12-4-14

Vol. 105 Issue 82

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Thursday,December 4, 2014

SILENCE THAT SPEAKS National Breakdown July 17: Officer Daniel Pantaleo placed unarmed Eric Garner in a fatal chokehold in New York City.

Aug. 9: Officer Darren Wilson shot unarmed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Nov. 24: Grand jury in Ferguson, Mo., did not indict Wilson in death of Brown.

Dec. 3: Grand jury in Staten Island, N.Y., did not indict Pantaleo in death of Garner.

Students and community members had a 4.5-minute long moment of silence in the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard as part of an hour-long protest against police brutality. Jeff Ahearn | Assistant Visual Editor

Harrison Kaminsky & Dale Shoemaker The Pitt News Staff Pitt students and community members flooded the streets of Oakland Wednesday night to protest racial injustice and police brutality, joining other protesters around the country.

More than 100 students and community members gathered in Schenley Plaza Wednes-

day at approximately 7 p.m. to peacefully protest police brutality.

Police did not interfere with the protest, but they shut down and controlled traffic for brief periods of time in intersections on Forbes Avenue, Fifth Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard. At one point, protesters disbanded but reconvened minutes later at Fifth Meyran avenues. They marched until 8:15 p.m., until they disbanded for the night, chanting, “We’ll

be back.”

The protesters marched against traffic, forcing it to a halt.

“Black lives matter,” they chanted.

“From Ferguson to NYC, f*ck police brutality!”

The protest at Pitt comes after, earlier in the day, a Staten Island grand jury failed to indict the NYPD officer who choked Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, to death in July. This

Salaries

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decision comes less than a week after a Missouri grand jury failed to indict officer Darren Wilson for the shooting and death of Michael Brown.

Protest

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December 4, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

University administrators receive salary hikes Dale Shoemaker Staff Writer Seven University officers have been approved for raises between 3.7 and 7 percent after the Compensation Committee of the Board of Trustees reviewed and approved the recommendations at a meeting Tuesday morning.

The recommendations were made by former Chancellor Mark Nordenberg before he left office and current Chancellor Patrick Gallagher, according to Ken Service, vice chancellor for communications.

The raises come after a year of prosperity for the University, although raises of 4 percent are the average award for all faculty members each year, the University said in a release.

“The past fiscal year was another period of exceptional progress at the University of Pittsburgh,” Board of Trustees Chairman Stephen R. Tritch, who also chairs the Compensation Committee, said in a University release.

The seven officials’ new salaries are

as follows: Patricia Beeson, senior vice chancellor and provost, $420,000, a 7 percent increase from her salary last year; Jerome Cochran, executive vice chancellor, $532,500, which is a 3.9 percent increase; B. Jean Ferketish, secretary of the Board of Trustees and assistant chancellor, $235,000, a 4.4 percent increase; Arthur Levine, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine, $847,500, a 3.7 percent increase; Amy Marsh, chief investment officer, $447,500, a 5.3 percent increase; Art Ramicone, chief financial officer, $387,000, a 3.9 percent increase; and Jerome Richey, general counsel, $380,000, a 4.1 percent increase.

To compare, the Chronicle of Higher Education lists the median salary in the U.S. for a vice chancellor with a doctorate degree, such as Beeson and Cochran, at $326,863. The median salary for a dean of medicine such as Levine is listed at $501,350. The median salaries for chief investment and chief financial officers, Marsh and Ramicone, are listed at

$227,084 and $231,274, respectively.

“The committee also approved an additional 3.4 percent for Art Ramicone effective in January 2015, bringing his salary to $400,000 at that time,” the release said.

Ramicone will replace Executive Vice Chancellor Jerome Cochran at the end of 2014 on an interim basis, the release said.

Cochran’s raise, because he is retiring, will only be in effect until the end of the year.

Gallagher also made the recommendation for Ramicone’s raise.

Typically, Service said, raises for University officials are approved in late September. According to the release, the decision to defer the raises until now was made, “so that more complete measures of institutional progress [could be] considered.”

“This has been the practice for a number of years,” Service said. “It makes more sense to have a fuller sense of the state of the University.”

Since these raises have come so late in the year, they will be retroactive, the release said. Service confirmed that those

receiving raises will receive a lump sum for the time that has passed so far.

Service also confirmed that tuition increases for students, among other factors such as the growth of the University’s endowment and an increase in fundraising, contributed to the raises. From the 20132014 school year to this year, tuition for in-state students has increased by $632, and by $1,022 for out-of-state students.

“It is the belief of the Board that the raises that were recommended and approved reflect the progress of the University,” Service said. “The University has also been benchmarking salaries [over the last several years] so that they reflect what is being done at other universities.”

December 4, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

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December 4, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

FROM PAGE 1

PROTEST Hours after the Eric Garner decision yesterday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced a federal civil rights investigation into his murder.

The protesters swarmed around cars stopped at green lights, aiming for the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard.

The Pitt Police monitored the protest, generally keeping to the sidewalks and controlling traffic.

Deputy Police Chief Holly A. Lamb said the protest was lawful, and they had no plans to shut it down at the time.

“I have no idea how long this is going to go on for,” she said.

The protest was against police brutality and injustice in general, said Curtis Phillips, a participant and student at the Community College of Allegheny County.

“This is a protest for officer Darren Wilson after the things that happened in Ferguson and the guys choked out by police in New York,” he said. “It’s against injustice.”

More than 100 protestors marched around Oakland. Jeff Ahearn | Assistant Visual Editor

Lauren Finkel, a protester and photojournalism major at Point Park University, said the “whole system is incredibly racist” and that the “militarization of police is just completely unacceptable.”

“How high does the body count have to get before something changes?” she said.

Pitt students also participated in the protest.

“This protest is kind of like a critical mass of people who aren’t going to take police brutality anymore,” Mihir Mulloth, a chemistry and neuroscience major, said.

When the protesters reached the intersec-

tion of Fifth Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard, they stopped, and several dozen laid down in the middle of the street. One protester then called for a four-and-a-half minute moment of silence. Those protesters not laying in the intersection circled around those who were, and all were silent.

While many protesters condemned police brutality, others expressed disgruntlement with the U.S. judicial system. One protester, David Humphrey, said the outcry was “not about race,” but instead about the response to the decisions made on incidents like those in Ferguson, Mo.

“This will always be a problem with our society, especially today, so I don’t think it’s going to stop anytime soon,” Humphrey, an administration of justice major, said. “The numbers are still going to be there. It’s up to us to speak our minds.”

Mulloth cited his moral judgement as the driving force behind his presence at the protest.

“Why am I here? Because I’m a human being. No parent should have to tell their kids, ‘Don’t wear a hood, don’t go out at night, always show your hands to a police officer.’ Cops are here to protect us,” Mulloth said. “They serve us. Who are you supposed to trust if you can’t trust the cops?”

Visit pittnews.com for social media reactions and video of last nightʼs protest.

December 4, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

EDITORIAL

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OPINIONS

Science must maintain its freedom in the classroom

Should high school students learn scientific facts about their own world? Some think not.

According to The New York Times, Gilbert Public Schools, a school district in the suburbs of Phoenix, Ariz., recently voted to redact two pages in a high school biology textbook that discussed sexually transmitted diseases, contraception and abortion.

The article says that an Arizona law passed two years ago mandates schools to teach “preference, encouragement and support to childbirth and adoption” over abortion. While supporting childbirth and adoption are laudable efforts, school board members must remember what the purpose of scientific instruction really is.

Regardless of one’s views regarding STDs, contraception and abortion, public school students should be aware of their existence. The reality is that sex is a near-

ubiquitous part of society. It is inevitable that teenagers will be exposed to sex. Therefore, schools must teach students about their bodies and the consequences of sex.

Biology class is often an appropriate outlet to do this. It should deal with science, not religious morality and ethics. Presenting students with facts about STDs, contraception and abortion will allow them to better understand the issues of the world in which they live. This does not mean, however, that students’ religious views will be undermined.

Students, parents and policymakers must not forget the difference between freedom from and freedom of religion. Gilbert school board member and parent Julie Smith does not seem to understand this distinction. In the Times article, she is quoted as saying, “I’m Catholic; we do not contracept ... It is a grave sin.” In regards to the publication of

the contested pages in the textbook, she asserts, “you have violated my religious rights.”

Informing students about contraception and abortion in public schools does not violate personal religious rights.

There are two main aspects of religious freedom as guaranteed by our Constitution’s First Amendment. Its Establishment Clause says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” while its Free-Exercise Clause states, “or prohibiting the free-exercise thereof.” Therefore, government-supported schooling should not be in the interest of excluding scientific fact merely because it defies a certain religion. It is not the government’s role to endorse one religion over another. Alternatively, students should have the right to freely reject contraception and abortion in their private lives.

It is because of this personal freedom

that hard, scientific instruction in public schools is necessary. So, we cannot forget the distinction between biology and ethics. If a student is enrolled in a biology class, then that student should learn about science. Such a classroom is not the place to promote specific ethical agendas. Now, students should certainly discuss the moral and ethical side of contraception and abortion. However, this discussion should occur elsewhere, after students are educated in the scientific facts.

These issues are not going away, and it’s possible they never will. Thus, school boards across the country should stop meddling with textbooks for the sake of their or their state’s agenda. A free nation is one in which its citizens are freely educated, and this can only happen without overt interference from biased policymakers.

MORGENSTERN

Public education is a right for all Ben Morgenstern For The Pitt News

Dylan Fisher / Cartoonist

Debating whether or not the U.S. government should educate illegal immigrants’ children is nothing new. After all, should the government spend time and money putting a non-citizen through public school?

The simple answer is yes. Education is a basic human right, and there isn’t a single person who shouldn’t be given the right to attend public schools. The U.S. government spending tax dollars on these children in our school systems is not only providing them with a chance at a bright future, but is also keeping them off the streets and minimizing their chances of ending up in our prison system. Educating every child in the United States, no matter their citizenship, is an absolute necessity.

Every man, woman and child deserves the privilege to attend school. There is no reason anyone should be denied an education. There are endless examples of education benefiting those who are frowned upon by many in society. A prime example of education’s benefits is shown in our prison system.

Studies over the past few decades have conclusively shown that educating inmates has a direct correlation to reducing repeat offenses. A study performed in 2005 by the Institute for Higher Education Policy showed that incarcerated people

who had gone through prison education programs were 46 percent less likely to be re-incarcerated after they served their time. A 2010 article on Pioneer Press’ Twincities.com stated that a staggering 85 percent of juveniles who are involved in the juvenile court system are illiterate, along with 60 percent of all prison inmates.

Furthermore, sending these immigrants through public school is much less expensive than sending them through our prison system. Right now, the U.S. government is spending at least $18.6 million every day to keep about 400,000 immigrants in our prisons. Although, of course, not all educated people stay out of prison and not all uneducated people are inherently criminals, there is a correlation between education and incarceration, with nearly 70 percent of all inmates lacking a high school diploma. In Pennsylvania, it costs just more than $10,000 to send a student through school, whereas it costs more than $40,000 to house an inmate. In fact, there isn’t a single state in the country in which it is more cost-effective to send someone to jail than it is to send them to school.

Additionally, in 2012, the Obama administration spent a staggering $32.4 billion on immigration enforcement, which is

Morgenstern

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December 4, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

FROM PAGE 5

MORGENSTERN $18 billion more than the money spent on all of the other law enforcement agencies combined. Allowing immigrants to go through our school system is actually less expensive than spending all the money and manpower used to keep them out of the country.

The easiest way to reduce crime rates — which would then reduce taxes — is to not restrict illegal immigrant children from at-

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tending our public schools. With more than 25 percent of our prison population comprised of illegal immigrants, it is not only beneficial, but imperative that we educate them. If we educate these children, we can prevent some of them from getting involved in our prison system and give them the chance to truly live the American Dream — something every man, woman and child is born with the right to pursue.

To ensure that this system isn’t abused, there should be certain requirements that students would have to fulfill to be allowed

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to remain in the U.S. For one, they should maintain a certain GPA and high attendance rate. Although the specifics of these numbers are up for debate, an attendance rate of 95 percent and a minimum GPA of 2.5 seem like reasonable and obtainable goals. This ensures that any immigrant that comes to the U.S. in search of a better education is being held accountable. If an immigrant does not maintain the requirements, he or she will face the threat of education officials removing them from the school system and possibly being deported.

Time and again we have seen the benefits

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of education. It keeps children off the streets while minimizing their chances of ending up in the court system. Educating our youth, citizens or not, is a standard to which this country should hold itself.

With almost 12 million illegal immigrants residing in the United States, it is our moral obligation to give these children a chance at a brighter future and help keep them out of our prison system. Giving these children a proper education gives them the chance to live the American Dream.

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ARTS and ENTERTAINMENT

Lawrence and Woodley lead top dystopian franchises. TNS

Donuts and Dystopias

Inside the pages of doomsday entertainment Abbey Reighard Senior Staff Writer On the 35th floor of the Cathedral of Learning, high above the noise and lights of the city, a group of about 15 Pitt students gather in a small stone room, which looks like a relic of the past, to discuss tales of bleak futures.

Donuts and Dystopias is a group of students who meet every other week through the University Honors College to discuss dystopian literature and eat some doughnuts. Emily Meyer, who graduated last spring with degrees in Neuroscience and Psychology, started the group in 2011. Rachel Upadhyay, the president of the group, said the semiweekly meetings give the stu-

dents a break from their regular school schedules.

“We’re a lot of engineers,” Upadhyay said. “We don’t actually get to read for fun.”

Upadhyay chooses a book every two weeks for the group to read. Some of the recent dystopian novels the group has read and discussed at their meetings include “The Giver” by Lois Lowry, “The Wanting Seed” by Anthony Burgess and “Out of the Silent Planet” by C.S. Lewis.

Members pay $5 in the fall for doughnuts and other treats provided at the meetings every other week. The University Honors College pays for the books the group members borrow for two weeks. Chris Chirdon, systems analyst for the Honors College, is the Donuts and Dystopias adviser.

Every year the group caps the number

of students who can join, Upadhyay said, so every group member can have their own copy of the books to borrow and to keep the meetings small.

“That way everyone gets a chance to talk about the books,” Upadhyay said.

On a night in November, the group discussed “Out of the Silent Planet.”

The students don’t just summarize the book and the plot. They dig deep into the books’ symbolism and make comparisons to the present. Their conversations might revolve around racism, World War I, the Great Depression, Native American oral tradition and the inevitability of death.

Suzy Hinkle, a junior majoring in chemical engineering, coined “craptime” at the group’s meeting. Hinkle uses

Donuts

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December 4, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

Early Oscar Talk: Sorting out phony hopefuls from contenders Earlier this week, the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) and the National Board of Review released their awards for the best films of the year. Many movie pundits on the web are quick to tweak their Oscar frontrunners based on these early awards, but it’s only December, and momentum can shift before Feb. 22, 2015.

Two of The Pitt News’ foremost movie buffs will tackle the field and separate phony promise from genuine contention, no matter how early it is.

Shawn Cooke: Our favorite movie of the year — Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” — seemed to get a strong Oscar boost from winning Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress (Patricia Arquette) at the NYFCC on Monday, but recent history suggests that it may not be sitting so pretty for Picture and Director. In three of the past four years, the NYFCC winners for Picture and Director went home empty-handed in those

categories. And, luckily, their consensus pick from 2013, “American Hustle,” went home empty-handed altogether. So, do you think we’re looking at another “American Hustle?”

Dan Sostek: I’m disgusted by the thought of comparing “Boyhood” to “American Hustle.”

“American Hustle” was fine, but “Boyhood” is a film that comes around once in a lifetime. As corny as that sounds, it’s the truth. I’ll just look at this from a glass-half-full standpoint and assume every award ceremony will think as highly of Linklater’s masterpiece as we do. In terms of the Oscars, I think it’s going to come away with Best Supporting Actress and either Best Picture or Best Director. Nothing less.

SC: Arquette seems to be the closest thing to a lock at this point — aside from Julianne Moore in “Still Alice,” who might only see a disruption from Reese Witherspoon’s turn in “Wild” — but I think you’re right. Given the Best Picture-Director split in the past two years, the Academy might look to continue the trend of rewarding style in the directing category and another admirable film for Best Picture. We could see Alejandro Gonzalez

Inarritu nab Best Director from Linklater, but the “Boyhood” visionary will probably still get his trophy for Best Picture (he was also a producer on the project).

Since the Best Actor race is too muddled to project — and we haven’t seen most of the performances in contention — we’ll move on to a more straightforward race: Best Supporting Actor. It’s looking like either J.K. Simmons’ villainous turn in “Whiplash” or Edward Norton’s pretentious stage actor from “Birdman.”

DS: I don’t want to take anything away from Edward Norton’s performance in “Birdman.” He’s funny, he’s emotive, he’s charismatic, but J.K. Simmons’ performance as Terence Fletcher in “Whiplash” was something to behold. Norton won the National Board of Review Supporting Actor award, while Simmons took home the NYFCC trophy.

Despite the split, Simmons’ turn is of a higher caliber than Norton’s great performance. He has drawn comparisons to R. Lee Ermey’s in “Full Metal Jacket,” but what he does in the film is much more than just a screaming drill sergeant, and the longtime character actor

The Pitt News Crossword, 12/4/2014

Shawn Cooke and Dan Sostek The Pitt News Staff

ACROSS 1 Crockpot concoctions 6 Bar snack made from 17Acrosses 11 USO show attendees 14 Purity measure 15 Card for a seer 16 Hibachi residue 17 *Source of chips and 6-Across 19 Draw upon 20 Two-thumbs-up review 21 When directed 23 Drop in the ocean 27 Certain female grouse 29 Round numbers 30 Lake Erie port 31 Like Wrigley Field’s walls 32 Baby spoilers, perhaps 33 Play with, catstyle 36 Brings home 37 Words to a hitchhiker, and a literal hint to what spans both words of the answers to starred clues 38 Anti-art movement 39 One of football’s Mannings 40 Like 101 courses 41 Not as loopy 42 “Heathers” actor Christian 44 Terrarium pet 45 Siri speaks on them 47 Idiomatic trendsetters 48 Trembled 49 They’re usually loaded 50 Cut back 51 *Cervantes creation 58 Wolfed down 59 Poseidon’s realm 60 Hunter of myth 61 Jamaican “mister” 62 Grown-up efts 63 Wyoming’s __ Range

should finally garner a well-deserved moment in the spotlight.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the early awards was the success J.C. Chandor’s “A Most Violent Year” achieved. The film took home Best Picture at the National Board of Review, while Oscar Isaac won Best Actor and Jessica Chastain snagged Best Supporting Actress. As happy as I am that Isaac is finally being recognized after being snubbed for the tremendous “Inside Llewyn Davis,” I was surprised to hear the actor’s name mentioned in any context other than the 88-second “Star Wars: Episode VII” trailer.

SC: It was a huge surprise, indeed, and their broad recognition definitely helps the film’s, Isaac’s and Chastain’s chances for scoring nominations. But, in the last five years, the National Board of Review has served as an accurate forecast for only two major awards (Christopher Plummer and Christian Bale for Best Supporting Actor). Given this poor track record, Isaac might have to settle for being recognized as Han Solo’s son instead of the first Oscar to win an acting Oscar.

12/17/14

By Fred Piscop

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12/17/14

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December 4, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 7

DONUTS the term to describe tumultuous periods, such as wars or depressions, in history.

“There’s always a crap-time going on,” Hinkle said.

Hinkle said dystopias often point out issues of classism and racism present in our own society. The group often analyzes the books in a historical context and relates historical and societal problems, crap-times, with themes in the dystopias.

Whether it’s fictional crap-times or actual crap-times, Donuts and Dystopias has probably discussed it.

“I feel like dystopian novels usually end up being a commentary on what is going on around us,” Hinkle said.

So does the recent wave of young adult dystopian literature mean that young people are increasingly discontent with the times?

Since 1949, American readers have seen their own crap-times. The sales of George Orwell’s novel about government surveillance, “1984,” skyrocketed after Edward Snowden leaked details about

the NSA’s global surveillance program.

Snowden even referenced Orwell’s book after he broke the news of NSA spying. He said on a British alternative television channel that the spy gadgets used to monitor civilian activity in the novel “are nothing compared to what we have available today.”

The 1949 novel’s sales still don’t come close to “The Hunger Games” sales. The trilogy toppled Orwell’s sales in less than six years after its first publication.

“The Hunger Games” trilogy has sold 50 million copies since author Suzanne Collins published the first book in 2008.

This figure is double the 25 million sold of “1984.”

The first two “The Hunger Games” film adaptations each grossed more than $400 million at the box office. “The Hunger Games” has surpassed “Twilight,” the vampire love story made into films, at the box office and on the best-selling book lists.

The “Divergent” trilogy, a similar franchise to “The Hunger Games,” has also become a best-selling series with 20 million copies sold.

The young adult dystopian trend may have to do with series like “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent” being “hugely successful,” according to Lori Campbell, a literature professor at Pitt. Campbell teaches classes on young adult fiction and often uses the first book of “The Hunger Games” series in her curriculum.

The shift in dystopian novels’ target audience from adults to young adults, Campbell said, is because the young adult category is still “relatively new” and didn’t really exist when Orwell and other authors like C.S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley, were creating their dystopian worlds.

Campbell said although she doesn’t want to underestimate 15 year olds, she doesn’t think teenagers are driven to buy the books because of events in their own society. She couldn’t pinpoint a “crap-time” that may have influenced the events in “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent.”

“I’m not sure we’re ever not in a ‘craptime,’” Campbell said. “But I think we also tend to look nostalgically into the past.”

9 Both novels have female heroines who rebel against oppressive government leaders. Campbell said this may be a commentary on the evolving roles of women and the rebellious nature of young people.

“It makes sense because it’s about rebellion, which is an impulse in adolescents, and adults, too, but it emerges very powerfully in adolescence,” Campbell said. “It’s about standing up for what you believe in.”

The latest film adaption of “The Hunger Games” series, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1,” has grossed more than $230 million in its 12 days of release.

Upadhyay said despite their fictional status, we could all learn from dystopians. She said dystopian literature allows us to “see where roads could take us in the future.”

“The way society is now, we have a huge generational shift. There’s a lot of turmoil in politics,” Upadhyay said. “It’s important to read about dystopians because there’s always the possibility of becoming too extreme.”

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December 4, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

FEATURE

SPORTS

Taglianetti twins’ bond grows as Penguins’ employees Jasper Wilson Senior Staff Writer

Andrew and Jon Taglianetti got to do the unthinkable after the Detroit Red Wings won the 2008 Stanley Cup over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The 17-year-old fraternal twins drank from the NHL championship’s nearly three-foot-tall, 35-pound trophy.

Working the visitor’s locker room at the now-demolished Mellon Arena, home to the Penguins until 2010, as part-time equipment staff during their senior year of high school, their responsibilities included picking up the winners’ gear, which had been thrown on the ice in jubilation, and ferrying it to safety to keep any fans from grabbing a souvenir.

When the party made its way back into the bowels of the arena, the delirious players made a point to include the teenagers, who had assisted them for the past two weeks, letting them hold the historic trophy and enjoy some beverage from its 45-year-old silver bowl.

“It was surreal,” Andrew said.

That Andrew and Jon found themselves there made sense. The two Pitt alumni and their older brother grew up with the Penguins. Peter Taglianetti, their father, had a nine-year NHL

The Taglianettis pose with the Stanley Cup trophy. Courtesy of Andrew Taglianetti

career and won two championships in his five seasons with the team in the ’90s before working as a broadcaster from 1997-2002.

“When I was playing, they were always around the arena,” Peter said. “They came down to practice. They came in the locker room during the practices and just hung around while we were on the ice.”

That sort of upbringing resulted in many notable memories. Andrew recalls stories of

he and his siblings sitting in the Stanley Cup in diapers.

“Jaromir Jagr used to chase us around,” he said.

More important than any hijinks, though, were the impressions Andrew and Jon made.

They now work for the team full time, their first jobs out of college, right down the street from the old rink.

While all five Taglianetti children (there’s

also a younger set of twins) played multiple sports growing up, including hockey, Andrew and Jon decided to focus on football from middle school on.

But going into the twins’ sophomore year of high school in 2005, the longtime equipment manager of the team, Steve Latin, needed some help on game days, so he reached out, and the three oldest became “stick boys.” Their first season was also Penguins star Sidney Crosby’s first.

Working all 41 home games, they each earned $50 a night to do whatever needed doing: cleaning, filling water bottles, fetching supplies, doing laundry, unloading and reloading bags.

“You’d sweat a little bit after the game,” Andrew said. “It was long nights ‘cause we would get home at 11, 11:30. But it was a good experience.”

Connections made working for the Penguins helped the twins get to where they are now.

“They knew everybody. They knew all the players in the front office: the presidents, the GM’s, everybody in the divisions,” Peter said. “It made their transition easy because they knew

Taglianetti

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W HOOPS

Panthers hold on for road victory in Columbus Jasper Wilson Senior Staff Writer

Columbus, Ohio — Standing just inside half court, slightly outside of the Value City Arena block-O logo at midcourt, Brianna Kiesel took one more dribble before looking up at the basket. The senior point guard then released a perfectly on-line shot: swish.

The buzzer beater pulled the Pitt women’s basketball team within a point of Ohio State in the ACC/Big 10 Challenge matchup on Wednesday night, heading into halftime 37-36.

“I knew I wanted to get the ball above half court to at least try and get going to the basket, and I looked up at the clock. I saw three seconds, I was like, ‘We work on these half court shots I might as well try it.’ I just threw it up there, and it went in.

I was like, ‘Hey, it’s paying off somehow,’” Kiesel said.

She can’t remember the last time she hit a buzzer beater or a half-court shot, but she and her teammates practice them often, specifically for instances like the one she found herself in.

“It’s kind of like a good luck thing,” Kiesel said.

Players can’t leave the floor at the end of a practice or shoot around until someone makes one, according to head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio.

The setup for the heave was that Kiesel and the Panthers (5-2) had led for much of the opening period. The lead had been separated by one possession often, and no more than two, so her dynamic and unexpected sequence not only kept the score close, but also gave the visitors a physiological edge going into the break,

which they rode to an eventual 78-74 win.

“It was a huge possession, and it gave us momentum going into the half,” McConnell-Serio said.

The tight nature of the game continued in the second half. By the end of the game, there had been 14 ties and 13 lead changes between the teams.

Every time one team threatened to pull away and build a lead, the opposition responded.

Pitt wrested control from the home team one final time when senior forward Monica Wignot made a 3-pointer, her second of the game, to make the score 59-57 with just more than 10 minutes remaining, an advantage that wouldn’t disappear.

They’d finish with seven threes on 18 tries for 39 percent.

Read the rest online at Pittnews.com.

Brianna Kiesel led Pitt with 17 points.

Meghan Sunners | Staff Photographer

December 4, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

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COLUMN

Parody Twitter account collateral damage of Pelini’s firing Alex Wise Staff Writer

The college football carnival may be on its way out of town, but the coaching carousel has just started to spin.

Within days of the conclusion of the regular season, head coaching vacancies are popping up in college football programs nationwide. Brady Hoke, on whom I’ve talked a lot of smack since his hiring in 2011, is out at Michigan. Hoke was a solid recruiter, bringing in top-10 classes in 2012 and 2013 and a top-20 class in his inaugural year, but he evidently lacked in the player development department, as the Wolverines’ 5-7 record this year didn’t reflect the team’s talent.

Moving south to Florida, the Will Muschamp experiment is over in Gainesville. The Gators, a traditionally successful team, never played at the level expected of them and only finished in the final top-25 polls once in four years under Muschamp. While many predicted he would be fired, Muschamp beat those rumors by announcing his resigna-

T P N S U D O K U

tion on Nov. 16. Reports indicate that Muschamp’s decision was indeed voluntary, and that he wasn’t forced out, which I find hard to believe. People don’t resign from one of the country’s most sought-after coaching jobs unless directed to resign. Or, you know, to “spend time with family” like Urban Meyer.

But the most confusing and, to me, upsetting coaching change comes at Nebraska, where head coach Bo Pelini was fired last week after a rather productive career. The Cornhuskers won at least nine games in each of Pelini’s seven seasons in Lincoln, the first three spent in the Big 12 and the last four in the Big Ten. Among the reasons cited for Pelini’s ousting were his failure to deliver in big games and his failure to win a conference championship, but I would imagine there were a number of smaller contributing factors, among them Melvin Gordon’s Much maligned coaches Bo Pelini (L) and Brady Hoke (R) have both been fired. TNS 400-plus-yard performance against Pelini’s of upheaval is that it puts in jeopardy the con- in all capital letters, exchanges with ESPN, defense and last year’s obscenity-laden com- tinuance of the greatest account in Twitter attempts to reach out to Pope Francis and ments about Nebraskans being “fair-weather history: @FauxPelini. College football Sat- the qualification of every Husker offensive fans.” urdays won’t be the same without scrolling Column 12 The reason Pelini’s firing has me in a state through endless ranting Nebraska fanaticism

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

12 FROM PAGE 11

December 4, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 10

COLUMN

TAGLIANETTI

play as either the best or worst play in world history. He often offered impeccable strategy tips, “I 100% RECOMMEND BLOCKING THE PLAYERS THAT ARE TRYING TO TACKLE OUR QB,” and took a practical approach to the weather, “WHY REVIEW THAT IT’S FREEZING LET’S GO.” While real Bo may not have been thrilled about losing his job, fake Bo didn’t seem too upset with the decision at first: “LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT YOU ARE PAYING ME NOT TO LIVE IN LINCOLN NEBRASKA AND I AM SUPPOSED TO BE SAD.” But gradually his emotions began to take over: “CAN I GO BACK INTO THE STADIUM AND SAY GOODBYE ONE LAST TIME ALSO WHERE IS MY BLOWTORCH.” In a last-ditch effort, he tried to explain Nebraska’s misinterpretation of his strategic maneuvers: “THIS WAS NOT WHAT I MEANT BY EXECUTION YOU IMBECILES.” Still, it was no help. Pelini is done at Nebraska. Join me in prayer that he gets hired elsewhere so @FauxPelini and all of his missing punctuation can continue to brighten social media.

who they were and what they were getting when they hired them.”

But before that transition occurred, the twins’ individual roles with the team diverged when they came to attend Pitt in 2008.

Both played football for the Panthers. Andrew, a business major, stopped working with the Penguins to focus on football. He played in all games as a freshman, going on to a five-year collegiate career. Jon walked on and redshirted his first year, continuing in his role with the Penguins. He would stop playing football after back surgery in 2009.

“My freshman year was the toughest, ‘cause you had class, you had your study hall hours, you had football practice,” Jon, who majored in communication, said. “So a lot of times when the team was on the road, I was coming in at 9, 10 o’ clock [at night] leaving at 11, up the next day for workouts at 6. My days were long, but that was me paying my dues a little bit to get where I’m at now.”

He was often the only person in the arena at those times. He didn’t mind.

“It was something I wanted to do,” he said.

Jon became an assistant equipment manager, a full-time position, last August.

“I was ecstatic,” he said of his reaction upon receiving the job offer. “One thing about the type of job I have, one thing that I won’t/don’t take for granted is how fortunate I was to work for the Penguins from when I was [15] to now.

I was very fortunate to be able to start where I did.”

His superior, head equipment manager Dana Heinze, spent eight and a half years with the Johnstown (Pa.) Chiefs of the East Coast Hockey League, the third tier of pro hockey in the U.S., before getting a long-term NHL gig.

From uniform maintenance to cleaning clothes, Jon’s job involves many duties.

“I do a lot of sewing,” he said. “Repairing the jerseys and socks we need, the laundry itself, keeping up with the detergent, making sure it’s [maintained]. I do a lot of repair on equipment.

If their shoulder pad rips, I fix that. Little things like visors on their helmets, changing that if the guys need it.

For Jon, his job gets a little bit tougher when the team prepares to go on the road. “[I’m] constantly on my toes making sure we have everything,” Jon said from New York City

last month, with the team on the second stop of a five-game, week-and-a-half-long road trip.

Andrew returned to the organization the summer before his senior year when he got an internship with the corporate sales department.

The team hired him as a full-time manager of amateur hockey development in May of 2013.

Part of a staff of four, in his role, Andrew functions as the middleman between the Penguins’ amateur programs and his three co-workers, as he manages business and administrative details.

The contrast between how the twins work in the same building isn’t lost on Peter.

“It’s a totally different lifestyle ... Andrew’s is more cerebral. He has to do a lot of planning and writing,” he said. “Jon is more down and dirty. Twenty-four hours a day, he’s on call.”

Both brothers appreciate that Peter’s career opened doors for them.

“I don’t know if I’d be in this situation, or Andrew would be, if it wasn’t for what he did, all his hard work,” Jon said.

But they are.

“We’ve lived together basically our whole lives, so it only seems fitting that we work in the same place,” Jon said.”Hopefully one day I can shake him.”

December 4, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

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December 4, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com