10-28-15

The Pitt News T h e in de p e n d e n t st ude nt ne w spap e r of t he University of Pittsburgh

Disability activist speaks at Pitt Page 2 October 28, 2015 | Issue 51 | Volume 106

PATTERSON TAKING BACK THE NIGHT EARNS NBA ROSTER SPOT Jasper Wilson

Senior Staff Writer During his one season abroad, Lamar Patterson never talked about hanging around Europe for another campaign.

He was going to come home to America to play and stay for good.

Last season, the former Pitt basketball player spent his rookie professional season playing for Tofaş Bursa, a top-level Turkish club, but like most Americans, Patterson didn’t grow up dreaming of playing basketball abroad.

“This whole year in Turkey, he was thinking about improving to make the NBA, to make it on the Atlanta Hawks,” Brian Qvale, an American teammate in Tofaş Bursa, said.

The Hawks acquired Patterson’s NBA rights from the Milwaukee Bucks in June of 2014 during the NBA draft after his Annemarie Carr second-round selection as the 48th over- Staff Writer all pick. After featuring for Atlanta’s SumWith raised fists, marching feet and mer League team in Las Vegas that July, rhyming chants, students stopped trafPatterson and the Hawks determined that fic and caught the attention of camera he, like many late draft picks before him, phones in a demonstration seeking to should go to Europe for a season to mature fight back against sexual violence. athletically.

“Whatever you wear, wherever you go, The Hawks would still hold Patterson’s yes means yes and no means no,” students See Patterson on page 8 chanted down Bigelow Boulevard in be-

Pitt students marched Tuesday against sexual violence.

Wen Hao | Staff Photographer

tween the William Pitt Union and the Cathedral of Learning.

On Tuesday, Oct. 27, about 150 students, faculty, staff and community members met in the William Pitt Union Ballroom at 7 p.m. to march through South Oakland and “take back the night” from sexual violence.

Campus Women’s Organization hosted the event as part of a national move-

ment that originally started in the ’70s with a series of marches protesting pornography and remembering victims of sexual violence, according to the organization’s website.

Take Back the Night now occurs annually at colleges and universities all over the country from Los Angeles to Philadelphia.

See Night on page 4

News

ABLE TO LEAD PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM CLOSER On the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Pitt hosted Mark Johnson to discuss his disability and his activism | by Mark Pesto

Mark Johnson once chained himself to a bus to draw attention to disability-inaccessible public transportation.

“Rosa [Parks] wanted to sit in the front [of the bus],” Johnson said. “I just want to get on.”

Johnson, director of advocacy at the Shepherd Center — an Atlanta non-profit hospital specializing in treating brain and spinal cord injuries — gave a talk titled “Taking it Personally” Tuesday in the University Club’s Ballroom B. About 50 people came out to listen to Johnson’s talk, which highlighted the issues facing America’s disabled community.

Johnson, who is paralyzed from the neck down, said his own disability taught him several valuable lessons, including that disability is a natural part of life. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 1 in 5 Americans live with some sort of disability. “[Disability] happens daily,” Johnson said, “It’s a natural consequence of interacting with our environment. It’s normal.”

Johnson’s speech, which celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, was the latest installment in the annual Thornburgh Family Lecture Series on Disability Law. Pitt’s Dick Thornburgh Forum for Law and Public Policy, which puts on events designed to increase social and civic engagement, hosts the annual lecture series.

Dick Thornburgh, governor of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1987 and the forum’s namesake, attended the speech with his wife and prominent disability activist Ginny Thornburgh.

Ever since he broke his neck in a diving accident in 1971, Johnson has advocated for the rights of people with disabilities by

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organizing communities, staging protests and lobbying politicians. He said political advocacy is vital to advancing people with disabilities. “[Johnson is] perhaps one of the forces in America that has really helped to create the disability movement over the years,” Kate Seelman, associate dean of Pitt’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said.

Johnson’s use of civil disobedience tactics, such as chaining himself to inaccessible buses — which he did for the first time in 1982 in Denver. His resulting arrest record made him a nationally prominent figure in the disability community.

Once, Johnson said the police took him to jail in a borrowed school bus because they had no other way to transport a person in a wheelchair.

“Normalizing disability — converting disability from a medical model to a political model — is a central part of improving,” Johnson said.

Johnson said society still marginalizes people with visible disabilities like himself. Because Johnson is a wheelchair user, when he goes out to eat with his family, he said the server will sometimes ignore him and ask his wife what he wants to order. In response, Johnson’s wife will say, “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him.”

“Sometimes you have to stop people and make them think about what they said,” Johnson said.

According to Johnson, one of the major issues still facing the disabled community is housing accessibility.

“If you had to buy a house today, would you want to live in a house where you

Since January, Board member Lia Petrose has worked to make a public health certificate available for undergrads. Abigail Self | Staff Photographer

Lauren Wilson Staff Writer

After 10 months of work, Student Government Board member Lia Petrose now has a potential starting date for a public health certificate for undergraduate students.

At SGB’s weekly public meeting Tuesday, Petrose said introductory courses for the certificate will be “tentatively available for the fall 2017 semester.”

Petrose said she and her committee have confirmed one course, Introduction to Public Health, for the certificate with the deans of the Graduate School of Public Health and the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. Both deans — N. John Cooper of the Dietrich School and Donald Burke of GSPH — approved the course. If all goes smoothly, students can begin taking the courses during the 2017 spring semester.

Petrose has worked to create a public health certificate for undergraduate students since she was elected to SGB in January. Since March, she and her task force have met with the deans of GSPH and the Dietrich School to discuss introducing the See ADA on page 5 certificate.

October 28, 2015

“It will probably have an honors supplement section to it. We are also going to collaborate with the statistics program to do a public health-focused supplement to the Intro to Statistics course,” Petrose said.

According to Petrose, she and her committee are working to confirm the next two courses — an honors-level intro course and a statistics course — with the two schools. Already, three GSPH professors have expressed interest in teaching the introductory course.

Petrose refused to specify which professors, as they hadn’t signed a contract to teach the course.

“Once the rest of the courses are confirmed, students can put the certificate on their transcript,” she said. “Once you get higher up in the certificate you take courses in the Graduate School of Public Health.”

“We have to have a long-term plan for teacher compensation,” Petrose said.

“We’re in the midst of creating a financial model to fund the certificate.”

Find the full story online at

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October 28, 2015

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Night, pg. 1 Suzy Hinkle, a senior chemical engineer and CWO president, said CWO hosts the event to break the “culture of silence” surrounding sexual violence at Pitt.

According to the 2015 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct released earlier this year, 21 percent of the female and 6.2 percent of male undergraduate students surveyed at Pitt experienced non-consensual penetration or sexual touching during college.

Roughly 20 percent of undergraduate transgender men, transgender women, genderqueer, gender nonconforming, questioning and not listed students who were surveyed were also victims.

“Just one [victim] is too many,” Hinkle said.

Katie Pope, Pitt’s Title IX coordinator, spoke at the event and said the statistics are scary and terrifying, but Take Back the Night is “a huge step forward” in the fight to eliminate sexual violence from college campuses.

Pope offered her office as a resource to students as well as off-campus resources, such as the Pittsburgh Action Against Rape office.

CWO board members led chants and the crowd through South Oakland, turning onto Forbes Avenue, South Bouquet Street, Bates Street, Atwood Street and finally onto Fifth Avenue back to the William Pitt Union.

“What do we want? Safe streets. When do we want them? Now.” About 15 student organizations marched at the event, including the Resident Student Association, South Asian Student Alliance, Black Action Society and Rainbow Alliance.

Abby Meinen, CWO community outreach chair and a junior English writing major, spoke at the event, emphasizing how the fear of sexual violence affects women’s lives, impacting everything from their clothing choices to their sexual identity. She reminded students of the recent death of Kiesha Jenkins, a transgender woman, in north Philadelphia on Oct. 6, 2015, due to sexual violence.

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“We live in a world where one in every five women in college experience sexual violence.” Meinen said. “We live in a world where over 22 trans women were murdered this year.”

About half of the student marchers returned to the WPU ballroom for bystander intervention training provided by Eleanora Kaloyeropoulou and James Kirwan, two student representatives from Let’s RAVE, a peer education program provided by Pitt’s Office of Sexual Assault Services.

Students participated in an open discussion where they learned how to combat the bystander effect and talked through several scenarios involving sexual violence.

Kaloyeropoulou and Kirwan encouraged students to pay attention to their environment and decide when action is needed and how to intervene. Suggested strategies for intervention included using “I” statements — such as “I feel X when you do Y” — using a silent stare and employing humor and distractions when appropriate.

These student leaders sparked excitement and energy from the crowd, getting them ready to march. Students picked up signs to march with that said “No more silence, no more violence,” “Not just a women’s issue” and “Let’s make women’s history.”

For Claire Matway, the march was a way to commemorate victims in the past and prevent future assaults.

“I march because a lot of people I love are survivors of sexual violence and I want to support them and make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else,” said Matway, a senior urban studies major.

With the numbers to support the likelihood of future attacks, Meinen marches in fear of becoming a statistic.

“We march because we know each time we step out the door we are entering fear,” Meinen said. “Fear is in the air.”

Even in an atmosphere of fear, Meinen stressed the importance of courage in fighting back against sexual violence.

“We stand together, we say enough is enough,” Meinen said. “We will not take this anymore.”

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ADA, pg. 2 could resell to anybody, where anyone could visit, where you wouldn’t have to renovate if something happens to you, where you can age in place? Who wants to live in that house?” Johnson asked. In response, nearly every audience member raised their hand.

“Now, who does live in a house like that?” Johnson then asked. All but a few audience members lowered their hands, providing a vivid illustration of how few houses in America are accessible to people with disabilities.

Before his speech, Johnson met with about 25 students from Pittsburgh-area schools, including members of the Pitt group Students for Disability Advocacy.

Josie Badger, a teacher at the Parent Education and Advocacy Learning Center, a Pittsburgh support organization for families of children with disabilities, said she was glad to hear that Johnson met with students.

She thought it was a good way to connect activists from different generations.

Badger said she was excited to hear directly from a disability activist as prominent as Johnson.

“I’ve taught about him for years,” Badger said. “It’s really cool to hear it directly from him.”

Colin White, a Community College of Allegheny County student, said Johnson is a role model for the disabled community.

“I feel like everyone with disabilities should do something like this,” White said, referring to attending Johnson’s talk.

Audience member Naomi Berman, a senior at Carnegie Mellon University who plans to create a group for Carnegie Mellon students with disabilities, said she found it “reassuring” to hear from such a prominent figure in the disabled community and to connect with other disability activists in the audience.

Although he hopes to pass the baton to a new generation of disability activists like Berman, Johnson said he doesn’t plan to quit advocating for disability rights any time soon.

“I guess I got to get out there more, and do more, and get in people’s faces every once in a while,” Johnson said.

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Opinions column

from the editorial board

Halloween etiquette 101 MIDDLE EASTERN PRIDE:

Halloween etiquette rule one: Don’t catcall the sexy mustard. Or the sexy brick house. Or the sexy clown.

Just don’t catcall anyone. Not even the cats.

Be kind and don’t shame the sexy variations — whether inanimate object, animal or occupation — you encounter this Halloween.

After all, with the Pittsburgh winter approaching, we should take advantage of the opportunity to wear as few clothes as possible while we can still do so safely. More importantly, sexual shaming and violence do not have a place on our campus.

Tuesday night, the Campus Women’s Organization held “Take Back the Night,” an annual march and rally against sexual and domestic violence.

Students protested against slut shaming — marching, carrying signs and yelling in rhymes through megaphones. “Whatever you wear, wherever you go, yes means yes, no means no,” they chanted.

Let’s carry that attitude forward to this holiday week — and forever after that. And while you are at it, please refrain from offensive Halloween tropes.

In case you’re not sure, here are some costumes to avoid: Native American, blackface, Arab, geisha and anything that appropriates or objectifies people or their culture.

Cultural appropriation is a form of micro-aggression.

Micro-aggressions are racist acts that are not overt and that an actor may not be aware of, but that harm people of the appropriated cultures nonetheless.

Portraying and perpetuating negative stereotypes of other cultures has

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very real consequences. For example, a 2010 study conducted by Prieto, Okazaki, Goldstein and Kirschner found that exposure to American Indian mascots increased stereotyping of other minority groups.

If you think your costume may be cultural appropriation, just don’t wear it.

Be a scarecrow — or even a sexy scarecrow. If you’re feeling adventurous, you could try dressing up as a sexy Donald Trump — if you fail, find solace in the fact that you’re probably the more likeable Trump.

This Halloween, don’t limit yourself by gender constructs, as long as you stay respectful.

It is OK to realize your lifelong dream to embody Glinda the Good Witch. It’s not OK to dress up as Caitlyn Jenner.

These costumes perpetuate anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments and pose psychological effects for transgender individuals.

According to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey from the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, transgender individuals who experienced rejection by family and friends, discrimination, victimization or violence have a higher risk of attempting suicide.

As you prepare to traipse around Oakland as someone — or something — else this Saturday, don’t forget to keep Halloween etiquette in mind.

Respect people no matter what they’re wearing. Let loose, eat some candy and have a spooky good time. Relive your childhood sense of joy.

Just don’t be a terror in Oakland this Halloween.

DON’T FEED WESTERN PERCEPTIONS

Mariam Shalaby Columnist

I was probably still in the womb when I first heard the advice, “Show them who we are!”

It’s a mantra for Middle Easterners, Muslims and anyone else lumped in — and profiled — with our wave of immigrants to the United States.

As a first-generation Middle Eastern American, I didn’t dwell on it much. It was easy to understand: Be yourself. Let others shape their opinion of you from their own experiences, not from what the media tells them.

My immigrant parents are Egyptian and Chinese-Filipino. As a sociable, multi-ethnic family, we dipped our feet into in a variety of social circles, where I noticed the varying levels of Middle Eastern integration into American society.

There were families who mainly socialized with people from their home country, and those whose children’s Arabic rolled off their tongues as fluently as their English.

In the middle, where I fell, the families sent their kids to public school, where they memorized the names of all the Pokemon and American presidents. On the weekend, they went to the mosque, where they learned the names of God. On the opposite end of the spectrum

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were the kids who didn’t know the difference between kabab and kofta and couldn’t tell you anything about where they came from, except that it was far away.

Picking and choosing what elements of either culture to keep is part of the immigrant experience left up to the individual. That’s OK. But it’s not OK when Middle Eastern immigrants who chase Western acceptance by perpetuating the negative perceptions of themselves, aiding a gradual deconstruction of identity.

If we claim to be proud of where we come from, we need to sincerely exhibit that pride by portraying elements of our culture without shame. Without that pride and ownership of our identity, we only perpetuate anti-Islamic and antiMiddle Eastern sentiment.

Identifying accomplishments by how well they negate Western perceptions make our fond statements meaningless. We can’t speak favorably of Middle Easterners if we can’t speak favorably of the Middle East.

Last week, I attended a conference hosted by the American Middle East Institute for Middle Easterners and Americans in business, health and technology. According to its website, the group “is focused on building business, educational and cultural ties between See Shalaby on page 7

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Shalaby, pg. 6 the United States and the countries of the Middle East.”

A loose-leaf biography of one of the speakers, Samir Khalil of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, was tucked inside the conference’s program. Across the top of the page was a logo of a bridge across the ocean from the United States to the Middle East. A single sentence caught my attention.

“Although born in the Middle East, Samir’s nearly three decades in the United States ... have m a d e M r .

Khalil an invaluable bridge builder between t h e world of American innovation and a transitioning Middle East marketplace.”

What? “Although born in the Middle East?”

It was almost self-deprecating. If we want to show people who we are, why do we feel the need to compensate for where we come from?

Later that evening, I sat in Carnegie Music Hall, waiting to hear CNN journalist and author Fareed Zakaria, an analyst whose smooth prose and foreign policy rhetoric informed much of my young life.

He provided his perspective on the history of the Middle East and how its present political, economic and social state developed. Zakaria kept using the word “jihadi” as a synonym for extremist. Jihad in Arabic means “a struggle.”

In a religious context, it commonly means a struggle against one’s inner desires. The concept of jihad as religious

extremism is a Western misinterpretation that Middle Easterners do not use.

Zakaria later began an anecdote about a rural Pakistani woman who wanted her child to be an engineer.

She sent him to a “madrasa,” an Arabic school, run by a local imam.

“The state educational framework had collapsed,” he said. “On the other hand, this local imam had decided to set up a madrasa ... these Islamic ties often intersect with the failure of states and then seduce people.”

His point here was that the Middle East needs a better structured state educ at i on s y s tem.

B u t t h e statement t h a t “ I s lamic ties ... seduce peop l e ” pand e r s to the idea frequently used by American media that Islam “seduces” innocents into violence and reinforces a false association between madrasas and terrorism.

These speakers were people who decided not to assimilate, but decided to represent us and promote those of Muslim heritage to our new American society. I’ll admit the endeavor is admirable.

But after the conference, I kept replaying the moments in my mind when they cut corners here and there in an effort to get what they thought was an edge.

A 2011 Gallup study on anti-Islamic sentiment found 52 percent of U.S. citizens believed that Western societies do not respect Muslim societies, and about half of Americans from major religious groups believe most Americans are prejudiced toward Muslim Americans.

The majority of the population al-

Without that pride and

ownership of our identity,

we only perpetuate anti-

Islamic and anti-Middle Eastern sentiment.

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Illustration by Terry Tan ready acknowledges the lack of respect for our origins and identities — we don’t have to perpetuate stale stereotypes or pander to what the Western media says about us. Instead, we should cultivate the missing respect by being proud of our true identity.

The same Gallup article included a 2008 study showing that, of all other regions polled, those from United States and Canada most commonly believed that tensions between Muslim countries and Western countries caused the culture of anti-Muslim sentiment. For Middle Easterners to validate untrue

October 28, 2015

cultural stereotypes in order to create pride surrounding “exceptions” making “progress” will only increase that tension.

If we want them to get to know us — the real us — let’s start from the ground up, with American principles. Let’s start with pride in our origins, the whole truth and ownership of our values.

Mariam Shalaby primarily writes on social change and foreign culture for The Pitt News.

Write to her at mas561@pitt.edu.

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Sports

TNS

Patterson, pg. 1 rights, but he was permitted and willing to play professionally for a European team in order to cultivate his skills.

“Going in, I didn’t know what to expect,” Patterson said. “I just knew I had to work my butt off, and that was it.”

A year or so later, after a successful season, he’s reached that next level. The Hawks announced on Saturday that the 24-year-old had made their 15-man regular season roster in the final spot. On Tuesday night, he made his NBA debut, scoring five points on two shots while totalling a rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes.

Patterson played for the Hawks again this summer and participated in his first NBA training camp with them this fall, earning his spot on the squad.

Qvale saw how Patterson’s development in Europe helped secure his spot in Atlanta.

“Adding a professional level of experience, plus some adversity, [with] being away from home, away from family and friends, did nothing but improve his game and pre-

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pare him for whatever happens this year in the NBA,“ he said.

One of the biggest adjustments from college to pro play, Patterson said, is the high stakes involved every time a player steps on the court. If they play poorly, there’s a vast talent pool filled with potential replacements.

“You’re pretty much playing for your life. Every game could be your last, literally, with professional teams, just because you’re [expendable] to them,” Patterson said in an August phone interview. “It makes you focus way more.”

He maintained that focus, ranking fourth on the team in points per game, averaging 11.2 points in 29 appearances. He missed just one game all season and ended up averaging the third-most minutes a game with 28.

“At the end of the day, you gotta go play basketball. That’s what we’re getting paid to do, and that’s what I’m good at,” he said. “So I found a way to still be effective.”

During Patterson’s season overseas, scouts and front office employees from the Hawks traveled to Turkey to watch him play on a regular basis, and they talked often about his play and what the team expected

of him.

Management wanted to see Patterson transform his body — become leaner, stronger and quicker. Patterson met that challenge.

Qvale recalled Patterson putting extra work in on stationary bikes and treadmills before and after practice to lose weight. He also changed his diet, eating more lean protein, like grilled salmon with no seasoning or sauce, and grilled vegetables.

Over the summer, Michael Young, a former Pitt teammate, saw the results firsthand when he and another Pitt player, freshman guard Damon Wilson, played pickup with him while in Atlanta visiting family. It was his first time seeing Patterson since the end of the 2014 season.

“He probably lost about 15 pounds since the last time I’ve seen him, which is big. He looked real skinny,” Young said. “That was a bit of a shock to me. ” Young said slimming down benefited Patterson’s play, making him more explosive, which also translated to better footwork.

“Him getting his body right really elevated his game to another level,” Young said.

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Patterson has displayed this improvement against pro competition. When he played in Summer League this year, he said he felt more confident and played better than the last time. He averaged a team-high 13.1 points per game in seven appearances — after averaging just six in 2014 — and also improved his assists and rebounding numbers.

This preseason, Patterson appeared in six games, averaging 6.3 points a contest in 17.2 minutes. On Friday night — his final appearance before making the final roster — Patterson scored an NBA career-high 18 points on 6-12 shooting and recorded a team-high six assists and four steals.

Now, for the second time in two years, Patterson is a rookie once again. Only this time, he’s made it to the NBA. Regardless of his reserve role on the team, he plans on helping wherever the coaches want him, even if that means cheerleading from the end of the bench.

“All you want to do is go in there, work hard, work your butt off,” he said. “Just find a way to fit into that system and make yourself a person they want to keep around.”

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TEST ON THURSDAY

Panthers of the Week roosa arvas forward | Women’s soccer

Pitt fans have reason be excited for Thursday’s game against UNC. Heather Tennant | Staff Photographer

Dan Sostek Sports Editor

For the first marquee home matchup in six years, Pitt football is the team with a bullseye on their back.

The Panthers have suffered through mediocre season after mediocre season this decade. They sport a new look now, ranking No. 23 in the AP Top 25 Poll and No. 24 in the Amway Coaches Poll. They survived a gruelling battle in Syracuse against the Orange this past weekend, earning that boost in the polls and a return to Pittsburgh as a top-25 team.

With all the hype and hubbub in Pitt’s fanbase crescendoing, Thursday’s home matchup against North Carolina is the most important Pitt football game since the Panthers squandered a Big East crown at Heinz Field against an undefeated Cincinnati team in 2009.

In that game, Pitt blew a 21-point first half lead to the Bearcats, losing a chance at a Bowl Championship Series berth.

While the stakes aren’t quite as high

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Thursday at Heinz Field, winning the game would put the Panthers on a much smoother path to the ACC Championship game. A victory would hoist them one win over the Tar Heels, who boast a 6-1 record and 3-0 ACC mark and remain tied with Duke — also undefeated in ACC play.

Losing the game would knock Pitt a game behind UNC and the Blue Devils right before a difficult stretch of conference games against Duke on the road and Louisville and Miami on the horizon.

But forget all the on-field significance of the game. This contest is crucial in re-establishing Pitt in the national eye. ESPN will televise the game at Heinz Field, a location that has been irrelevant nationally in the collegiate landscape since that 2009 game against Cincinnati.

Pitt’s outcry for fans to fill up Heinz Field has been a broken record this year to support a team in contention for a division title. And Thursday games can potentially put students in a pickle, committing them to stay out

in the North Shore until 11 p.m. or so on a school night.

But opportunities like this one — a chance to see the Panthers play a monumental game at home against a formidable conference opponent — don’t come around often. It’s a chance that fans should relish.

Pitt hasn’t played a home game at night since 2013 when the Notre Dame Fighting Irish visited Heinz Field. The environment was electric that night, even though the Panthers — then at a 4-4 record — were not remotely as impressive of a team as the current 6-1 squad.

Granted, it was a Saturday, not a Thursday, but the Panthers’ increased success and the amplified importance of the game should make up for the weekday slot. This is a team that is good enough to elicit the fanbase support that other ACC schools like UNC or Georgia Tech garner.

The athletic department is well aware of the need for noise. They’re currently offering

October 28, 2015

See Football on page 10

While the Panthers’ women’s soccer team fell to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg by a score of 4-2 on Sunday, Arvas didn’t give in against the No. 7 ranked team in the country. The senior tallied one of Pitt’s two goals on the afternoon and totaled a team-leading four shots on the game. Arvas has enjoyed a fruitful senior campaign, ranking first on the team in assists (six), third in goals (four) and first in shots on goal (56). Arvas’ final regular season game is Sunday, as Pitt faces the No. 1 ranked Virginia Cavaliers at home.

TYLER BOYD Wide receiver | football

With James Conner out for the season with a torn MCL, Tyler Boyd is Pitt football’s crowning playmaker. His abilities were on full display in Saturday’s 23-20 win at Syracuse, as the junior superstar shined in three facets of offense. Boyd caught a career-high 12 passes for 12 catches for 93 yards, rushed six times for 34 yards and even completed a pass to Dontez Ford for 38 yards. Boyd earned his third career ACC Receiver of the Week honors for his efforts. Boyd and the Panthers face the North Carolina Tar Heels Thursday at 7 p.m.

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Football, pg. 9 packages of six tickets for $36. They’re giving away drinks and snacks to hungry, devoted fans who stay all #FOURQUARTERS. They’re even bringing back and honoring College Football Hall of Fame inductee Ruben Brown at halftime.

No one can say Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi isn’t trying. In his weekly press conference on Monday, he discussed the importance of the Panther Pitt against the opposing Tar Heels. “[The Tar Heels] have to come into a hostile environment this weekend,” Narduzzi said. “The Panther Pitt has to be unbelievable this weekend. [North Carolina] runs that nohuddle offense, so we need that 12th man in the stands this week. It has to get loud to the point where they have problems communicating.”

With the success his team has had this year, Narduzzi has given Pitt fans what they’ve lacked this decade — it only seems fair for Pitt fans to reciprocate. Give the man what he wants. Heinz Field needs to be deafening on Thursday night, so drink a Red Bull and study for that calculus midterm later.

pittnews.com

October 28, 2015

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