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

See online for “Around the world: Cuba”feature September 10, 2015 | Issue 19 | Volume 106

BREAKING THE SILENCE After three student deaths rocked Pitt’s campus last semester, the administration, Counseling Center and students are all striving to address mental illness on campus.

Senior Josh Orange’s art submission for the mental health art gallery, “Stories Untold.”

Elizabeth Lepro

Assistant News Editor

In 2007, seventh grader Matthew Sykes needed guidance and found it in a friend and fellow Boy Scout — a “man of principle,” as he called him — who he could look up to.

Sykes’ friend, who he referred to as “Jack” for privacy, was a 16-year-old Eagle Scout who took Sykes under his wing and taught him the basics of survival. He was an influential mentor in the life of an impressionable child entering adolescence, but one who will unfortunately only live on in Sykes’ memory.

Jack lost his battle with depression in 2007, when he took his own life.

“I felt more alone than I ever thought was possible,” Sykes, now 21 and a senior at Pitt, said, remembering his friend last week.

In September 2012, Sykes came to Pitt with what he referred to as “the blind confidence of anyone who is starting a new chapter in their life.” But a month after arriving on campus, he answered a frantic phone call informing him that another friend had taken his life. This was the first of two people Sykes would lose his freshman year to mental illness.

Last semester, mental illness shook the Pitt community, too, when three students took their own lives. In the aftermath, students have stepped up not only to bolster Pitt mental health initiatives, but also to foster their own strategies for reaching See Health on page 2

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out to struggling peers.

Sykes, an engineering major and the vice president and financial manager of Student Government Board, is partnering with fellow Board member Meghan Murphy, the Counseling Center, Pitt’s administration, student organizations, including Active Minds, the Greek community and individual Pitt students to make mental health a focus on campus this semester.

The outcomes of this coalition will include a mental health awareness week, an art gallery, a mental health task force and a possible partnership with the Jed and Clinton Foundation for suicide prevention and substance abuse counseling on college campuses. The Jed and Clinton Foundation, a partnership between the The Jed Foundation and the Clinton Health Matters Initiative, is an organization that aims to help prevent death in young adults caused by suicide and unintentional injuries, including those caused by prescription drug overdoses or alcohol poisoning.

“I believe that we can come together as a student body, as a family and create a culture where nobody feels stigmatized about mental illness,” Sykes said.

The awareness week, scheduled for Oct. 20 to 24, will include a TED talk, mental health bystander training and an event to talk openly about mental illness.

The Pitt administration, according to Shawn Ahearn, spokesperson for Student Affairs, has been working on mental health initiatives for several years through its Talk About It campaign. The

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campaign works to spread awareness about depression and to encourage students to seek help through tabling outside the Union and in Towers.

Ed Michaels, the new director of the Counseling Center, said initiatives like this one attempt to recast the image of mental health services as a smart thing for students to do.

Still, if the goal is to convince young people that seeking professional help is hip, students have to lead the charge.

That’s exactly what Delta Sigma fraternity brothers Maharsi Naidu and Daniel Bakhadj were thinking when they approached Marian Vanek, director of Student Health Services, and Matthew Richardson, chair of Greek life at Pitt, last year to talk about reaching struggling students. “[Richardson and Vanek] were both very enthusiastic and wanted to hear feedback [on mental health resources] from students,” Bakhadj said. “I think that’s what they were missing.”

All three students who lost their lives last year were members of the Greek community. Naidu and Bakhadj saw firsthand how the tragedies affected their friends and brothers.

Richardson said Greek life members and students like Bakhadj and Naidu are “crucial bystanders,” who should “work to identify the causes of poor mental health.”

“This is done by normalizing — ensuring peers and friends know that it is OK to feel the way they are feeling,” Richardson said. “But just as they would if they were physically ill, a person must seek help from qualified professionals.”

And that’s where the Counseling Center comes in.

Ed Michaels, who became director of the Counseling Center in June, has put together a task force, designed to address mental health on campus through a membership that spans the entire campus. Among the 15 members of the task force are Neil Johnston, Tower A resident director; Summer Rothrock, assistant director of leadership development and Greek affairs; Dave Kirchner of the Pitt Police; Murphy and Sykes and students Alayna Davis and Amber Middleman of the Active Minds organization.

To start, these 15 key stakeholders at Pitt, along with directors in the Student Affairs department and the professional staff of the Counseling Center, filled out a survey to prioritize 25 possible points of focus regarding mental health, University services and general student wellbeing.

The survey decided in what order the task force would address key issues, Michaels said.

The results of the survey, given to The Pitt News by Michaels, show the highest priority points were recognizing the risk of suicide, developing suicide prevention initiatives and recognizing distressed students in need of help. Some other topical areas mentioned include reducing binge drinking, violence prevention initiatives and coping skills workshops.

In response to these answers, Michaels will lead a series of 90-minute training sessions on recognizing and addressing signs of mental or emotional distress in students. These sessions will take place in the next six weeks and will

be mandatory for all Student Affairs employees. In the future, the training will also include people from the athletics department, resident assistants, academic advisors and leaders in the Greek community.

Michaels admitted that some students may be wary of speaking with administration if they’re struggling with mental illness.

According to a survey of college students in 48 states conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 50 percent of students with mental illnesses chose not to disclose that information to their college, even though it’s legally required so students can receive the appropriate accommodations. The top reason for nondisclosure was “fear or concern for the impact disclosing would have on how students, faculty and staff perceive them.”

Nance Roy, who has worked in collegiate mental health for 20 years, said when a student is struggling with mental illness, the first person he or she is most likely to talk to is a friend.

For its initiatives, Pitt has sought out Roy’s expertise. Murphy and Sykes are currently talking with administration about a possible partnership with the Jed and Clinton Foundation Health Matters Campus Program — which Roy works for. The program promotes emotional well-being and works to reduce substance abuse and increase suicide prevention on college campuses.

The Task Force is in the process of benchmarking the program’s success at 12 other schools, including the UniverSee Health on page 4

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Health, pg. 2 sity of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. Sykes said The Task Force will most likely put the partnership up for a vote at its meeting this Tuesday.

“What we were nervous about is not having people with Ph.D.s and psychologists,” SGB member Murphy said, “We didn’t want to go at this without people on our side [who] were professionals.”

The program works with colleges by installing a four-year comprehensive plan that begins and ends with a survey.

The first survey, which administrators on the task force would take, is about 130 questions and addresses current policies for alcohol, drugs and health promotion.

The survey gives professionals at the Jed and Clinton Foundation detailed feedback about the current infrastructure of the campus, which they will then discuss and work to improve with the task force on campus.

Roy said the aim of the program is to look at the entire makeup of a student’s emotional and physical health.

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“When someone is struggling academically, look at the student as a whole person, not just the neck up,” Roy said.

“Take a realistic look at what might be [affecting them].”

As an example, a university would assess why a student who does well academically suddenly began failing classes, rather than just place the student on academic probation. And if a student is arrested on drug or alcohol charges, the program recommends schools assess why a student turned to those substances, rather than simply punishing the student for consumption and possession.

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, more than 70 percent of adolescent suicides may be complicated by drug and alcohol use and dependence.

“When someone’s mood is depressed, those feelings are exacerbated by substances — it can tip the scales,” Roy said.

Students may turn to alcohol and illicit or prescription drugs when they’re struggling. “Of course, the effect [of using drugs] is antithetical. In fact, it makes

things worse,” Roy said.

If you or a friend is struggling with depresNot all suicidal sion, anxiety, suicidal thoughts or any form thoughts are drug reof mental illness: lated. Michaels said, in Call the Counseling Center: 412-648-7930, his opinion, the preva8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. lence of emotional or 1-888-796-8226 at any time, for any distress among young reason people is a combination If you need immediate help or counseling, of a world that’s become call the Pitt Police: 412-624-2121 increasingly more diffiTo participate in a group counseling session cult to live in and adoany day of the week, call or visit the Counlescents who are less seling Center on the second floor of Norprepared to navigate its denberg Hall between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. challenges.

Off-Campus Options: “[Today], there are Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic: so many expectations 412-624-1000 and so many ways that Re:solve Crisis Network: 1-888-796-8226 you feel you’ve failed that it’s difficult to navipeople like Jack know they aren’t alone gate,” Michaels said. “Do I believe that and to end the silence surrounding menparental styles have contributed to stu- tal illness. dents being less ready to navigate a more “We have to be the generation to redifficult world? Probably.” ally normalize [mental health] and get The increasing difficulties of the people talking about it, because if they modern world don’t show any signs of don’t, nothing’s going to change,” Sykes stopping. said. “And we need it to change.”

Sykes’ own losses fuel his desire to let

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Opinions from the editorial board

Let’s be clear on mental health In the wake of three student suicides in less than a year, Pitt is working to transform the way it combats the effects of mental illness.

Here on campus, Student Government Board, along with other student organizations, has formed a coalition with the University administration and the Counseling Center to focus on the mental health of the student body.

The goal of the coalition is to make the student body better aware of the realities surrounding mental illness and to help create a more open and supportive campus for students who may be anxious or depressed.

The group plans to accomplish this through initiatives like a University-wide Mental Health Awareness Week and a mental health task force that will work on suicide prevention and getting help to the students who need it.

This coalition, and the mental health initiatives that will spawn from it, will set the foundations for a mentally healthy Pitt campus. However, to build from them will require the active support of the entire student body and faculty.

A top-down approach to mental health can only do so much. The people closest to those on campus with mental illness — the professors and peers who interact with them every day — need to help to facilitate an atmosphere of support.

Our campus can achieve such a support system by actively training students and professors to look for the signs of mental illness and how to help those who are affected by it.

Thankfully, through the new mental health initiatives, Pitt is already working to achieve this support system. According to Shawn Ahearn, spokesperson for Student Affairs, the University plans to train “faculty and academic advisors, student affairs staff, leaders of student organizations, members of the fraternity and sorority communities,” on mental health by issuing mandatory pittnews.com

90-minute training seminars.

Specifically, the training will focus on “recognizing signs of depression and the resources Pitt has to help students in need.”

This is crucial because, as John Jordan, a clinical psychologist from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, told WBUR, Boston’s NPR News Station, “The biggest barrier or the biggest cultural barrier we have to preventing suicide is not being able to talk about it.”

Giving the student body the skills it needs to do just that — talk about it — is extremely important, as one of our very own mental health campaigns of that same name echoes.

However, in order for the new initiatives on mental health to be as all-encompassing as possible, there needs to be a clear avenue to assistance that the University can provide to students with mental illness — this is where professors can play an essential role.

Currently, if a student is being treated with depression, he or she can receive academic accommodations for their symptoms via the University’s Disability Resources and Services , like for test-taking, according to Ahearn.

These accommodations the University provides are great for students, as depression can directly lead to faltering grades, according to MedlinePlus — which can only add to a student’s anxiety, worsening his or her depression.

All students need to be aware of these accommodations, but currently, Pitt does not list depression as being eligible for disability services on University syllabi.

In order to give students with mental illness all the support they need, professors and class syllabi must make it explicit that disability services can apply to students with depression.

It’s not enough to just provide the resources. We need to be able to get the people who need them to these resources — which can only be done if all students and all professors are on board.

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GENDER STUDIES VITAL GSWS major will make students more empathetic.

by Alyssa Lieberman | Columnist On the first day of my Gender Studies class, my professor walked us through the standard introductions -- what are our names, years, majors but also — what were our preferred gender pronouns?

A teacher had never asked me whether or not I was a he, she or a they. However, classes within the gender, sexuality and women’s studies program at Pitt are anything but traditional. Through its curriculum, the program works to undermine traditions — such as assuming one’s gender based off of looks — that exclude non-binary individuals and perpetuate gender stereotypes.

By asking students for their preferred gender pronouns, my professor, Emily Crosby, opened the classroom space to those who may not be cisgender, or those who may not identify with the sex on their birth certificate.

Every school can benefit from a strong GSWS program, as the education leads to

understanding and including students who might not fit traditional norms. Thankfully, here at Pitt, the program is even stronger now, as the University is finally offering a full major, instead of just a certificate, to students in gender, sexuality and women’s studies.

As Todd Reeser, a French and GSWS professor, told The Pitt News in our earlier story discussing the new major that, “Gender and sexuality are related to anything you do, professionally or not.”

“Gay marriage, Caitlyn Jenner, Hillary Clinton running for president, reproductive rights — you see it all over Facebook all the time. People may not think about it as gender studies, but it is,” Reeser said.

The GSWS program offers something valuable to every Pitt student, even if they don’t rush to major in it. The program focuses on society’s perceptions of masculine and feminine gender roles that affect

multiple aspects of every student’s life. Specifically, classes within the program teach students to critique systems of oppression and wrongs within our society, such as sexism.

An example of this system of oppression, for instance, is the wage gap between the Women’s World Cup and the “regular” World Cup — which we discussed in my Introduction to Gender Studies class.

Despite the fact that the Women’s World Cup final was the most watched soccer game in United States history, the U.S. women’s team, which defeated Japan 5-2, earned $32 million less than the men’s team that won the 2014 World Cup. Along with the knowledge of such oppression, students in GSWS learn to use vital tools to undermine its effects. For instance, simply using the correct language and pronouns can help to alleviate a number of the societal wrongs, as they can See GSWS on page 7

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weaken labels that are sexist, racist, ageist and homophobic — which further undercut systems of inequality as a whole.

In my class, we discussed issues of white privilege and race, such as the lack of portrayal of well-developed, nonwhite characters in the media. According to a study released by USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in 2013, “Across 100 top-grossing films of 2012, only 10.8 percent of speaking characters are black, 4.2 percent are Hispanic, 5 percent are Asian and 3.6 percent are from other (or mixed race) ethnicities.”

Gender studies courses teach students to reject these backward norms.

Rather, they teach that we should challenge injustice when we see it.

Alice E. Ginsberg, editor of “The Evolution of American Women’s Studies,” said in an interview with Inside Higher Ed, that “women’s studies has historically been accused of focusing on

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the experiences of white women and not adequately addressing issues of race, ethnicity, class, religion and sexuality.”

Even if previous GSWS courses in academia left out stories of women who did not fit societal norms, such as women of color, queer women or transgender women, GSWS is now centered on intersectionality, or how different systems of oppression and inequality in our society interact.

Pitt’s own GSWS Program reflects this commitment to intersectionality.

On the About page of GSWS’ website, the program claims to provide “opportunities for students and faculty to explore ... interactions, and institutions and intersect in complex ways with sex, race, class, ethnicity, ability, age, religion and nation.”

These opportunities will push students to take more courses centered on issues of gender and sexuality, seeing that the program is now more fully encompassing with a major.

The University will see the influence

of a GSWS major outside of the classroom as well. By educating its students on how intersectionality influences identity and by exposing them to inclusive spaces, Pitt’s GSWS major will help students realize the importance of recognizing and respecting the diversity on our campus.

This will help to promote and facilitate the culture of inclusivity that has already begun to take hold on our campus, as the major will allow Pitt students to better understand the importance of recent campus inclusion initiatives.

This fall, for instance, the University is finally encouraging students, faculty and staff to use bathrooms on campus as corresponds with their gender identity. Any student who has taken a gender studies course should be able to tell you just how much this new policy matters to nonbinary students.

In similarly exciting news, Pitt will offer gender neutral housing next fall in Ruskin Hall.

This is essential in conditioning stu-

dents to accept all people and to later confront unnaccepting institutions outside of our campus. For instance, at least 13 transgender women were murdered in 2014, and at least another 13 have been killed already this year, according to Human Rights Watch. “Local media routinely misgender these victims, and often police emphasize victims’ arrest records to diminish and miscast the lives of the murdered,” according to the same report.

The realities of these kinds of institutional ignominy toward minority groups is exactly why a major that encourages the study of them, that humanizes them, will help to improve the well-being of all students.

As the GSWS program grows, students will become better equipped to properly address issues of diversity and inclusivity — leading to a more tolerant campus, and eventually, a more tolerant nation.

Write to Alyssa at aal43@pitt.edu

Today's difficulty level: Hard Puzzles by Dailysudoku.com

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Culture

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SEPTEMBER CALL-UPS Nick Mullen Staff Writer

Good news for anyone looking for new procrastination material after the first few weeks of classes: Netflix is about to shower its catalogue with new movies and TV show seasons.

The streaming site added the new selections on Sept. 1, as the first wave of a series of original shows that will debut later in the year. The website whatsnewonnetflix.com offers a full list of incoming Netflix content, but we’ve rounded up the highlights.

Among the 30-plus new seasons of television shows Netflix is releasing this month, “Portlandia” (Season 5), “The Blacklist” (Season 2), “Gotham” (Season 1), “The Walking Dead” (Season 5) and “The League” pittnews.com

(Season 6) are the most notable as primetime shows on major networks.

Netflix also has several new, hotly anticipated original series in the works that will debut later this year through 2016.

“F is for Family” might be the most interesting of the lot as an animated sitcom created by comedian Bill Burr.

According to its IMDB page, it will be a “family comedy” set in the ’70s and will draw its humor from Burr’s standup. Rolling Stone called Burr “the undisputed heavyweight champ of rage-fuelled humor,” making his involvement in a family-type setting hilariously ironic.

It will be hard to compete for headlines against “Fuller House,” though, the anticipated spin-off-slash-continuation of the popular ’80s and ’90s se-

ries “Full House,” which will also premiere sometime in 2016. The show finds many of the original cast reprising their roles, including Candace Cameron Bure as D.J. Tanner, Andrea Barber as Kimmy Gibbler and Jodie Sweetin as Stephanie Tanner.

Much of the original cast will also make recurring appearances in guest roles, including Bob Saget, John Stamos, Dave Coulier and Lori Loughlin. Most notably missing from the original cast are Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who will not return to play the youngest Tanner daughter.

The show will center around D.J., now grown up and living in San Francisco, as she tries to raise a family after the death of her husband — a plot strikingly similar to the original.

The “Fuller House” will feature D.J.

and her three children, aspiring musician Stephanie and Kimmy Gibbler and her daughter.

Also in 2016 we’ll see “The Get Down,” a musical drama about a group of teenagers growing up in New York City. It takes place in the ’70s during the birth of hip-hop, punk and new musical forms during a period synonymous with crime and urban decay. Baz Luhrmann, who directed the musically oriented reboot of “The Great Gatsby” in 2013, is the show’s creator. Though Luhrmann’s decision to include the likes of contemporary musicians Jay Z and Beyonce threw his previous film into controversy, “The Get Down” is Luhrmann’s latest intriguing experiSee Netflix on page 10

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NOTHING TO FEAR ‘Walking Dead’ spin-off ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ can’t resurrect zombie genre.

by Valkyrie Speaker | Staff Writer

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As someone who thought they couldn’t get enough of the AMC television show “The Walking Dead,” watching its Los Angeles prequel companion series, “Fear the Walking Dead,” is the definition of the phrase “more is less.”

In its first episodes, “The Walking Dead” thrust us into a freshly human portrait of a zombie-infested post-apocalyptic world, despite its cliche beginning with the main protagonist, Rick Grimes, waking from a months-long coma.

“The Walking Dead” premiered on Halloween night in 2010 during a surge of adaptations of fantasy-themed books and other media. The “Twilight” saga, in particular, put classic monsters back on the map in a new and sparkly way, which started a pop culture phenomenon welcoming of adult versions of classically childish monsters like vampires, werewolves and zombies. “The Walking Dead,” which is based on the comic series that had already been in print for five years before the show debuted, came to life in this world, unlike its kid sibling “Fear the Walking Dead.”

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Netflix, pg. 8 ment with modern music.

“Flaked,”Will Arnett’s second project with Netflix, will also debut later in 2016. Arnett, who also voices the character BoJack Horseman in the series of the same name, stars as a self-help guru living in Venice, California, who falls for the same girl as his friend, becoming entangled in a comedic mess of lies. Arnett is an executive producer and co-wrote the series alongside Mitch Hurwitz, creator of the cult favorite show “Arrested Development,” which launched the career of Michael Cera.

Netflix is also bringing in more than 50 new movies this month, including the binge-worthy Rambo trilogy (1982-1988), Hamlet (1990) and Wes Anderson’s charming coming-ofage tale Moonrise Kingdom (2012).

This school year will also see the return of the company’s most popular procrastination inducers for ad-

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ditional seasons. The third and final season of the murder mystery series “Hemlock Grove” will stream as early as Oct. 23, 2015, — just in time for midterm exams. The two-time Emmy nominated show about a fictional steel town in Pennsylvania is produced by horror master Eli Roth (“Hostel”).

“House of Cards,” the political drama that introduced its star Kevin Spacey to millenials as the manipulative politician Frank Underwood, will stream its fourth season sometime in 2016. The show has won four Emmys and has received 33 nominations throughout its run, making it one of the site’s most critically celebrated shows.

Rivaling “House of Cards” for the most popular series on Netflix is “Orange is the New Black,” which will also return this year for its fourth season.

The comedy-drama, based on a memoir of the same name, stars Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman, who is sent to a women’s federal penitentiary for a crime she committed 10 years

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prior to the start of the series. “Orange” has won three Emmys and has received 16 nominations.

Other shows Netflix has recently renewed include “Daredevil” and “BoJack Horseman,” both of which are set to premiere their second and third

seasons, respectively, in 2016, while “Sense8” and “Trailer Park Boys” do not have a confirmed premiere date.

With all these new seasons, shows and movies, good luck trying not to fail your courses in 2016. Happy streaming!

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Zombie, pg. 9 The public’s interest in monsters and mysticism was at its peak when Rick woke from his coma. But now that cultural titans such as “Twilight” (2008) and “Harry Potter” (2001) have concluded, the era of monsters feels like it’s coming to an end.

“Fear” is an attempt to resurrect this infatuation.

Despite positive responses from audiences, “Fear the Walking Dead” hasn’t lived up to its predecessor. Works such as “Warm Bodies” (2013), “Zombieland” (2011) and of course, “The Walking Dead” dampened the anticipation for a zombie remake. A new zombie series, even one tied to a show with as successful a reputation as “The Walking Dead,” is not only five years too late — it’s stale.

“Fear the Walking Dead” places us in Los Angeles just as the contagion takes its debut. At first, there are isolated cases not disclosed by the police, but by the second episode, we know that anyone who coughs is a dead man. Our prior knowledge from “The Walking Dead” makes watching our new zombie-killing protagonists difficult and frustrating. Will somebody please tell these newbies that you shoot a zombie in the head to actually kill it?

What “Fear the Walking Dead” does have going for it is a web of complex backstories tying each character to one another through familial ties that the original didn’t attempt.

Instead of following the disjointed perspective of individuals, the familyoriented focus adds an extra dimension of urgency and loss. It follows guidance counselor Madison (Kim Dickens) and her teacher boyfriend Travis (Cliff Curtis), as well as Madison’s overachieving daughter Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and junkie son Nick (Frank Dillane).

Travis’ ex-wife and biological son are also involved as extra sources of tension to Madison and Travis’ relationship, which will make the origins of these ill feelings and Travis’ divorce interesting, as long as the plot doesn’t get any more convoluted.

What makes “The Walking Dead” so appealing is the interactions between survivors. Sure, there’s zombie-smashing pittnews.com

action each week, but all major conflicts deal with people versus people. Rick’s group has maintained a sense of altruism through “The Walking Dead” — they help who they can when the opportunity arises.

“Fear the Walking Dead” seems to go against this idea. For instance, just two episodes in, Madison, the guidance counselor, refuses to help her neighbor fight off a zombie attack. If a guidance counselor’s instinct to help others is already compro-

mised, what other character development do we have to look forward to?

When “The Walking Dead” debuted, it strapped us to our seats with its shocking skull-bashing scenes, setting ratings records each season finale. It reintroduced zombies in the public consciousness the same way “28 Days Later” did for vampires. All of a sudden, the movie-monster genre wasn’t trapped by the confines of old, cheesy props and bad acting — it was legitimately scary again. “Fear the Walk-

ing Dead” can’t possibly recreate the same shock value that “The Walking Dead” did in its six seasons, instead serving as our zombie-smashing fix during “The Walking Dead” offseason.

I have no doubt that “Fear the Walking Dead” will get better as it progresses, but one show about the zombie apocalypse, especially one as original and well-crafted as “The Walking Dead,” casts a large shadow over all others — even its own prequel.

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Sports

PITT READIES FOR AKRON REMATCH Jeremy Tepper

Senior Staff Writer

Scott Orndoff has put last year’s Akron loss behind him.

Meghan Sunners Senior Staff Photographer

Two days after its opening victory against Youngstown State, the Pitt football team took a monumental blow, losing star running back James Conner for the entire season to a torn MCL. On Saturday, they’ll be taking on Akron, minus No. 24.

Despite the magnitude of Conner’s loss, center Artie Rowell stressed that he and his teammates can’t linger on the injury and must focus on the task at hand: beating the Zips.

“We have another game on Saturday.

There’s no time to dwell on it,” Rowell said.

Their opponent isn’t just another early season breeze-by game, if only because of Pitt’s history with the Zips.

Last year, Pitt lost 21-10 at Heinz Field against the Akron team that would finish the season with a middling 5-7.

“It’s not a good memory. We came out, and they just outplayed us,” said tight end Scott Orndoff.

As a member of Akron’s coaching staff last year, Pitt offensive line coach John Peterson is now scouting his former employer. Akron lost their first game 41-3 against No. 19 Oklahoma.

The team struggled on both ends, accumulating 226 yards and giving up 539.

Even so, head coach Pat Narduzzi praised the talent of Akron’s defense, especially their defensive line and linebackers.

“They’ve got two explosive defensive ends. Their front seven are nasty,” Narduzzi said.

Those two aforementioned defensive ends are Se’von Pittman and Jamal Marcus, who both transferred in from Ohio State. Pittman and Marcus each had a tackle for loss against Oklahoma and are pivotal to Akron’s defense. Head coach Terry Bowden and his defensive coordinator Chuck Amato employ a 4-3 defense, similar to Pitt’s scheme, Narduzzi said.

“You could see in the Oklahoma game that they’ve got a lot of skill and talent,” Peterson said of Akron’s defensive line.

On offense, Narduzzi said Akron runs a “Baylor-type offense,” referring to their propensity to spread the field with their receivers.

Pitt doesn’t know who will lead Akron’s See Akron on page 14

MICHIGAN CHALLENGE TO TEST PANTHERS David Letwich For The Pitt News

After two mostly successful tournament runs this season, the Pitt women’s volleyball team will move onto the boss level during an invitational this weekend in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Freshman outside hitter Stephanie Williams is not underestimating the challenge.

“I think this is the toughest tournament that we’re going to be in [before ACC play begins],” Williams said.

Williams and the young Panthers team will travel to the Michigan Challenge at the University of Michigan this weekend. The team will square off against South Carolina (4-2) and Western Michigan (1-8) on Friday and then face an undefeated No. 24 Michigan (6-0) in a critical match on pittnews.com

Saturday.

The lineup marks the only tournament this year in which the Panthers will face multiple “Power Five” conference opponents in South Carolina and Michigan. Despite the rigid competition and the long trek, the Panthers still say they will feel at home.

“When we go away, we still like to call that our home court,” starting libero Angela Seman said. “We embrace the challenge and think their fans are cheering for us, so that really helps us get into the mentality we need.”

These three teams are a step up in skill from Pitt’s 3-0 outing last weekend at the Duquesne/Pitt Invitational.

“I think that any of these three teams can beat us,” said head coach Dan Fisher.

See Volleyball on page 14

Freshman Stephanie Williams locks in.

Jeff Ahearn | Assistant Visual Editor

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FEROCIOUS FRESHMEN

Juliana Vazquez dribbles on the pitch.|JeffAhearn|AssistantVisualEditor

Jeff Carpenter

For The Pitt News

Sporting a young roster and a weak resumé, there was little reason to expect much from the Pitt women’s soccer team this year. Six games into the season, it appears that youth might be reversing the program’s fortunes.

Touting a 4-1-1 record and coming off a successful 2-0 weekend, the Panthers must now maintain momentum, as they prepare to take on Liberty this Thursday, and travel

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to Akron on Sunday.

The Panthers came away with a pair of victories in their two games this past weekend with scores of 2-0 and 3-1, respectively, against Villanova and La Salle.

The play of Pitt’s fresh faces paced the team through the weekend. Both freshman forward Sarah Krause and freshman midfielder Juliana Vazquez scored their first career NCAA goals, while Junior defender Siobhan McDonough buried her first goal of the season against La Salle.

The recruiting class has turned into quite an impact for Pitt and coach Greg Miller.

“That’s always the recruiting plan right, you bring in some kids that can share some of the load, and it’s great to see freshmen get on the score sheet, whether it’s an assist or a goal,” Miller said. “The more people that can be contributing from that standpoint the more balanced our attack will be.”

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Volleyball, pg. 12 Even with the obstacle ahead, the team sees this as an opportunity to grow and showcase what they’ve worked on during practice. Last weekend the team struggled with too many attacking errors, which made that a point of emphasis this week.

“I think we’ve been really focusing on repeatable moves, especially on blocking and going hard on defense,”

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Williams said.

Pitt can apply these type of adjustments to the matches this weekend and hopefully perfect them in time for conference play.

The slate of tough tournaments early on will break in the new freshmen class and accelerate their acclimation to the game. There are six true freshmen and one redshirt freshman, and two of those players are in the starting six.

“We are just so ecstatic with how good our freshmen are,” Fisher said.

Freshman starter Stephanie Williams had a total of 22 kills at the Duquesne/Pitt Invitational. These are impressive early season numbers and the team hopes this is a sign of good things to come from her and the entire freshmen class.

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Akron, pg. 12 offense, as both Kyle Pohl and Tra’Von Chapman — who Pitt dismissed in 2013 after pleading guilty to assault charges — took cracks at playing quarterback against Oklahoma last week.

Pohl, a pro style-type quarterback, has been Akron’s starter the past two years.

He struggled week one, completing 6 of 17 passes for 88 yards.

Chapman is a dual-threat quarterback who boasts good speed under center.

Chapman did not complete a pass in eight attempts during week one, though he did run 14 times for 48 yards.

Having to prepare for two different quarterbacks adds another wrinkle to Pitt’s scouting and practices leading into the game. Still, defensive line coach Tom Sims said the defense’s practice arrangements are more about them executing their game plan than focusing too much on the opposition.

“Pretty much, we prepare how we prepare,” Sims said. “It’s more about us, as opposed to trying to adjust magically to this guy that’s in for that play and this guy that’s in for another play. It’s about us playing our defense the right way.”

On Pitt’s end, its offensive and defensive units will change slightly. Pitt lists Qadree Ollison as the starter running back in light of Conner’s injury, while wide receiver Tyler Boyd and defensive end Rori Blair will return to the starting lineup after serving one-game suspensions.

“It will be nice to see [Boyd] running around, Rori Blair as well, two guys that will help us a bunch,” Narduzzi said.

The game will start at 6 p.m. on Saturday at InfoCision Stadium - Summa Field as Akron’s first home game of the season.

“I’m sure that they’re excited about it, and I’m sure that they’re going to be prepared when it comes time to play, so we need to put our best foot forward,” Sims said.

While the disappointing loss will likely linger in the minds of the Pitt fanbase, Orndoff said it’s important for Pitt to not look ahead to their next contest against Iowa or back on their loss to Akron last season.

“To us, there’s no other game after Akron,” Orndoff said. “It’s all Akron right now, we’re not thinking ahead to Iowa or whoever. It’s just Akron, 2015.”

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