10-15-19

The Pitt News

T h e i n d e p e n d e n t s t ude nt ne w spap e r of t he U niversity of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | Ocotber 15, 2019 ­| Volume 110 | Issue 43

Opening up the conversation around mental health

PAINTING THE TOWN

Madison Brewer For The Pitt News

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, nearly half of non-Hispanic white Americans get treatment for mental illness, but only 30% of black or African Americans do.

Similar trends can be seen in other marginalized communities in America. Members of the LGBTQ+ community, for example, are more likely to experience mental health issues than those outside the community. Over 37% of LGBTQ+ adults experience mental health issues — considerably more common than the 20% of American adults.

In an effort to make the conversation around mental illness more inclusive, a group of about 20 met in the William Pitt Union’s Kurtzman Room Monday night for a roundtable to discuss mental health and intersectionality.

The conversation centered around the barriers people face when accessing mental health treatment, including stigma, cost and culture.

Groups of students rotated from table to table, joining discussions led by five speak-

Senior bioinformatics major Devin Dikec (right) paints the front window of Hemingway’s Cafe as a part of Pitt SAA’s Paint the Town on Monday morning. Ally Hansen staff photographer

Fleisher fights for a future without gun violence

Rebecca Johnson Staff Writer

When the Tree of Life massacre rocked Pittsburgh nearly a year ago, Kathryn Fleisher, a member of the Reform Jewish Movement, was devastated.

“I had trouble doing normal things like going to class or feeding myself the week after,” See Roundtable on page 2

Fleisher said. “I definitely had some survivor’s guilt.”

But there was one thing that helped.

“The thing that I could do was organize and bring people in and build coalitions and host rallies and give speeches. That made sense to me in that really terrible moment,” Fleisher said. “Organizing was the only thing that made me feel human again.”

Fleisher, a senior politics and philosophy and GSWS double major at Pitt, founded Not My Generation in December 2018, a national nonprofit focused on inspiring young people to advocate for intersectional, localized gun violence prevention.

Fleisher’s involvement in gun violence prevention advocacy began in 2015 with the ReSee Fleisher on page 2

News Roundtable, pg. 1

ers, including Toya Jones, a lecturer in Pitt’s School of Social Work, Sean Moundas, a Counseling Center staff member and several student leaders.

Moderators asked the attendants to consider mental health — not just their own experiences, but also the larger implications.

Some participants said the wider conversation tends to gloss over what good mental health looks like while only focusing on instances of poor mental health. Several students agreed that talking about good mental health would help them in their personal recovery.

Attendees also discussed the image that pops into their head when they hear the phrase “mental illness.” The word “ill” can create a negative first connotation. But, in fact, more people have a mental illness than

Fleisher, pg. 1 form Jewish Movement and escalated following the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Even before this, Fleisher said she has always felt a need to help people. She just wasn’t sure how.

“Since I could walk and talk, I wanted to be a doctor because it made sense to me that doctors help fix people,” Fleisher said. “But then after I got older, I realized you didn’t have to fix issues one by one. They can be fixed via policy.”

According to data compiled by Gun Violence Archive, the number of mass shootings — defined as a single incident in which four or more people not including the shooter has died — has exceeded the number of days in 2019 thus far, including 22 school shootings.

The Parkland shooting, which killed 17 people and wounded 14 others, inspired a new wave of gun violence prevention advocacy, organized in large part by survivors of the shooting. Fleisher was one of these activists in the now youth-led movement.

In March 2018, Fleisher helped organize around 2,500 Reform Jews representing 50 different universities to take part in the March for Our Lives, a student protest advocating for legislation to prevent gun violence, in Washington,

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many realize. According to NAMI, one in five U.S. adults experience mental illness each year.

Dina Condeluci, a senior natural sciences major, said it’s important to talk about mental illness because it’s so widespread.

“It’s important because a lot of people have mental health issues,” Condeluci said.

“Even if it’s not affecting you directly then it’s still affecting you indirectly through a friend or a family member.”

Jones said in addition to the general stigma around mental illness, she’s found that people of color can experience stigma from their communities as well. In the black community, Jones said, people rely on their faith and their family — they don’t often turn to therapy.

“If we are seeking professional help, like therapy, then that negative stigma is we are weak,” Jones said.

In black culture, Jones said, one also turns

to the community for support. Unfortunately, according to Jones, therapy typically takes a Eurocentric approach — one that doesn’t resonate with or help black patients.

“Educating clinicians of the dominant race and dominant culture so that they are not adhering to the institutionalized racism so that they are not then racially injuring their clients [is key],” Jones said.

This reluctance towards therapy isn’t specific to the African American community.

Some children of immigrants said they felt unreasonable for experiencing mental health issues when they had had a relatively easy life.

Intersectionality extends to LGBTQ+ issues as well — as mental health issues are more prevalent among the LGBTQ+ community than the general public.

Calvin Ecker, the social action chair of the Rainbow Alliance and a speaker at the event, said he was happy to see LGBTQ+ issues included in the topic of intersectionality.

“It felt good to talk about LGBTQ+ topics in a space where they’re not always talked about,” Ecker said.

Some attendees agreed that an approach to fixing the way mental health is viewed needs to focus on intersectionality and felt that any change must include people of color.

Monday’s event was only the first step, Condeluci said. She wants this conversation to be casual and commonplace so it will lead to real change.

“I hope that everyone can actually take this discussion and apply it in their daily lives,” Condeluci said.

Ecker said the event changed his perspective, and that he plans to continue the discussions in his daily life.

“It was really eye-opening, not only for me as an LGBT person but for me as a person with mental health issues and as a person who just exists in the world,” Ecker said.

D.C. At the march, Fleisher met Lindsey Aranson, a junior film studies production and English literature major at Pitt. Aranson was so inspired by Fleisher’s early work that she decided to make a documentary detailing Fleisher’s life and work with Not My Generation this year.

“Last year she organized a trip to D.C. for March for Our Lives where we lobbied and talked to Congresspeople, and I really admired her,” Aranson said. “So when I saw she was doing Not My Generation, I thought, ‘This is perfect, my film has come to me.’”

A major portion of Aranson’s film will document Not My Generation’s inaugural summit in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 8-10, which is supported by high-profile partners including the NAACP, Center for American Progress, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, March for Our Lives, Youth Over Guns, Generation Progress and Team Enough. To finance the summit, Not My Generation has raised $90,000.

The summit is bringing together 125 advocates aged 18 to 25 from all over the country in coalitions or teams of four to five people. At the summit, Not My Generation plans on providing each group with an action plan specific to their local area, addressing each community’s diverse needs.

Fleisher said the response from various communities after the Tree of Life shooting inspired her organization’s intersectional, teamcentric approach.

“I saw the kind of relationship building that was going on across lines of difference in the City, particularly the Muslim and Jewish communities, but I also saw that when the cameras turned off and the Shiva period ended, it started fading,” Fleisher said. “I wanted to do something to keep that at the forefront of the movement and have everyone fight for common sense gun reform.”

Madison Ricker, a junior political science and English writing major, is attending the conference in November as a part of a four-person coalition. She said she is excited for the conference and the skills she will learn to benefit her community.

“The summit was something I wanted to be involved with and I feel really lucky that I get to be involved with it because it’s [Fleisher] running it,” Ricker said. “Unfortunately we have to step up and say enough [is] enough, and I’m really glad that we’re able to build the framework for the next generation.”

Fleisher’s commitment to ending gun violence is extensive, so much so that she dedicates around 35 hours a week to Not My Generation.

“It sounds cheesy, but I feel very drawn to

this work,” Fleisher said. “It has a clear solution and it’s just going to take people to fight for it, and I’m willing to fight.”

Ricker isn’t surprised by Fleisher’s commitment.

“I don’t understand how she does it all, but I’m so glad I get to watch and experience it,” Ricker said. “We joke all the time that we don’t know how she just goes, goes, goes.”

Despite all her accomplishments, Fleisher credits her organization’s success to her executive and community partners.

“The main thing that I make sure I get across is that this is by no means just me,” Fleisher said.

“It’s taken every single person on the team, every experienced organizer who’s mentored me along the way, every single person who’s donated, even a dollar or two, every single person who applied to the summit, every person who’s been involved.”

Fleisher’s ultimate goal for Not My Generation is a testament to her passion — she wants it to have no reason to exist.

“We have the tools to end gun violence, or at least drastically reduce it, and if we can do everything we can and actually put those laws and funding for research and community programs into effect, I really think we have the ability to stymie the flow of gun violence,” Fleisher said.

“I want to work ourselves out of a job.”

October 15, 2019

2

Opinions

ONLINE Editorial: Pennsylvania prison sets example at pittnews.com

column

Ellen proves she doesn’t get the point Devi Ruia

Senior Staff Columnist Ellen DeGeneres did something that absolutely no one asked her to do last week.

She defended her friendship with George W. Bush.

Photos of DeGeneres laughing with Bush at a football game surfaced on the internet and prompted her monologue about her relationship with the former president.

DeGeneres spoke about kindness and having friends with different belief systems — but she’s completely missing the problem at hand.

Bush is not just a random conservative individual. For eight years, he served as president of the United States and is directly responsible for a litany of terrible things.

That’s why it made no sense when DeGeneres belittled the criticism surrounding the pictures of her and Bush and compared it to having friends who support a rival sports team. Bush has never truly answered for his many misdeeds and asking people to just move past those things is obtuse and premature.

“Sorry, until George W. Bush is brought to justice for the crimes of the Iraq War (including American-lead torture, Iraqi deaths & displacement, and the deep scars — emotional & otherwise — inflicted on our military that served his folly), we can’t even begin to talk about kindness,” tweeted Mark Ruffalo — an on-screen and real-life superhero.

The Iraq War is the worst part of Bush’s mostly terrible legacy. The death toll of the war is estimated at about half a million lives lost — maybe more. The war was fueled by a series of lies told to the American people and, as president, Bush is to blame for most of them — although Dick Cheney certainly holds a lot of responsibility as well. Bush even wrote in his memoir that when asked if American forces should use waterboarding — which many say violates the Geneva

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Shruti Talekar staff illustrator Conventions — to question potential terrorists, he responded “damn right.”

Ruffalo is right that Bush has never had to answer for his actions. It seems as though DeGeneres has forgotten about all of the atrocities that happened under Bush’s watch — and unfortunately she’s not the only one.

Actress and producer Reese Witherspoon originally tweeted in support of Ellen’s statement but deleted her tweet following the understandable backlash. Kristen Bell also posted on Instagram in support of DeGeneres and deleted her post as well following the backlash that she received. Many other celebrities posted or commented in support of DeGeneres’ statement as well, which is disappointing, but not all that surprising.

Since Trump has become president, people have seemingly started to forget about how terrible Bush was. Yes, Trump is exceptionally awful and more explicitly unfit

for office based on his hateful rhetoric. But just because he makes Bush look favorable in comparison doesn’t mean we can forget Bush’s misdeeds. Plus, Trump has yet to start a devastating war and will hopefully be voted out of office before he even has a chance to do so — so let’s not allow Trump’s sins to absolve Bush of his.

It is also understandable that the people who have supported Ellen want to view her and Bush’s friendship as an example of something wholesome and positive in this time of intense partisan bickering. Ellen is correct when she points out that we should all strive to be kind to others, but friendship with people on the other side of the political spectrum isn’t possible for everyone. When people support policies or ideologies that directly threaten the lives of other individuals, it’s insane to ask those individuals to befriend those that threaten their existence.

“It’s kind of incredible how conservatives

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… have been able to craft this narrative that we should be nice to them while they literally oppress and kill us.” writer Kara Brown tweeted.

Bush wanted to create a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality. Ellen is an out lesbian who is married to a woman. Maybe that is something that Ellen can look past to be friends with Bush and that’s admirable — though it’s something that is inherently more possible for privileged individuals.

“When you’re a wealthy person who has a lot of privilege and you’ve been wealthy for a really long time, the effects of politics are largely insignificant to you,” political correspondent Emma Vigeland said in an interview on “The Damage Report.”

Ellen does use her platform for political activism on occasion, but her response to her friendship with Bush shows the fundamental disconnect that her privilege affords her. Being friends with people whose politics threaten their livelihood is not easy for people who aren’t in Ellen’s position of power and wealth.

“Families who can’t afford health care don’t get a ‘choice,’ women in Louisiana who might lose access to abortion don’t get to ‘choose’ to stay out of it. People getting fired for being trans don’t get to, either,” tweeted Erin Ryan, host of the podcast “Hysteria.”

Kindness and respect to other individuals should be something that everyone on both sides of the aisle practice whenever possible, but friendship is a stretch when it comes to people like Bush. Bush started two destructive wars, is responsible for illegal torture and the financial crisis happened on his watch — partially as a result of his actions.

Ellen’s monologue about her relationship with Bush shows that she misunderstands the reason for people’s criticism. We do need to strive to be kind to others, but there are limits when the other person is responsible for so many reprehensible acts.

3

Culture

JULES GILL-PETERSON SHARES THE SECRET HISTORY OF TRANSGENDER CHILDREN

Sinead McDevitt For The Pitt News

Jules Gill-Peterson said in a talk Thursday afternoon that she is well aware of the timeliness of her new book, “Histories of the Transgender Child.”

“It’s not lost on me that only several days ago, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on a matter that will determine whether or not trans people enjoy any basic civil rights protections,” she said. “Then closer to home, here in Pittsburgh, we’re still processing the death of Elisha Stanley … despite there being an ongoing crisis of murder and violence against black and brown trans women.”

An assistant professor of English and gender, sexuality and women’s studies at Pitt, Gill-Peterson used archival evidence from throughout the 20th century — uncovered over the course of five years of researching and writing — to argue that transgender children have always existed.

As Gill-Peterson asserts in “Histories of the Transgender Child” there is not, as antitrans advocates would insist, a sudden increase in children who identify as trans.

The book also asserts that medical gatekeeping, the practice of dismissing someone’s identity as a trans person because they do not show certain traits, has been harmful to trans children — especially trans people of color.

Gill-Peterson discussed her book with a crowd of about 30 people, in an event hosted by the University Library System as part of their Faculty Book Talk series — held in the Hillman Library during the Fall and Spring semesters. The talk consisted of a reading of a chapter from the book, followed by a Q&A session.

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At the event, Gill-Peterson read letters written by a trans girl in the ’60s under the pseudonym “Vicki” to a medical practice, which detail her desire to recieve a sex change. The letters she received in return consistently told her that she needed to “be patient, finish your education and see how you feel once you are mature.”

Megan Massanelli, who works in the archives and special collections at the University Library System, said she was interested in Gill-Peterson’s talk as an opportunity to learn about the author’s research and the sources she used, such as the letters trans people wrote to medical practices requesting approval for hormone therapy.

“It had never occurred to me that people would write letters to some of these doctors that they have the archives for,” she said. “As someone who processes, describes and arranges historical collections like the ones at the Kinsey Institute, I’m always kind of curious how to call those out so that researchers can find them when they’re looking for them.”

During the Q&A portion, audience members repeatedly asked Gill-Peterson about her researching process and the difficulties she encountered in knowing where to look for primary sources.

“The main [obstacle] was just lack of available evidence,” she said. “So trying to figure out what kinds of archives could tell histories about people who we didn’t even necessarily know anything about … or if they used the same language about trans identities today,” she said.

Gill-Peterson’s next project is called “Gender Underground: A History of Trans DIY,” a book in which she seeks to create an oral history of the various do-it-yourself practices employed by trans people in the

Jules Gill-Peterson, an assistant professor of English and gender, sexualtiy and women’s studies at Pitt, is the author of “Histories of the Transgender Child.” Image via University of Pittsburgh 20th century. When asked about a relationship between the two projects, Gill-Peterson said that her goal for the second book is to find information about the lives of trans people that couldn’t be found in a medical archive.

“In this new project, I’m trying to not use any medical archives at all, and find other kinds that can do the kind of work that I wasn’t able to do in the first book,” Gill-Peterson said. “There’s sort of a kind of call and response between the two projects.”

Peter Campbell, an assistant professor in the English department who attended the talk, said he heard parts of the book as it was still a work in progress.

“I’ve been lucky enough to see her present sections and pieces of the work as it was ongoing,” he said. “I was aware of the literature around the historicization of trans identity, but I was not aware of a lot of what Gill-Peterson has found through her archival research into the histories of transgender children specifically.”

Massanelli said she noticed the effect

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a growing number of people researching transgender history, such as Gill-Peterson, has on LGBTQ+ students, who may not have seen themselves represented before in research.

“I’ve worked with a lot of students who are thrilled to see themselves in the archives and inspired to create their own zines or newsletters,” Massanelli said.

Gill-Peterson discussed how the idea that transgender children must be protected from themselves or from making decisions that are too rash because they cannot make the choice themselves to transition has persisted to this day.

However, “Histories of The Transgender Child” argues that we should not seek to “protect” transgender children from themselves.

“I call in the book for adults to learn to listen, to respect trans children as people, not turn to them for some explanation of what gender is, and to learn to desire their existence,” she said. “To want them in the world. In short, to like them.”

4

‘Las Madres de Berks’ illuminates reality of immigrant detention in Pennsylvania Vikram Sundar Staff Writer

Nearly 80 years after former President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order commissioning the relocation of Japanese-Americans to internment camps in the wake of World War II, thousands of undocumented immigrants are being relocated into detention centers across the country.

One such detention center is the focus of Michelle Angela Ortiz’s film “Las Madres de Berks.”

The film was shown at the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium Thursday night in a screening hosted by the Shut Down Berks Coalition, an activist organization, in conjunction with Pitt’s history of art and architecture department. The 30-minute documentary follows two years in the lives of four immigrant mothers and their children detained at Berks County Residential Center.

Berks, which is located in Leesport, is one of three family detention centers in the country — the other two are located in Texas — in which

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains undocumented immigrant families. These families are forced to stay at the center until their asylum cases are addressed by the court, after which they are either deported or allowed to stay in the country.

Ortiz said she frequently visited Berks while the mothers in the film were still detained. She originally worked with 14 mothers at the facility, but within five months of her visits, 10 out of those 14 mothers at Berks were deported back to their home countries.

The film features a collection of interviews Ortiz conducted, in addition to infographics, scenes from protests and displays of Ortiz’s artwork, such as murals, throughout Pennsylvania.

Despite being released from the detention center, three of the four mothers are given fake names and have their faces concealed to protect their identities from the ongoing threat of deportation from ICE. In the interviews, the mothers recount how dehumanizing their treatment was in the facility.

One mother mentions how insensitive the medical staff were when treating her son’s urological condition. Another mother recalls the lack of sleep she and her child suffered because of the constant ID checks. All mention the constant surveillance they were under at the center.

The struggles of living in detainment had an even more profound impact on their children, some of whom spent a significant part of their childhood in the facility. Some of the children had even started to display suicidal thoughts and tendencies.

Maria Sotomayor, deputy director of the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, attended the screening and answered questions from the crowd. She said she found the film impactful because of the way it drew attention to the inhumane treatment of immigrants in detention here in Pennsylvania.

“A lot of the time, we don’t think about what we’re experiencing. We just think ‘Oh yeah, there’s a detention center. They’re just staying there,’” Sotomayor said. “But we don’t consider the living

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experiences.”

With growing concern for their children’s well-being, the mothers eventually organized a hunger strike with hopes of attracting media attention to the conditions at Berks. After 16 days of refusing to eat, they caught the interest of major news outlets, which brought attention to the Obama administration’s harsh detainment policy for immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

The strike was eventually put to an end, as the administration at Berks threatened to separate the children from their mothers, alleging they were physically unfit to provide care. After nearly two years of confinement, three of the four mothers were conditionally released with ankle monitors, while one was deported back to El Salvador with her son.

Although the four mothers were released, the hardships they endured in raising their children in detainment have continued to haunt them to See Reality on page 7

5

Sports

ACC BASKETBALL PREVIEW:

DUKE POISED TO REPEAT AS CHAMPS Kyle Saxon Staff Writer

With just three weeks until tipoff of the 2019-20 college basketball season, the nation’s strongest conference is wide-open.

While the top four teams are abundantly clear, the rest of the ACC is largely up for grabs. The 2019 offseason left several teams decimated by departures, while others made remarkable progress. Here are the ACC preseason power rankings for the upcoming season.

1. Duke The Blue Devils are no stranger to the top of the conference standings, and head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s team is poised to win its 13th outright ACC title in his tenure. The departure of last year’s star-studded first-year trio –– Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cameron Reddish –– as well as several others, has left Duke with just one returning starter, sophomore point guard Tre Jones.

But Duke once again reeled in a phenomenal group of first-year talent, boasting the No. 3 recruiting class in the country. Vernon Carey Jr., a 6-foot-10 first-year center, will be the player to watch for the Blue Devils, coming in ranked as the No. 6 player in his class by 247Sports. With three other top-40 recruits, a seasoned All-ACC candidate operating the offense and several quality returning role players, Duke is still the favorite to take the conference.

thony, ranked No. 2 nationally in his class, is tasked with carrying the load for the Tar Heels. Anthony is spectacular, and may challenge Nwora for ACC Player of the Year honors.

But relying heavily on rookies is rarely a first-place recipe. The Tar Heels obviously have some of the best talent in the country, but their returners must prove they can fill the holes left by last year’s departures.

UNC brings in the second-best recruiting class in the ACC, and will remain a top-20 team in the nation this season. It’s highly unlikely that the Tar Heels repeat last season’s 16-2 record within the ACC.

Player of the Year. The Cardinals complimented their core of key returners with the No. 12 recruiting class in the nation, headlined by five-star forward Samuell Williamson and four-star center Aidan Igiehon. The Cardinals’ collection of versatile 5. Florida State forwards should propel them to match Florida State takes the No. 5 spot on their best ACC season ever with a second- this list somewhat by default. There is a place finish. significant drop-off in talent between the top four teams and the rest of the confer3. Virginia ence. Though they lost a couple stars to the The reigning ACC and national cham- NBA, the Seminoles return an experienced pions will have their work cut out for them group. Head coach Leonard Hamilton althis year. The Cavaliers lost their three best ways has his team prepared to compete players — De’Andre Hunter, Kyle Guy and with top talent, and this season should be Ty Jerome — to the NBA after their NCAA another good one for Florida State. Senior title victory last season. But all that really point guard Trent Forrest is an All-ACC matters for Virginia is that head coach candidate and one of the best perimeter Tony Bennett is still at the helm. defenders in the conference. The SemiBennett has emerged as one of the best noles are long, athletic and defensively coaches in the country and has consistent- sound, and they won’t be an easy matchup ly found tremendous success in the ACC for any team in the ACC. with rosters that don’t necessarily have the talent of other blue-blood programs. The 6. North Carolina State Cavaliers return two starters in sophomore The Wolfpack are coming off a disappoint guard Kihei Clark and senior center pointing snub from the NCAA tournaMamadi Diakite, who should be an All- ment, but they should comfortably return ACC first-teamer in 2019-20. Virginia also to the field of 68 this season. Head coach brings in a solid recruiting class — junior Kevin Keatts’ squad has struggled to beat forward Jay Huff is a breakout candidate. big-name opponents, but with one of the The Cavaliers will have the best defense in most experienced teams in the ACC this the conference as usual, and there’s no rea- season, that should change in 2019-20. NC son why this team should fall out of ACC State returns one of the best backcourts contention. in the conference with junior guard Brax-

7. Notre Dame Notre Dame has been plagued with injuries the past two seasons, but if the Irish can stay healthy this season they will find themselves in NCAA tournament play.

Graduate forward Rex Pflueger enters his fifth season after being granted a medical redshirt last season. Pflueger is an All-ACC level player, and if the Irish end up exceeding expectations, he could find himself in ACC Player of the Year conversation. Head coach Mike Brey also returns a great backcourt featuring senior guard Temple Gibbs and sophomore guard Prentiss Hubb. With All-ACC forward John Mooney also entering his senior season, a No. 7 prediction may be modest for a highly talented Fighting Irish team.

8. Miami After an uncharacteristic year in 201819, the Hurricanes should be positioned firmly on the NCAA tournament bubble when March rolls around. Junior point guard Chris Lykes is absolutely electric, and will be an experienced leader for this Miami team. Junior wing Kameron McGusty will be a nice addition after sitting out last season due to his transfer from Oklahoma. Miami should have a nice season, but is still a year away from competing for any of the top spots in the conference.

9. Pitt

Pitt is somewhat of a wildcard in the ACC this season. The Panthers return one of the most dynamic backcourts in the country with sophomore guards Xavier Johnson and Trey McGowens. Incredibly, head coach Jeff Capel is only in his second year and the Panthers have an outside chance at a 20-win season. Capel brought in a solid group of first-year players and 2. Louisville ton Beverly and star senior point guard added a lethal outside shooter in junior The Cardinals are prepared to ascend 4. North Carolina Markell Johnson. While many other ACC transfer guard Ryan Murphy. If the Panback to dominance in head coach Chris North Carolina returns just one starter teams will struggle with depth, the Wolf- thers have developed and progressed as Mack’s second year. Louisville returns in junior center Garrison Brooks, and Roy pack return four starters and are poised for they should, they are a team with a serious three starters from last season, including Williams’ team may take a while to find its a vast improvement on last year’s turbulent chance of sneaking into the NCAA tournajunior Jordan Nwora, the preseason ACC identity. First-year point guard Cole An- campaign. ment.

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October 15, 2019

6

NARDUZZI TALKS SYRACUSE RIVALRY AT PRESS CONFERENCE Ben Bobeck Staff Writer

With Pitt (4-2 overall, 1-1 ACC) football’s matchups with Penn State concluded, an off-year in the Notre Dame series and the resumption of the Backyard Brawl scheduled for fall 2022, the Panthers’ upcoming matchup with Syracuse may be the best rivalry left on their schedule.

The old Big East foes will meet on Friday night at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse (3-3 overall, 0-2 ACC) for the 75th time overall and the seventh time since both joined the ACC in 2013. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi addressed the matchup in his weekly press conference with assembled media Monday afternoon.

“Every Saturday, Friday night or Thursday night, whatever it may be, is fun. I look forward to every game,” Narduzzi said. “I mean, this is special because it’s Syracuse.

I really like Dino Babers. Again, it’s got a little different flavor to it.”

The two programs have met every season since 1955, with the Panthers leading the overall series 39-32-3. The last two meetings have been split, with each team winning at home — Pitt emerging victorious 44-37 in OT last season and Syracuse winning 27-24 in 2017.

Looking back at Pitt’s most recent game, a thrilling 33-30 victory over Duke in Durham, North Carolina, Narduzzi praised his defensive unit, especially the defensive line.

“We know Duke gave up one [sack] coming into it,” he said. “Alabama had one, we had three. That’s good.”

Narduzzi declined to emphasize a particular part of Pitt’s preparations for this game, but said overall sound play would be crucial.

“It’s going to come down to fundamentals, execution and discipline,” he said.

“I’ve been disappointed the last couple weeks with some of the way the flags have been thrown around, and I don’t like where our discipline is.”

The Panthers have been flagged for nearly 500 yards this season and rank 127th in the country with 83.17 penalty yards on nearly nine penalties called per

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The Panthers will face off against their old Big East rivals at the Carrier Dome on Saturday. Thomas Yang assistant visual editor game.

Pitt’s fifth-year head coach also addressed how he has evaluated the performance of the Panthers’ run game so far this season, as well as the uphill battle in replacing the productivity of Pitt’s two experienced backs last year, Qadree Ollison and Darrin Hall.

“Obviously some fronts that have taken the run away from what we’ve done in the past,” Narduzzi said. “Even last year, early in the season, we did not run the ball as well, and then we started to get in a groove as the season went on. I think it’s going to be the same thing.”

Personnel-wise, Narduzzi singled out redshirt first-year offensive lineman Jake Kradel for his performance against Duke, as Kradel came in for a significant chunk of offensive plays in relief of redshirt sophomore Gabe Huoy. Narduzzi indicated that he expects Huoy to continue to start at that position. He also added that redshirt senior Jazzee Stocker and redshirt junior Bricen Garner would be the major fill-ins at safety, with star redshirt sophomore Paris Ford out for the first half after being called

for a targeting penalty against Duke.

Narduzzi commented on two rule changes he’d like to see happen — the first concerning the lack of a targeting penalty appeal process, which will hold Ford out for the first half of Friday’s game. The second came in regard to the potential elimination of kickoffs, which Narduzzi said would save the team 10 minutes each week when practicing them “for nothing.”

“I think sometimes your kids feel the same way, like we’re not going to get a chance, and then you drop back, all of a sudden you’re like, ‘Oh, wait a second, it’s returnable.’ But I mean, based on the way it is and how good the kickers are kicking the thing in the end zone, it wouldn’t bother me,” Narduzzi said.

For now, kickoffs will remain, with one taking place at 7 p.m. Friday evening when Pitt and Syracuse add one more meeting to their extensive history.

“Anytime they play the Pitt Panthers, we know we’re in for a dogfight,” Narduzzi said. “Great, great football team and going to be a battle. Both teams will be ready to go.”

October 15, 2019

Reality, pg. 5 this day.

“The film became a tool for them to share their stories,” Ortiz said. “I think what’s really important about the film is that it’s not just a tool for advocacy, but it’s also a way to share these stories without having to retraumatize the mothers in the telling of their stories over and over again.”

The facility was recognized as a legally operated institution because it possessed a state-issued license until 2016, when the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Human Services revoked the license. Berks responded by filing an appeal to court, which for the past three years has still not reached a decision, so Berks continues to house detained immigrant families.

However, the coalition has not given up on closing down Berks County Residential Facility.

Sotomayor explained that the governor of Pennsylvania has the power to issue an emergency removal order, which can override Berks’ operation.

“We are pushing for Governor Wolf to issue the ERO. As soon as he does that, the detention center will just stop operations and we can reach out to the families detained at Berks,” Sotomayor said.

This initiative to force Gov. Wolf to mandate an ERO has been the primary goal of the Shut Down Berks Coalition, who have organized protests outside the Capitol Building to gain Gov. Wolf’s attention. Ortiz said her “Familias Separadas” public art project, which includes “Las Madres de Berks” and citywide murals, has been instrumental in expanding the coalition’s cause by sharing the four mothers’ stories.

“I think that art is such a powerful tool that sometimes is underestimated when we think about the change it can cause,” Ortiz said.

Both Ortiz and Sotomayor concluded the event by asking the audience to take a deep breath. They encouraged everyone to take action against Berks by calling Gov. Wolf’s office and by attending the organized events posted on the coalition’s Facebook page.

At the end of the night, many of the attendees left the screening with a new perspective on the the detainment of undocumented immigrant familes. Vivian Zauhar, an undecided first-year at Pitt, said she was empathetic to the mothers’ stories and felt deeply inspired.

“The screening was definitely emotional, thought-provoking and also instilled a great sense of urgency to ask for change,” Zauhar said.

“There was definitely a sense of bewilderment at these things that are happening, and that people are getting away with them.”

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