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
BOARD REFLECTS ON FALL
ONLINE: At final meeting this semester, SGB introduces bill to tweak election code December 9, 2015 | Issue 78 | Volume 106
Lauren Wilson Staff Writer
With one new board member and a handful of new committee members joining Student Government Board, the Board took on projects as small as sandwiches and as big as mental illness. From food, laundry and public health to human rights, diversity and transparency, the nine members of SGB faced the semester with a new president at the helm, reorganizing after the summer’s power shift. While each board member brought new initiatives to the attention of Pitt students and administrators, most of them will work on finishing their projects next semester. Nasreen Harun, President Nasreen Harun said she focused on helping the other Board members execute their personal initiatives. “A lot of what I do on a day to day basis is serving as a connecting link between everything the board members are doing and administrators and guiding people on how to proceed with those initiatives,” Harun said. “I’d say we have a lot of representation in a lot of different places and we do have those connections strengthening.” Harun became president this summer when former SGB President Graeme Meyer unexpect-
The sisters of Delta Zeta sorority met with potential pledges at Meet the Greeks Tuesday in the William Pitt Union. Dagmar Seppala | Staff Photographer
GOODBYE, DOROTHY THE FALCON Mark Pesto
Senior Staff Writer
Dorothy, a peregrine falcon, caught the city’s attention when it lost sight of her wings threading through the clouds above the Cathedral of Learning in November. Now, a month later, the skies are still bare. Through a webcam focused on her nest, Pitt students could watch Dorothy, the female half of a couple of peregrine falcons that have claimed Pitt as their home since 2001. Here, she raised three to five fledglings each year, a total of 43 birds, and spent her life raising her young and hunting for prey on the ground below. Sometime after Nov. 2, however, Dorothy See Reflection on page 2
disappeared from their nest on the 40th-floor ledge of the Cathedral. Though no one has found her body, Pittsburgh’s leading birdwatchers have concluded that Dorothy likely died of age-related causes. Although wild peregrines live an average of 12 years, the venerable Dorothy was almost 17. “[Dorothy] was dynamic, energetic, fierce and powerful,” Kate St. John, a Pittsburgh birdwatcher and former WQED director of information technology, wrote on her blog. “From the time I met her in 2001 until her egg bound spring of 2014, she had fire in her eyes.” After her presumed passing, St. John posted a video tribute to Dorothy on her blog, Outside my Window.
“I was happy to put photos of her at her best,” St. John said. According to Art McMorris, the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s peregrine falcon coordinator, Dorothy had been showing signs of old age for several years. Peter Bell, a Pitt chemistry professor and creator of a Facebook fan page for Dorothy and E2, Dorothy’s most recent male partner, said Dorothy’s advanced age kept her from laying healthy eggs. In the spring of 2013, only two of her five eggs hatched. One of the chicks had obvious neurological issues and died within a week, while the other was hit by a car on Forbes See Falcon on page 3