The Pitt News
The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | September 27, 2016 | Volume 107 | Issue 34
Hillman houses hidden treasures
Students react to first debate SEE ONLINE FOR VIDEO, LIVE COVERAGE OF STUDENTS’ REACTIONS
Nikita Karulkar For The Pitt News
A room tucked in a corner on the third floor of Hillman Library holds centuries of information nearly impossible to find anywhere else. Hundreds of books line one of the walls, all neatly shelved with the occasional Post-it peeking out from between yellowed pages. The covers, in hues of brown, black and blue, contrast with the colorful glass lamp on the front desk. Warm orbs of light, placed strategically next to comfy reading couches, dot the room. In other words, the collection room is a book lover’s paradise. But in an age where more and more students use Nooks and Kindles and download their books or entertainment from the internet, many students never step foot in the Special Collections department in Hillman Library. “Those who do encounter the department at some point in their academic career often become frequent visitors,” Zach Grewe, a student employee in the department, said. “But there are many students who never discover the department simply because they never have a research project, class or assignment that forces them to stop by.” In the department, librarians gather and organize books, essays and manuscripts from as far back as the 1400s. The department houses several collections such as the Nietz Old Textbook Collection, the Elizabeth Nesbitt Collection on 19th century children’s literature and the Curtis TheSee Rare Books on page 2
Teresa DePace, a sophomore social work major, and Kristen Gugerli, a sophomore political science and international studies major hold their breath during a debate watch party at Posvar Hall. Stephen Caruso SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Rachel Glasser
bate in the 2016 election. The Pitt Political Science department partnered with Pitt Democrats, Pitt Republicans and the Political Science Student AsWhen Democratic presidential candidate sociation to organize the screening, a discussion Hillary Clinton was asked why she thought she and commentary from fellow students and faculcould create jobs better than Republican candity. During the hour and a half debate, presidential date Donald Trump, she addressed her opponent candidates Trump and Clinton clashed on jobs, by saying, “Donald, it’s good to be with you.” taxes and cybersecurity. In New York, Trump nodded in response. In Lester Holt, the anchor of NBC Nightly News, Pittsburgh, students in Posvar Hall erupted into moderated the debate, which was held at Hofstra laughter. University in Hempstead, New York. About 130 students gathered in Posvar Hall Back in Pittsburgh, the muffled chewing Monday night to watch the first presidential deof pizza and whispered commentary filled the Staff Writer
hushed lecture hall all night. Loud protests at the occasional buffering of the live PBS stream mixed with cheers when students could check off items like “Vladimir Putin,” “President Obama” and “Birtherism” on provided presidential debate bingo cards. Occasional laughter, groans and gasps filled the room in response to Clinton and Trump’s jabs at each other, sprinkled with applause in response to the candidates’ policies and strong rhetoric. The segments of the debate — Achieving See Debate on page 3
News
School of Information Sciences talks Holocaust archives Amina Doghri Staff Writer
Ruth Fauman-Fichman’s great-grandmother, a Jew living in Munich, Germany, was fined for renting her house to someone who wasn’t Jewish in 1933. In 1942, she was transported to a working camp. Two years later, she died of hunger and typhus in Theresienstadt concentration camp in the former German-occupied Czechoslovakia. In 2014, Fauman-Fichman, from Squirrel Hill, traveled to Germany to learn more about her family’s past, including her great-grandmother’s history, from state archival data. “I was interested to find out more about members of my family,” she said. “But as of today, I learned that unless you have a name, they can’t look for anything for you.” The archives, which keep a record of personal and confidential information of Holocaust victims and survivors, are stored by region, or state, in Germany, but new tech-
nology and the passage of time is raising questions about the best way to store and publicize these files. Archivists worry that accessibility without consent from victims or their families could potentially cause further legal or emotional humiliation. Because the files from the Holocaust legally have to remain closed for 30 to 60 years — depending on individual state laws — archivists and researchers are now nearing a point where they must decide how to handle the records and what role they play in this process, according to Katharina Hering, project archivist for the National Equal Justice Library at Georgetown Law. On Monday afternoon, archivists and researchers discussed how to preserve the files and maintain the dignity of living descendants of Holocaust victims and survivors at a panel discussion. The lecture, titled “Holocaust Reparation and Restitution Files in German State Archives,” was part of the School of Information Sciences’ Bernadette Callery
Archives Lecture Series. The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, the University of Pittsburgh Jewish Studies Program and the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Senator John Heinz History Center sponsored the event in Alumni Hall. With about 60 people in attendance, the panelists raised ethical concerns regarding public access to state archival data. In the end, though, the panelists gave more questions than answers about how to handle the records. As interest in reparation, restitution and pension claims — a way for the German government to financially compensate for land, business and personal family losses from World War II and the Nazi German persecution — enters the twenty-first century, Hering said archivists are struggling to decide how much information should be made available and who should have access. The panelists questioned whether the See Archives on page 4
State archival records of Holocaust victims will soon be available. Meghan Sunners SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Rare Books, pg. 1
Pitt’s Special Collections Department has books from as far back as the 14th century. Edward Major STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
pittnews.com
atre Collection from the early 20th century. Students from local universities, such as Carnegie Mellon University and Point Park University, often come in to peruse the collections. According to Jeanann Haas, the head of the department, the collection had more than 500 visitors — 380 of which were undergraduate and graduate students — over the course of the last year. The department hosts about four class visits per month. The department — founded in 1966 — works in conjunction with other campus libraries, including the Frick Fine Arts Library and the Archives Service Center. Grewe, a senior majoring in psychology and gender studies, applied for a job in the Special Collections after winning an Archival Scholars Research Award this spring. “My favorite thing about working in the department is the access I get to the collections,” Grewe said. “I’m currently working on a bibliography of radical underground newspapers and perusing the
September 27, 2016
various publications has been of great interest to me as a student — but also, quite simply, a lot of fun.” The collection can be a treasure hunt for those interested in digging up historic or glamorous memorabilia. William Daw, the curator of the theater collection, found a sketch of Katharine Hepburn autographed by the actress in one of the Oliver P. Merriman scrapbooks. One of the collection’s oldest materials is a manuscript from the mid-1400s discussing monastic life, written in Latin by three different scribes. The oldest printed artifact in the collection is a 15th century leaf — a single printed page — from the letters of St. Jerome, a Christian saint. Daw said seeing and handling these materials firsthand is an incomparable experience, something that an online database can never match. “I believe that the physical book still retains a lot of valuable context, even when its content is available online,” Daw said. “It seems to me that the researchers never regret taking the extra time to view See Rare Books on page 4
2
Prosperity, America’s Direction and Securing America –– covered topics such as job creation, race relations in the U.S., the birther movement and the Iran nuclear deal. But the debate’s flow was scattered with interruptions, references to fact checkers and jabs at previous comments and stances on issues. Holt asked Trump early on in the night about how he has yet to release his tax returns, despite presidential candidates doing so for decades. In a rare moment of strength for the soft-spoken moderator, Holt countered Trump’s response that he’s waiting out a routine audit to release the returns. After Holt told Trump he was allowed to release his tax returns during an audit, Trump said he would release his tax returns after Clinton released her 33,000 emails. Trump’s snappy reference to Clinton’s email scandal garnered applause from the back of the room in Posvar. In regards to job creation and tax decreases for the wealthy, Trump said he plans to reduce taxes for companies as well as small and big businesses by 35 to 15 percent. “That’s going to be a job creator like we haven’t seen since Ronald Reagan,” Trump said in the debate. “It’s going to be a beautiful thing
to watch. Companies will come. They will build. They will expand. New companies will start. And I look very, very much forward to doing it.” In response, Clinton said Trump’s tax plan would not only be “trickle-down economics all over again” but its “most extreme version” –– which she dubbed “trumped-up trickle-down.” Her response was met with more snickering from Pitt students. According to an online poll from the political science department, this was the first presidential election where the majority of the 95 attendees who participated were eligible to vote. Another poll done at the end of the debate reported 74 percent of the attendees felt Clinton won the debate. The poll also reported 72 percent of the attendees surveyed had a more favorable view of Clinton after the debate, and 62 percent had a less favorable view of Trump. Dr. Meri Long, lecturer and advisor in the political science department who helped organize the event, said that although Trump met expectations that he would stay even-keel and share the stage with his opponent, it looked like Clinton was the winner. “In general, [Clinton] came across as calmer, more confident,” Long said. “[Trump] came across as more flustered at times.” Kait Pendrak, president of the Political Sci-
The Pitt News SuDoku 9/27/16 courtesy of dailysudoku.com
pittnews.com
Students gathered at Posvar Hall to watch the debate while discussing with friends and eating pizza. Stephen Caruso SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER ence Student Association, said Clinton presented a stronger argument than Trump, but that didn’t necessarily earn her the win. “Given the short time to reflect, I don’t really think there was a clear winner, just because not a lot was said that was new,” Pendrak, a junior political science and philosophy major, said. After discussing tax plans, Trump and Clinton’s discussion on NAFTA –– an 1994 agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada to
remove tax barriers between the countries –– and the Trans-Pacific Partnership also garnered a reaction from the room. Although he still didn’t open up about any of his “secret” plans, Pendrak, who supports Clinton, said Trump was well-composed compared to past appearances. “He was a little bit more on-point,” Pendrak said. “But when I say on-point, I don’t mean he was actually on-point.”
The Pitt news crossword 9/27/16
Debate, pg. 1
September 27, 2016
3
Archives, pg. 2 reality of personal and confidential information, such as medical records or cause of death, becoming publicly accessible would be humiliating or undignified for the victims of the Holocaust and their ancestors. “There is a large file of controversial information that includes personal information,” Hering, a 2010 graduate from Pitt’s School of Information Sciences, said. “Accessibility without consent [of victims or their families] raises issues especially with people.” According to Hering, 4.5 million people filed for pension claims based on the first reparation filings in the early 1950s, although the guidelines for eligibility changed several times. The files, which are currently in Bavaria, Germany, are closed for 60 years after creation according to Bavarian law. Each German state determines how long the files are sealed. “The embargo for restitution and reparation files is expiring, and more files are being transferred to state archives. [This is an] ongoing issue at German archives,” Hering said. Dr. Adam Shear, associate professor in the religious studies and history department at Pitt, said that since digitization of documents is so expensive, digital versions may not always be the best
pittnews.com
option. Ultimately, he said, it comes down to the purpose of the file for a certain person. “[It depends if] there’s a real need to tell the story. Sometimes the story is important, but [there] might be other factors that limit access,” Shear said. The person handling the document also has an obligation to uphold certain moral and ethical standards, according to Richard J. Cox, professor of archival studies in the School of Information Sciences. The panel, though, could not settle on any concrete answers as to what those standards should be. “The question about ethics is an ongoing topic of debate in research and society. [This question] prompts more questions than answers. A lot of this [ethical debate] is fluid and changing on a case-bycase basis,” Cox said. Deborah Cherry, 47, from Region Square, who attended the event, shared concerns about the possibility of the dissemination of the records on the web, especially those as sensitive as compensation for Holocaust survivors and their families. She was concerned about what internet access could mean not only for researchers but also victims’ families. “It’s a balancing game with preserving the privacy, especially for people who have legitimate access to some [of the documents],” Cherry said. “I’m not always sure where to draw the line.”
Rare Books, pg. 2 the materials in our collection in person.” Pitt’s budget for rare books differs each year, based on the University’s primary needs. Haas and her colleagues have conversations with faculty and researchers to plan their next acquisitions and try to pinpoint what is being used and what is needed. “Our allocated budget is spent on purchasing rare book or manuscript materials that support the teaching and research endeavors at Pitt,” Haas said. “We try to develop strengths in combination of what is taught and supported at Pitt.” The department purchases materials as they’re needed during the year. Administration consults a variety of book dealers that specialize in different areas of rare books and also use book dealers such as AbeBooks, according to Haas. For security reasons, Haas withheld specific budget information. The department also acquires materials from families that donate books passed through previous generations or found while spring cleaning. Haas tries to find the books a home, either at Hillman or at another library. “If the gift doesn’t quite fit with what we’re collecting, we go through and try to see if it fits
September 27, 2016
our collection. If it doesn’t, we put it on an exchange list with the other libraries,” Haas said. Pitt’s University Library System is in charge of organizing the donations and is primarily interested in scholarly material or materials that can be added to one of the niche collections. If ULS can’t find a place for the book, it is either exchanged for another book from other libraries around the world, sold to raise revenue for new books or sent to other organizations or nonprofits, such as Better World Books. All the behind-the-scenes work reaps rewards, Haas said, when students come in to ask for help. “If a student has a research idea and wants materials, they can contact the Special Collections department,” she said. “That’s what librarians are here for. We’re here to save you time.” Whether it’s discussing her love for the Atlas Coelestis — “a vibrant book about early astrology” — or planning the upcoming Audubon Day — when the department showcases John James Audubon’s rare bird prints — Haas views her job as bridging the gap between research and showcasing the Special Collection department’s innumerable materials and archives. “It’s a place where we have the opportunity to promote things people have never seen up close,” Haas said. “It’s amazing.”
4
Opinions
column
Michael Brown Sr.’s Speech: A lesson on accountability
from the editorial board
Presidential debate offered nothing new After the first general election debate of 2016, most of The Pitt News’ office had nothing to say. There were shrugs and analogies to petulant children. Most brushed off the question of who won by giving a name followed by “I guess.” The general consensus was that Clinton won, just barely, but the lack of excitement overall was indicative of the event’s hollowness. Last night was a mess: Lester Holt failed as a moderator, and neither candidate proved their critics wrong. The night started out with laughs as Trump continually insisted that his support for the Iraq war and the birther movement were false despite both of those claims being entirely true. Clinton’s smiles and confident body language showed leadership. But by the end, the debate turned out to be what everyone feared: redundant. Clinton’s strong front melted into a series of bullet point policy arguments. It came off as overly calculated and disingenuous. Trump’s belligerence and regular interruptions entirely fulfilled criticism regarding his lack of emotional sensitivity, and his rejection of facts once again showed that truth is a luxury this election season. All of this spiraled out of control as Lester Holt handed the
pittnews.com
candidates the reins. He let them fight as if rules didn’t exist. When he did attempt to get on course, he was shut down. His fact-check attempts were quiet and overlooked. A PowerPoint could have offered questions with a greater sense of authority. Maybe the joke’s on us. Maybe we should have never expected anything substantive from last night, because nothing substantive has come out of this entire race. Plenty of people will spend the week arguing over which candidate won, but it seems like the people looking to justify their already-formed conclusions were the only ones who got anything out of the night. If you thought Hillary was impersonal going into last night, you probably feel the same way today, because she was. If you thought Trump was erratic and uncomposed, you probably feel the same way today, because he was. The debate was littered with the expected interjections from Trump, the usual thick-skinned responses from Clinton and a complete lack of factually-based assertions that has come to define this entire election. In short, nothing surprises us anymore. See you next time.
Michael Brown Sr. speaks to students and community members about racial justice at Pitt last Wednesday. Meghan Sunners SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Jamie Viens Columnist
Just before my first year of college, my biggest concern was that my classes would be too early in the morning. Aug. 9, 2014 — exactly one week before I left for school — I can’t recall what I was doing because it didn’t matter. I was in no immediate danger, had no target on my back and had nothing to fear. That was not the case for Michael Brown, just three months older than I — one week away from his first year of college, just like me — the day he was shot and killed in his hometown of Ferguson, Missouri. His father described the scene to me and over 400 other students in heartbreaking detail this past Wednesday when Pitt Program Council presented “A Father’s Perspective.” Michael Brown Sr. spoke
September 27, 2016
about his son, his beliefs and his community outreach foundation, Chosen for Change. I sat and watched a father recount his son’s story to a crowd of strangers — his personality, his interests and his death. As a nameless face among many, I was what Michael Brown will never get to be again. “There is a difference. That’s the part that hurts. I think [black people] should be given the same rights,” Michael Brown Sr. disclosed to us. “We are being targeted. We are under attack.” Oscar Grant, Tyrone Harris Jr., Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Matthew Ajibade, Korryn Gaines and, most recently, Terence Crutcher and Keith Scott have all been victims of the attack Brown Sr. described. I am a white girl from Connecticut. It is not my place to speak about injustice See Viens on page 6
5
Viens, pg. 5 as though I have suffered it, just as it is not my place to tell you what to think or how to act. But it is my responsibility to demand that we recognize our own accountability in fostering a culture that allows racial and political polarization to dichotomize us. Michael Brown’s death is on all of us, and we need to accept that. To point fingers solely at Darren Wilson or the police force as a single entity is to negate the fact that our country cultivates an environment of exclusivity that each one of us propagates in one way or another. “Everyone is trying to point the finger ... I don’t hate the police, I hate the decisions [some of them] make ... We have to respect them and what they do to serve and protect,” Michael Brown Sr. said. “It’s hard to know who’s for you and who’s not, but they’re not all bad.” Michael Brown wanted to be a rapper, his father told us, and they had argued about whether or not he would go to college. His favorite musical artist was Kendrick Lamar. On April Fools’ Day, the year he was killed, he called his parents and
pittnews.com
told them he had gotten someone pregnant. His dad threatened to beat him with a broom as he hung up, laughing. Michael Brown Sr. told us his son had been in run-ins with Wilson prior to his death — the two were not on good terms. His father never thought it would come to this. “Ignorance doesn’t have a color,” he said, pleading with the crowd to love and respect one another. He told us that he “put all his anger towards doing good things to keep [his] mind in a safe place, so [he would not] do something that would embarrass [his] son.” Michael Brown was 18 years old — three months older than I was. Yet, somehow, if I were gunned down by a police officer under questionable circumstances, I have no doubt in my mind that the jury convened to convict my killer would have found sufficient probable cause for indictment. My own fault in the matter would not have been considered — or if it was, plastered across cable news as though I were a defeated villain who had it coming. Michael Brown was not simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The 102 unarmed black men and women killed by
police officers in 2015, alone, were not instances of bad luck. Only 10 of the 102 cases in 2015 resulted in officers being charged with their crime, and only two ended with conviction. One of the two officers received jail time for the death of Ajibade — he was sentenced to one year and permitted to serve his time on weekends. These inequities are not casualties of a system that otherwise works — they are evidence of a system that has institutionalized racism and marginalized nearly every facet of its population that is not a middle-aged, heterosexual white man. If you have ever withheld your vote in an election, excused yourself from jury duty, made a joke in poor taste or taken an opportunity for granted, then you have wasted a privilege. At some point, no matter our race or nationality, we have all been guilty of abusing the rights that have been afforded to most of us and overlooking those who have not been so fortunate. Our system has failed all of us, and all of us have failed Michael Brown. Avoidance has not worked. Violence has not worked. And pointing fingers has not worked. Maybe it’s time that we
September 27, 2016
look to ourselves and acknowledge our own culpability in the factors that allowed these deaths to occur and their killers to remain unprosecuted. Michael Brown’s death is on the shoulders of Darren Wilson and prosecuting attorney Robert McCulloch, but it is also on me and you. As Michael Brown Sr. described, it is not enough to cite this as racism, and it is not enough to blame the police. Each one of us can choose to be an activist, an advocate and a friend. On a daily basis, we can choose to educate ourselves about social issues and their impacts. We can choose to listen and give victims unable to defend themselves the benefit of the doubt. We owe it to each other to participate in community outreach programs and dedicate a portion of our time to consider the welfare of others. It is time to not only acknowledge privilege, but actively take advantage of the opportunities it affords some to work towards a culture that fosters equality, rather than exclusivity. We know how Michael Brown died. We should not stop asking ourselves — and our society— why.
6
Culture
See Online
For more photos of ModCloth’s pop up
A moment with ModCloth: A pop-up in PGH Amanda Reed
Contributing Editor If you told Susan Gregg Koger, ModCloth co-founder and chief creative officer, 14 years ago that she would have a shop of her own filled with customers she would never have believed you. “It was always really fun to imagine having a store of any sort and getting to actually see all of our products in person [and] see all of our customers here,” she says. “I had no idea we’d be able to pull it off and actually do it here in Pittsburgh.” Gregg Koger and her then-boyfriend, now husband Eric Koger founded ModCloth, an online shop for pre-owned vintage dresses, in 2002 in a Carnegie Mellon University dorm room. Now, ModCloth has expanded beyond its dress line and boasts $150 million in revenue each year with the company moving
pittnews.com
off the web and into pop-up shops around the country. The pop-up shop tour — called ModCloth IRL, or “in real life” — began its tour this May in Austin, Texas, and ends today in Pittsburgh, the place where it all started. According to Gregg Koger, the idea for temporary shops sprouted after hearing customer feedback about wanting to experience ModCloth in person. In 2015, the couple decided to host a three-day pop-up in Los Angeles and then in San Francisco. The Pittsburgh shop, which was open Downtown at 625 Smithfield St. from Sept. 17 to Sept. 27, featured items mostly from ModCloth’s in-house brand and some Pittsburgh exclusives, including products from Steel City tees, Moon Pine jewelry and No Sleep Boutique. With its pink walls and body-positive mannequins, the shop reflects ModCloth’s
The Pittsburgh ModCloth pop-up shop ends today. Julia Zhu STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER eclectic style and its dedication to serving customers of all sizes. Some of Gregg Koger’s favorite pieces in the pop-up include a denim skirt-pantjacket set that features flower grommets and a chevron design, a ModCloth varsity cardigan inspired by vintage varsity jackets and a red corduroy jumper with heart-shaped pockets.
September 27, 2016
It’s this passion for providing quintessentially cool and effortlessly quirky products that has kept Gregg Koger going after 14 years. “At the end of the day, we want to help our customers feel like the best version of themselves,” she said. “Being able to do that is what makes it worthwhile to keep going, even when it gets hard.”
7
CAUSING A RUCKUS: Kaniecki brings comic, poetic relief to campus Salina Pressimone For The Pitt News
Some comedians have a pointed approach, from Jerry Seinfeld’s “Have you ever noticed?” brand of observational comedy to Richard Pryor’s on-stage philosophizing. But Lizzie Kaniecki, Vice President of Ruckus — Pitt’s improvisational comedy club — says sometimes you have to lighten things up. Her “White Girl Jesus” character has become one of her best-known acts by fellow club members, student viewers and listeners. Kaniecki quips during her shows, “Hey, I’m White Girl Jesus, and if you want me to turn the party up, I can turn water into wine!” Aside from her miracle-making Ruckus performances, Kaniecki, a junior film major from Wheeling, West Virginia, is a co-founder of The Poet’s Pit — a poetry club on campus — as well as an active contributor to Pitt’s improv radio show, Ruckusology. Kaniecki has performed in several higherprofile shows, notably Penn State’s Improv and Comedy Festival, RAWR and the Del Close 56 hour improv marathon in New York City. Through her performances over the past two years, Kaniecki’s unassuming personality and riffs on everyday life have been regular highlights in Pitt’s comedy scene. After attending one of Ruckus’ events in Nordy’s Place during her first year at Pitt, Kaniecki felt captivated by its atmosphere. She triumphed over her performance anxiety, auditioned and successfully joined the club. Prior to her audition, Kaniecki had no experience with improv and didn’t know if she’d continue with it once she jumped in. “I knew I wanted to do something funny but I didn’t know what,” she recalled, adding that after her first try, “that was when I felt like I wanted to pursue comedy. I felt like that was where I really fit.” Since then, Kaniecki has developed her own style of comedy, drawing on ordinary routines of daily life and transforming them into humor. One post from her personal blog, Womansplaining, shows her ability to somehow connect the importance of kindness and patience to her most recent Uber ride. The post, referring to a bizarre but lovable Uber driver, reads: “[The driver] pulls out a
pittnews.com
microphone, looks me straight in the eye and screams, ‘Uber Karaoke! Do you have a song ready?’ Since this has never happened to anyone ever, I did not. She said, ‘That’s okay — I’ll go!’ She put on a song that she really did not know all the words to, but [I] sang as much as she did.” Her jokes, when she strays from commentary on the mundane, can be unreserved — Kaniecki
mosphere and has become open and candid with her humor. “She’s definitely grown more confident as a comedian over the years,” Ferraro explained. “[She’s] stepping forward — helping some of the newer members also become more confident.” Comedy’s not the only art Kaniecki’s dabbled in during her time at Pitt — after reading a poem
Lizzie Kaniecki, the vice president of Ruckus, mingles comedy with poetry for inspired performances. Meghan Sunners SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER describes herself as a sort of “contrarian.” “Whenever someone asks a question or says something that warrants a response, I say whatever they probably don’t want me to say,” she said. Once, in response to a friend’s innocent admiration of a cloud one evening, she urged him to take things a step further, saying, “Oh, you just get his number, see if he’s single ... he’s giving you the eye, he’s telling you to come over.” Meghan Ferraro, a junior accounting major who works with Kaniecki on Ruckus’ executive board, said her friend has grown as both a comedian and a person since her first year at Pitt. Kaniecki’s focus, according to Ferraro, has moved beyond her own performance. She advises new members, establishes a supportive at-
she wrote at her first open mic night, she also discovered a love of poetry. Kaniecki soon teamed up//when?// with fellow poetry buff Tallon Kennedy, who hails from Columbus, Ohio, and mapped out a club plan, which began with a casual trip to Panther Hollow Lake to offer students the chance to share their art. About 50 student poets came to the first meeting, which has since become a safe space for students to express their interests in comedy, creativity and innovative thinking. Kaniecki approaches her own poetry with a powerful connection, drawing on her innermost thoughts and feelings when writing. Her use of hand gestures and raised eyebrows when she performs makes it seem as though she’s speaking
September 27, 2016
to the person to whom she originally wrote the poem. “Anything above the normal threshold of feeling is what makes me want to write about it,” Kaniecki said. Her poetry is minimally edited and rarely re-drafted. A piece that starts out in the Notes app of her phone — triggered by feelings of accomplishment, disappointment, anger or hope — sometimes reaches completion in one sitting. Kaniecki’s approach prompts her audience to not only hear but to feel the genuineness of her words. Kennedy — the co-founder of The Poet’s Pit — said Kaniecki is able to mix humor into the group’s poetry open mic nights, as the events can sometimes feel tense. “[As MC] she was able to contrast that heaviness with this lighter, more humorous, more open and friendly atmosphere between the poems,” Kennedy explained. Dana Och, an English and film studies professor at Pitt, said Kaniecki has a rare ability to make insightful connections between comedy, social issues and politics. One of Kaniecki’s poems, “Female Drivers,” addresses what the poet-comedian calls the “stencil” of body image, intelligence and propriety that women in modern society feel restricted to. “She’s bold in class ... she is willing to ask troublesome or interesting questions and push analysis beyond the surface,” Och said. Kaniecki’s inspiration comes from lead contemporary female comedians in the industry, such as Amy Poehler and Carrie Brownstein, and this influence surges into her comedy and personal views as well. “Ruckus is kind of a matriarchy,” according to Kaniecki, whose work with the improv group has only increased her concern for women in the comedy industry. Whether she will be doing a traveing comedy tour or working with Brownstein on “Portlandia,” Kaniecki fully intends to incorporate comedy into her career — all while pushing the limits, questioning the everyday and continuing to elbow her way into a male-dominated industry. “You shouldn’t be too scared of the powers at be, because that’s when the powers at be are too dangerous and when you need to make fun of them,” Kaniecki said.
8
Sports PITT MEN’S SOCCER SINKS LONGWOOD, 2-1 Steve Rotstein Sports Editor
Midfielder Matt Venanzi scored the go-ahead goal for the Panthers on Monday. John Hamilton STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The Pitt men’s soccer team continues to show steady improvement after encountering a rough stretch early on in Jay Vidovich’s first season as head coach. After battling to a 1-1 draw against the Duke Blue Devils on Friday to snap a four-game losing streak, the Panthers (2-5-2 overall) defeated the Longwood Lancers (3-5-1 overall), 2-1, on Monday night in Farmville, Virginia. All three goals came in the second half following an extremely quiet first 45 minutes. The game got off to a slow start with only two shots apiece through the first 20 minutes. Longwood goalkeeper David Hay turned away Pitt defender Curren Page’s shot in the third minute, and neither team placed another shot on goal for more than 30 minutes. The Lancers attempted four shots in the first 30 minutes, but none reached the Panthers’ goal. Meanwhile, Pitt defender Matt Bischoff put a shot on target in the 36th minute, but again, Hay made the save. Then, with just four seconds left in the first half,
midfielder Michael Margulis had a chance to give Longwood the lead. But Panthers goalkeeper Mikal Outcalt made the save on the Lancers’ first shot on goal of the game to keep the game scoreless at halftime. Longwood outshot Pitt in the first half, 6-5, but neither team generated many promising scoring opportunities. Then, the Panthers came out firing after the break. After the Lancers committed a foul, Pitt’s firstyear forward John Fritz found himself in a 1-on-1 opportunity against Longwood’s goalie. Fritz bounced it off the right post and into the net for the first goal of his collegiate career, giving the Panthers a 1-0 lead in the 52nd minute. Longwood managed to get a pair of shots off after giving up the lead but couldn’t put them on net. Margulis received a yellow card in the 58th minute, resulting in a free kick for Pitt. Senior defender Stephane Pierre took the kick for the Panthers and directed the ball to the middle of the field where senior midfielder Matt Venanzi corralled it and sent it past Hay for his second goal of the See Men’s Soccer on page 10
NARDUZZI LAMENTS MISSED OPPORTUNITIES AGAINST UNC Steve Rotstein Sports Editor
Normally, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi likes to move on from a previous week’s game after 24 hours and focus his attention on the next match. But after coming so close to a win over a quality opponent only to falter at the end for the second week in a row, he allowed time at his Monday press conference to reflect on what he thought went wrong. Last weekend’s game was “another obviously tough loss on the Pat Narduzzi dedicated an unusual amount of time to road to a very talented football discuss Saturday’s loss . Jeff Ahearn SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
pittnews.com
September 27, 2016
team in North Carolina,” Narduzzi said. “They made one more play than we did. There were a lot of critical plays in the game that could have gone our way.” The offense racked up more than 35 points for the third straight game, but many thought it played too conservative with a fourth-quarter lead while failing to pick up a first down on its final two possessions — a notion Narduzzi disagreed with. “When you look at our offense, it’s really not conservative. There’s a lot of stuff going on and a lot of moving parts,” Narduzzi said. “The one thing [UNC] did well
is they played great pass coverage. We wanted to take advantage of what they don’t do well, and I think we did. We ran the football well, just like we wanted to.” Despite giving up 471 total yards on defense, the Panthers accomplished their goal of stopping the run to perfection. Pitt held Tar Heels star tailback Elijah Hood to 25 yards on 11 carries and UNC to 18 rushing yards as a team. The Panthers’ defense now leads the ACC and ranks third in the nation with only 61.3 rushing yards allowed per game. Narduzzi also seemed pleased See Narduzzi on page 10
9
Narduzzi, pg. 9 with the way the defense played for the majority of the Tar Heels’ game-winning touchdown drive — just not with the way it ended. “When you look at that 17-play drive at the end of the game — we always chart plays and mark each as a win or loss — 12 of those 17 plays were wins for us,” Narduzzi said. “They were really good. It only takes five of the 17 to be really bad.” Narduzzi had no complaints about his team’s energy level during the game. If anything, he thought the Panthers might have been a little too excited to try to knock off last year’s ACC Coastal Division champion. “We’re moving on to Marshall, but one thing I’d say about that game is that I thought our guys had a ton of energy,” Narduzzi said. “Pre-game, I thought some guys were going to get hurt. It was like they were going live pre-game.” Narduzzi reiterated that North Carolina is a tough team to beat, especially at home, where the Tar Heels won their ninth consecutive game. “That was a good football team. When a guy catches 16 balls, that’s not by accident,” Narduzzi said, referring to UNC wide receiver Ryan Switzer. “He’s talented — the quarterback [Mitch Trubisky]’s talented. We’ll just move on and go to the next.” Pitt tight end Scott Orndoff said he doesn’t think that was a factor in the team’s loss. “For our team, I don’t think there’s
Men’s Soccer, pg. 9 season and a 2-0 lead. Facing a two-goal deficit with 30 minutes left in regulation, the Lancers started to turn up the pressure. Longwood attempted four shots in the 10 minutes following Pitt’s second goal, but Outcalt saved the only one that got to him. Outcalt made his third save of the game on a shot by midfielder Finnlay Wyatt in the 70th minute, then the Panthers defense blocked a rebound attempt, and a third shot sailed high. But with less than 15 minutes left in the game, the Lancers really made things interesting.
pittnews.com
such a thing as being too hyped,” Orndoff said. “I thought everyone was locked in ... The coaches didn’t need to get us fired up that day.” Moving forward to Saturday night’s matchup against Marshall at Heinz Field, Narduzzi hinted that there might be some shuffling to the depth chart but didn’t specify where. “You might see one or two [changes]. I don’t know if it will help things,” Narduzzi said. “There’s always time to shake things up a little bit, and we’ll shake things up.” There should be at least one welcome change on defense for Pitt next week with the return of outside linebacker Mike Caprara, who missed last Saturday’s game with an unspecified lower-body injury. “Mike is fine now. Maybe we could have used him [against UNC], but it wasn’t worth the risk to us,” Narduzzi said. “We expect him to play this week.” Caprara’s return could provide a huge boost to the Panthers’ defense. The senior has been one of the team’s top defensive playmakers this season with seven total tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and two forced fumbles in the Panthers’ first three games. Narduzzi said he knows both Marshall offensive coordinator Bill Legg and defensive coordinator Chuck Heater well, having run clinics with Heater in the past. He expects a tough challenge from the Thundering Herd, who have averaged 11 wins over the past three seasons. “[Heater is] one of the top minds in college football on the defensive side of the ball,” Narduzzi said. “They’re talented across the board.” Midfielder Dan Campos connected on a pass in the middle of the box to fellow midfielder Max Poelker, who then directed it to Wyatt in front of the net. Wyatt beat Outcalt to the lower right side of the goal, making it a 2-1 game in the 77th minute. Longwood kept attacking, shooting high and wide before Outcalt denied a would-be tying goal from Campos in the 85th minute. He then deflected Wyatt’s desperate attempt to tie the game with five seconds left, and Pitt successfully defended Campos’ last-second corner kick to end the game with a score of 2-1. Pitt returns home to host the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30, at Ambrose Urbanic Field.
The Pitt News
Editor-in-Chief ELIZABETH LEPRO
Managing Editor DALE SHOEMAKER
editor@pittnews.com
manager@pittnews.com
News Editor LAUREN ROSENBLATT
Opinions Editor KIRSTEN WONG
newsdesk.tpn@gmail.com
tpnopinions@pittnews.com
Sports Editor STEVE ROTSTEIN
Culture Editor BRADY LANGMANN
tpnsports@gmail.com
aeeditors@gmail.com
Visual Editor ELAINA ZACHOS
Layout Editor DANAH BIALORUSKI
pittnewsphoto@gmail.com
tpnlayout@gmail.com
Online Editor PETER LOREI
Copy Chief SIERRA SMITH
tpnonline@gmail.com
tpncopydesk@gmail.com
Alexandria Stryker | Assistant Copy Emily Brindley | Assistant News Editor Alexa Bakalarski | Assistant News Editor Copy Staff Matt Moret | Assistant Opinions Editor Amanda Sobczak Matthew Maelli Ashwini Sivaganesh | Assistant Sports Editor Bridget Montgomery Michelle Reagle Jordan Mondell | Assistant Visual Editor Corey Foreman Sarah Choflet Emily Hower | Assistant Layout Editor Katie Krater Sydney Mengel Amanda Reed | Online Engagement Editor Kelsey Hunter
Editorial Policies Single copies of The Pitt News are free and available at newsstands around campus. Additional copies can be purchased with permission of the editor in chief for $.50 each. Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the students, faculty or University administration. Opinions expressed in columns, cartoons and letters are not necessarily those of The Pitt News. Any letter in tended for publication must be addressed to the editor, be no more than 250 words and include the writer’s name, phone number and University affiliation, if any. Letters may be sent via e-mail to letters@pittnews.com. The Pitt News reserves the right to edit any and all letters. In the event of multiple replies to an issue, The Pitt News may print one letter that represents the majority of responses. Unsigned editorials are a majority opinion of the Editorial Board, listed to the left. The Pitt News is an independent, student-written and
student-managed newspaper for the Oakland campus of the University of Pittsburgh. It is pub lished Monday through Friday during the regular school year and Wednesdays during the summer. Complaints concerning coverage by The Pitt News, after first being brought to the editors, may be referred to the Community Relations Com mittee, Pitt News Advisory Board, c/o student media adviser, 435 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260. The editor in chief has the final authority on editorial matters and cannot be censored, according to state and federal law. The editor in chief is selected by the Pitt News Advisory Board, which includes University staff, fac ulty and students, as well as journalism professionals. The business and edito rial offices of The Pitt News are located at 434 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260.
Business Manager CALVIN REIF
advertising@pittnews.com
Sales Manager SEAN HENNESSY
Inside Sales Manager MARISSA ALTEMUS
Marketing Manager LARA PETORAK
Digital Manager ISAAC PROCH
Graphic Designers
September 27, 2016
Matt Hyre Maya Puskaric
Production Manager MAYA PUSKARIC Account Executives
Robert Capone Matty Hoack David Barone Jill Baldauf
Marty Waters Julianne Rohac Chad Boronky Isabel Scrabis
Inside Sales Executive Sarah Moore Arianna Taddei Izzy Krempa
10