality meat doesn’t come cheap, but you do get a side of fries and any topping you could want for those $15.

Though its prices might not be, Stack’d’s hours are college-weekend friendly. The kitchen stays open un-

T P N S U D O K U

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September 22, 2015

til 1 a.m., and the bar serves drinks until 2 a.m. every day, making it an ideal spot to grab a late night meal or have a quick last drink for the night.

The high ceiling and exposed piping emphasize the space’s tight limitations as a sit-down restaurant and not a bar, but Stack’d has other allures, like its Oakland-exclusive grilled cheese and weekly deals.

Management hasn’t announced all of the restaurant’s specials yet, but according to previous Pitt News coverage, they won’t be the same as its Shadyside counterpart. At the moment, every Tuesday from 9 p.m. to midnight is half-off burgers and $7 Miller Lite pitchers every day from open to close.

With college students begging for another sit-down restaurant with tasty, cheap food that’s not pizza, Stack’d joins Five Guys and Hello Bistro in yelling for burgers to be the new norm.

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

8

Sports CATCHING UP WITH TRAY WOODALL Dan Sostek Sports Editor

working out at the Petersen Events Center and waiting for his next opportunity, whether that be coaching collegiately or playing abroad again.

TPN: What are some of the pros and cons of playing abroad?

TW: The pros, well I think ob-

viously you get an opportunity to continue playing. Everybody who plays professionally, they’re fortunate enough to play after their college career. You also get a chance to stamp up your passport a little bit and see different parts of the world, and you start to appreciate how much we have in America compared to how people have things over there. You just start to look at different values as well.

Over there they value farming, they value family, they value their day-today working world, while here people think working is a burden, and its actually a blessing and a great opportunity. The cons obviously, you’re away from family for eight to nine months of the year. You’re seven to eight hours ahead in time, and mostly communication comes over the phone or over Skype. You tend to miss [your family], and you start to appreciate your family a lot more also.

Tray Woodall has played professionally in four countries since leaving Pitt. Pitt News File Photo

A

fter seeing the court for 139 games over his Pitt career that spanned from 2008 to 2013, former star point guard Tray Woodall left the University and trekked the globe.

Since leaving Oakland, Woodall pittnews.com

has played professionally in Turkey, Greece, Kosovo and Mexico, serving as a role player throughout his career. After his time with the Jefes de Fuerza Lagunera— Woodall’s team in Mexico— came to an end, he returned to spend the summer in Pittsburgh,

TPN: You still pay pretty close

attention to Pitt. What do you think of its current roster headed into the season?

TW: It’s rare that we’ve had a Pitt team that transformed from a young team to an older team. You went from having freshmen and sophomores to having pretty much all juniors and

September 22, 2015

seniors. You’re coming in with one freshman [guard Damon Wilson] whose presence is more of a senior.

I think you have a little bit of an advantage opposed to other teams. The thing is now, you’re implementing so many different players, it takes a while for you to get to know them. I don’t think this team will click right away, but they’ll definitely hit their stride later on during the season. I think this team could definitely be special.

TPN: How much have you kept in touch with Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon after leaving Pitt? Is he still a big presence in your life?

TW: Oh yeah, for sure. It’s funny, I

try to tell these guys how much Dixon has changed personality-wise since I first got to school. Dixon would attest to this, when I was in school, I was one of the joking guys. He’d be at a podium, reciting a speech, and when it goes quiet, I’d say something funny like “Yeah, Dixon!” and he’d immediately know it was me, just to lighten him up a little bit. Him being so personable now, he’s made some tremendous strides that are amazing to see.

And I think these guys are starting to appreciate it, because he does so much for this team. But definitely, I try to keep in touch with coach Dixon as much as I can. He’s definitely been a better communicator as far as texting goes, because he was one of these guys that talks on the phone, because obviously he comes from the old school.

He’s been getting more in-tuned with texting, as well as being more social See Woodall on page 10

9

Woodall, pg. 9 media-friendly. I’ve started to build a little bit of a relationship with coach Smoke [Marlon Williamson]. I’m happy I’ve been around [in Pittsburgh] this whole summer, I got to learn a lot of tendencies from a lot of guys. It’s just been great to be around.

TPN: Is coaching something you’d

be interested in in the future?

TW: Coaching is exactly what I want to do. That is my goal, that is my future endeavor. Anyone that asks me what I want to do career-wise, I’ve always said I wanted to help. Period. I’m most useful at the college level, that’s where my knowledge and my experience is, especially at my age. Do I want to hang it up and stop playing? Not really. But if I had the opportunity to coach at the college level at the moment, I would definitely stop playing and start coaching.

TPN: They’re bringing the Backyard Brawl back for football.

TW: In 2022, right? [laughs] By

2022, a lot of these guys won’t even know where the tradition of the Backyard Brawl came from. For some strange reason, I feel that Pitt and West Virginia are going to meet in the NCAA Tournament this year or next year, or in a bowl game. Some way, somehow it’s

pittnews.com

gonna happen before 2022.

TW: There hasn’t been any word on

the basketball front for the Backyard Brawl. How excited would you be to see the two teams play at least one more time?

[The Backyard Brawl] was my favorite game to play. Every single year of my career. That was the one game you knew that you just couldn’t wait for.

You knew it was going to happen twice that year, and you knew it was gonna be an intense game. I wish it would have happened this year, with guys like Mike Young who’s been around Pittsburgh for a while and understands the tradition, or guys like James Robinson, who’s played since his freshman year and he kind of sees how valuable those games are. Those are lifetime experiences that I don’t think the NCAA takes into consideration as they should.

These are lifetime experiences, the same as the Duke and North Carolina rivalry is. Though media-wise it’s not as blown up as theirs, and it’s probably not as long and dragged out, but for guys like us, this is what we live for. This is what players come to Pitt for. They can’t wait to be a part of that tradition and rivalry. It is what it is. I understand why things are done, but it’s not for the most genuine reasons. Everything is about the dollar.

To see the full interview, go online to pittnews.com.

MLB lags behind on issue of playoff seeding Jeremy Tepper

Senior Staff Writer

Imagine you’re the commissioner of the MLB. You, in theory, want what’s best for the sport, including increased viewership — especially considering the low ratings in last year’s World Series, while Sunday Night Football nearly doubled in viewership.

Good, competitive games, for certain, will increase viewership.

Competitive games usually happen between the best teams. So, as commissioner, you want the best teams in the playoffs playing as long as possible.

It seems like a pretty novel concept, right?

One, you, the regular joe falling asleep on the couch during the fifth inning while eating chips, can easily understand. For the old boys of the MLB, using basic logic to satisfy fans might as well be open heart surgery.

For the umpteenth year in a row, divisions continue to rule in baseball. In the MLB, where a team finishes among its competitors in its geographic area is more important

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than where it finishes in the entire league.

That, as one would expect, creates some problems.

Under the current divisional system, the No. 2 seed in the National League would be the NL West-leading Dodgers, who hold fourth-best record in the league. The third seed would be the Mets, who sit atop the NL East with the league’s fifth-best record. That leaves the Pirates and Cubs, the teams with the second and third-best records in the entire MLB, respectively, as the fourth and fifth seeds.

In a system where the four and five seeds have to play each other in a three or five-game series, this would be a bad situation. In the actual MLB, where these two teams have to face off in a one-game playoff, it’s egregious.

This system reduces two of the very best teams in the MLB to a coin toss play-in. The victor’s prize?

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