The Pitt News T h e i n de p e n d e n t st ude nt ne w spap e r of t he University of Pittsburgh
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March 23, 2016 | Issue 127 | Volume 106
PITT PETITIONS WOLF FOR FUNDING Josh Ye
Staff Writer HARRISBURG, PA — Chancellor Patrick Gallagher’s message is clear: With Pitt, Pennsylvania wins. That was his mantra Tuesday as he and about 200 faculty, staff and students met with lawmakers during the annual Pitt Day in Harrisburg, according to Kenny Donaldson, the director of the regional clubs for Pitt Alumni Association, one of the principal organizers of the trip. Eight months into the budget impasse, the University’s visit and Gallagher’s message, along with its accompanying website WithPitt, were meant at first to push state lawmakers to approve funding for Pitt, and now to urge Gov. Tom Wolf to sign the budget and additional appropriation bills the legislature passed last week for Pitt and
Pennsylvania’s other state-related universities. “This funding makes sure that people who are coming to these institutions tend to stay around that area. So that’s what we are really endorsing, which is that by funding this, they are funding the future of the state,” Donaldson said. Through in-office meetings with legislators, Gallagher and members of the Pitt community from all five Pitt campuses urged lawmakers to support Pennsylvania’s state-related universities and Wolf to sign a state budget and a bill that would restore Pitt’s funding. In the past, Pitt students and administrators have used the Day to ask state lawmakers for general support. This year, Gallagher spoke from Pitt’s wallet. See Pitt Day on page 3
STUDENTS IN BRUSSELS SAFE
Dale Shoemaker News Editor
Pitt alumni and Pennsylvania legislators posing for pictures at Pitt Day in Harrisburg. Josh Ye | Staff Writer
Two Pitt students studying abroad in Brussels, Belgium, are unharmed after a series of terrorist attacks on Tuesday, the University Study Abroad Office confirmed. Between 3 and 4 a.m. Eastern time and 8 and 9 a.m. local time, bombs exploded in the Brussels Airport and the Maelbeek subway station near the center of the city, killing more than 30 people and wounding more than 190, the Associated Press reported. Vanessa Sterling, the Study Abroad Office’s associate director, did not name the two students and said Pitt did not plan to bring the stu-
dents back to campus. Sterling said limiting the students’ travel plans within the country in response to the attacks “is an option” but the office has not decided yet if changes were necessary. The Associated Press reported Tuesday afternoon that the terrorist group ISIS had claimed responsibility for the attacks. Brussels, Belgium’s capital, is also the seat of the European Union and has served as a center of intelligence for the investigation into November’s terrorist attacks in Paris. As of Tuesday afternoon, much of Brussels was on lockdown, and police there were seeking suspects, according to the Associated Press.