2-19-20

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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 | february 19, 2020 ­| Volume 110 | Issue 224

SGB ENCOURAGES

PUPPY LOVE

STUDENTS TO RESEARCH BOARD CANDIDATES Anushay Chaudhry Staff Writer

Student Government Board President Zechariah Brown opened SGB’s public meeting on Tuesday by encouraging people to start considering who should sit on next year’s board. SGB’s upcoming board election will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 25. Voting will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m on election day, with the results announced at SGB’s weekly meeting that day. “All of us as students have to make sure we’re looking at, analyzing and properly deciding which of the candidates should fill these roles for us,” Brown said. “There is a breadth of different ideas as well as experience that they are each coming from that really speaks to different points of the Pitt experience.” Brown emphasized that students should seriously review candidate platforms before voting. Events such as Meet the Candidates and the presidential debate both have been recorded and uploaded to SGB’s Facebook page for students who were unable to attend. During board reports, Executive Vice President Anaïs Peterson discussed the meeting they attended with Dean of Students Kenyon Bonner regarding Pitt’s stance on being a more socially responsible investor in renewable energy sources. Earlier this year, SGB passed a resolution unanimously demanding the University divest from fossil fuels by April 2020. However, Peterson said they are not hopeful

Numerous hands pet Ruby the therapy dog at Tuesday’s Therapy Dog session in the Cathedral of Learning. Romita Das | staff photographer

AFRICAN AMERICAN HER-STORY: AUTHOR TALKS NEW BOOK ON HISTORY OF BLACK WOMEN IN AMERICA Nathan Fitchett Staff Writer

The conference room fell silent as Aliya Durham spoke an African proverb before introducing author and historian Daina Ramey Berry. “Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt will always glorify the hunter,” Durham said, hinting at the motivation for Berry’s newest work. Faculty, students and community members gathered on Tuesday afternoon to hear Berry discuss her new book, “A Black Woman’s History of the United States.” The event was held in the Cathedral of Learning as a part of Pitt’s See SGB on page 2 ongoing K. Leroy Irvis Black History Month

celebration’s series of events. The event drew more than 50 attendees and was also livestreamed to Pitt’s Bradford campus simultaneously. Pitt is the first school to host Berry to talk about her new book, which she coauthored with Wesleyan professor Kali Nicole Gross, since its publication in early February. As such, Durham, an assistant professor and director of community engagement for Pitt’s School of Social Work, began the event by discussing Berry’s many accolades as well as the cultural and historical significance of Berry’s newest book. Berry currently holds the George W. Littlefield Professorship in American History at the University of Texas at Austin as well as serving

as the associate dean of the UT Austin Graduate School. She has authored four other books and is a specialist on slavery, gender and the history of black women in the United States. “A Black Woman’s History of the United States” is a collection of stories from the lives of black women throughout U.S. history that have overcome injustices and helped to shape the history of our country. The book primarily focuses on women whose stories have been largely forgotten or ignored by historians and seeks to make these women’s voices heard. Berry explained why she thinks many of these historical stories have been largely overSee Book on page 2


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