1-29-19

Page 1

The Pitt News

Bard Ermentrout: From rhymes to research pittnews.com

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 | january 29, 2019 ­| Volume 109 | Issue 92

SILENCE ISN’T GOLDEN

PITT WAIVES SHAPIRO FEE FOR COLLEGE REPUBLICANS Brian Gentry and Emily Wolfe The Pitt News Staff

The student band Quiet Hours performs original music during Monday night’s “Pitt’s Got Talent” show. Kaycee Orwig | staff photographer

FBI EXPLORES THE ROOTS OF HATE CRIMES Neena Hagen

Senior Staff Writer Only hours after gunman Robert Bowers killed 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, an unknown perpetrator defaced a Jewish-owned storefront in Lawrenceville with swastikas and anti-Semitic slurs. “We’ve seen a really disturbing trend in Pittsburgh in the last six months with haterelated incidents,” Dave Breingan, the executive director of Lawrenceville United, said. Lawrenceville United is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting inclusivity throughout Lawrenceville, one of the largest neighborhoods in Pittsburgh. The organization invited FBI representatives to the Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania building Monday night to teach around 100 residents how to

spot signs of people preparing committing hate crimes, which have been on the rise in Lawrenceville and across Pittsburgh since the Tree of Life shooting. “We’re not gonna solve hate here tonight,” Breingan said. “But we are gonna give you the tools to identify hateful incidents and report them properly.” Local law enforcement identified 12 haterelated incidents in Lawrenceville in the past six months, including three acts of vandalism on minority-owned businesses, dissemination of at least seven different white supremacist fliers and the appearance of swastikas and KKK symbols throughout the neighborhood. According to FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Matthew Trosan, some of these incidents were illegal hate crimes, but some, in-

cluding the fliers, were legal expressions of free speech. While perpetrators of hate crimes knowingly commit an illegal act of violence for hateful reasons, Trosan explained, “hateful incidents” can be anything an individual or community member deems hateful or threatening. “There’s a lot of gray area with laws,” Trosan said. “It’s not always easy for people to differentiate hate crimes and what we call ‘hate incidents.’” Still, “hateful incidents” can often signal an impending threat, Trosan said. Trosan led the audience through a series of images to highlight “hateful incidents.” One depicted a white man wearing a T-shirt that read “F-ck Islam,” while another showed swastikas spray-painted on a garage door. See FBI on page 2

Ben Shapiro’s packed speaking engagement at Pitt in the fall drew only a few protesters. But before he arrived, Pitt charged the College Republicans, which hosted Shapiro, a $5,546.42 security fee — one that was paid under “protest” by the tour’s sponsor, Young America’s Foundation. Now, Pitt has waived the fee. University spokesman Joe Miksch said the College Republicans were responsible for the fee, as “consistent with University guidelines,” but the University would waive it due to the high cost to the club. “The College Republicans, however, were apparently expecting Young America’s Foundation to address the fee,” Miksch said in an email. “To our knowledge, YAF never provided the College Republicans with the funds to pay the fee. In light of the confusion over this issue and the difficult position the College Republicans would be in without additional funds, the University has waived the fee for this event.” When the fee was initially imposed, YAF threatened a lawsuit against the University, alleging it was unconstitutional. “We believe that the University of Pittsburgh’s security fee policy is deeply flawed — containing serious constitutional defects — and that because of these defects, the resulting $5,546.52 security fee is viewpoint discriminatory,” YAF said in an email sent to University administrators from its legal counsel.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.