The Pitt News
The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | October 12, 2016 | Volume 107 | Issue 55
FRONTIERS EVENT OPEN TO PUBLIC Emily Brindley
Assistant News Editor
Resident Assistants of Sutherland hall pour mock mojitos at the Non-Alcoholic Mix Off in the Quad Tuesday evening. Meghan Sunners SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
PITT GROUP COUNTERS LIBERALISM
Tristan Dietrick For The Pitt News
Junior Ashley Butcher can frequently be found behind tables around campus –– usually in Towers Lobby or in front of the William Pitt Union –– proclaiming the same mantra prominently displayed on her organization’s signs, pamphlets and social media pages. “Big Government Sucks!” Butcher, a film studies and communications major, is the president of Pitt’s chapter of Turning Point USA, a national, nonpartisan organization that advocates for smaller
government, fiscal responsibility and free markets. Students may have noticed Butcher or other members of the group around campus lately –– sometimes toting a large beach ball –– but unlike other political groups tabling for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, Turning Point isn’t based on a person or a campaign. Instead, the recently-formed club focuses on lively discussion between students of varied political backgrounds, trying to stay out of the venomous mudslinging that has defined the 2016 election.
Which isn’t to say the group doesn’t have any ideological sway. Butcher founded the club at Pitt because she said most of her professors and classmates tended to have liberal ideologies, making her feel alienated for having more conservative beliefs. “It’s isolating when you hear your professors talk about how awful capitalism is when it’s something that you believe in,” Butcher said. “They had me digging deeper into my beliefs. It made me want to be really active because I figured other students on campus were See Turning Points on page 3
Although President Barack Obama will be visiting Pittsburgh to speak at the White House Frontiers Conference, most Pittsburghers won’t be able to see him. There is, though, one Frontiers exhibit open to the public with no registration needed, Pitt said on Tuesday. It will be open on Oct. 13 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on the first floor of Alumni Hall and highlight the conference’s five main “frontiers”: personal, local, national, global and interplanetary. Frontiers, also co-hosted by Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University, will take place throughout the day on Thursday and include presentations and discussions about science, technology and innovation. Lectures and panels will delve into precision medicine, artificial intelligence, “smart” communities and space exploration. The event follows Obama’s announcement on Tuesday that U.S. astronauts will land on Mars by 2030. Along with Obama, speakers at the various conference events include Pitt Chancellor Patrick Gallagher, CMU President Subra Suresh, NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman and Fitbit CEO James Park as well as several student speakers. For a full list of the Frontiers exhibits and events, visit The Pitt News website.