2-5-15

@thepittnews

Vol. 105Issue 107

Thursday, February 5, 2015Pittnews.com

Students sorted trash from recyclables on Wednesday afternoon as a part of Recyclemania. Christine Lim | Staff Photographer

The Student Government Board will soon begin racking up student publications at Pitt.

Student publication groups, includ-ing The Pittiful News and The Original Magazine, will soon be able to display and distribute their wares on publica-tion racks for the first time, according to Student Government Board President Graeme Meyer. Meyer and former Board member Ben West have been working since last October, Meyer said, to pur-chase and install publication racks for student publications including The Pit-

SGB to provide racks

for student publications

Emily Ahlin Staff Writer

The courtyard between Towers Patio and the William Pitt Union got trashy on Wednesday morning.

Student group Free the Planet, as well as other environmental student groups and campus sustainability lead-ers, coordinated a “waste audit” be-tween 11:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m . The

event, organized with the Office of Facilities Management, was a part of RecycleMania, an eight-week period during which 600 colleges and univer-sities around the country compete to generate the least waste and the most recycled items in that period of time. Last year’s RecycleMania produced 740,460 pounds of recycling at Pitt and 85.6 million pounds of recycling and composting nationwide.

The waste audit was “all about vis-ibility,” student sustainability coordi-nator Sage Lincoln said.

For the audit, three students donned white hazmat suits and matching canvas gloves to rummage through the trash bags picked up from Towers Lobby, the Union, Posvar Hall and other high-traf-fic locations around campus, creating

Trash picking for a cause:Recyclemania continues at Pitt

Liz Lepro Staff Writer

Racks 2

Waste 4

Remodeling at Remodeling at ! e ‘O’ ! e ‘O’ page 2page 2

2 February 5, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

French fries, hold the O — Es-sie’s Original Hot Dog Shop has temporarily closed for

renovations.! e Oakland restaurant, lo-cated on the corner of South

Bouquet Street and Forbes Avenue, displayed white,

circular signs with the words, “Sorry, closed for remodel-ing” scrawled in yellow and

pink marker.Ladders stood inside and

outside while two men moved about inside.

One of the men refused to comment on the renovations.

Dale ShoemakerAssistant News Editor

Renovations at the ‘O’ tiful News, Pitt’s student-run satirical

newspaper, and The Original Magazine, a student-run arts and culture magazine. Meyer is finishing the project alone, he said, and will complete it by the end of February.

The Pittiful News, established in 2009, has distributed its printed pub-lication by hand as a group since late 2011, according to Editor-in-Chief Ste-ven Boyd.

“It’s a fun event because we get to talk to more students and expand our readership in a more personal way, but it is too unprofessional,” Boyd said in an email. “For the amount of work that goes into each issue in pitching, writing, editing and forming layouts, I think our staff could have a way to put up their work that reflects our professionalism.”

The Original Magazine, established in 2006, has distributed its magazine in a similar manner, according to Editor-in-Chief Karley Snyder, through events

and tabling in the lobby of Litchfield Towers.

“These methods are not sufficient,” Snyder said in an email. “I just want people to be able to enjoy the publication my staff and I have worked so hard on.”

To pay for the publication racks, Meyer said SGB modified its budget for the one-time fee of $1,486.70 to pay for 10 publication racks to arrive in high-traffic areas around campus, including the William Pitt Union and the Cathedral of Learning.

Because most student publications are not published daily, Meyer said, they will share the publication racks.

“For instance, if a publication is re-leased on Tuesday, they might be told they may leave their publication on the top shelf for three days, and then must remove it for the next publication,” Mey-er said in an email. “That being said, this all depends on the publication schedules for each individual publication.”

Student publications can apply for rack space on SGB’s website by visit-ing the Student Publication Racks page, Meyer said, which is located under both

the Student Services and For Student Groups tabs on the website’s menu .

The SGB chief of staff will review the applications and allocate space to each publication. Meyer said he will appoint a chief of staff next week.

Snyder said The Original Magazine has worked to get publication racks for a long time, and the incoming installa-tion sets off a string of positive events for the magazine.

“With more people reading, we can advertise more, we can promote more, we can throw more events and we can increase magazine contributors,” Sny-der said.

The Pittiful News staff doesn’t feel “entitled to [their] own publication racks,” Boyd said, though they’re “a huge step forward.”

“We always just thought this student publication rack project was a gesture from the University saying that it re-spects the creative work of its under-graduates,” Boyd said. “It’d be a shame for our many on-campus writers, even outside of Pittiful, if something this small doesn’t pass through.”

RACKSFROM PAGE 1

3February 5, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com


separate piles: one for recyclable items, one for compostable food and another for waste.

These self-proclaimed “Ghost-busters,” resembling the film charac-ters in their puffy Tyvek onesies, are a part of the Pitt Student Environmen-tal Action Coalition. The Coalition is a conglomeration of five student groups:

Fair Food Cooperative, Global Envi-ronmental Brigades, Free the Planet, Students for Sustainability and Take Back the Tap.

The Coalition meets Wednesday nights to discuss ways in which it can better educate the student body about environmental issues and make Pitt’s campus a more earth-friendly place.

“It’s great because you can get in-volved in other peoples’ groups and projects,” Arielle Berk, a Take Back the Tap member, said.

Lincoln has worked diligently to in-crease the consistency and transpar-ency of recycling facilities on campus.

Along with adding 100 new recy-cling bins around campus, including in Nordenberg dorm rooms, she travelled dorm-to-dorm, reviewing the recycling and waste resources in an effort to transform the entire University into a single-stream recycling system where glass, paper and plastic can all go into the same bins.

Free the Planet co-Presidents Beth

Pindilli and Claire Matway spent more than an hour plucking old banana peels and damp Pizza Hut boxes from the heap.

In the end, the recyclable pile — comprised of Pepsi and Starbucks cups, plastic bottles, receipts and loose pa-per — was almost equal in size to the amount of waste.

The reason so many of these items don’t make it to the trash can isn’t limited to students who don’t recycle, according to Pindilli, a sophomore English literature, history and politi-cal science major.

“[Reducing consumption] is some-thing that isn’t ingrained in our soci-ety,” Pindilli said. “There are a lot of little things that could be done that would reduce our waste by a whole lot, but the students don’t know they’re available and they aren’t always easily done.”

Paul Heffernan, president of Stu-dents for Sustainability, agreed that many students lack knowledge about recycling and sustainability, making decisions that reduce waste and un-derstanding why those decisions are important.

“Students are 17 or 18 years old by the time they get to college. They should know,” Heffernan, a senior environ-mental studies major, said.

Heffernan added that the real goal is for “all of the piles to be smaller next year,” highlighting a sentiment expressed by each of the students involved — a focus on limiting con-sumption should come before choosing whether to recycle or not.

The best advice to be more environ-mentally conscious is to “Stop produc-ing that much waste in the first place,” Lincoln said.

WASTEFROM PAGE 1


ACROSS1 Explosive sound5 Outer __

10 Not even ajar14 “Born to Die”

singer/songwriterDel Rey

15 Stadium divisions16 Son of Leah17 “You’re living in

the past,”nowadays

20 Flowercelebrated in anannual Ottawafestival

21 Move the boat, ina way

22 Painting option23 Like a typical

farmer’s market25 “Gotcha!”26 “You can’t go

there,” nowadays32 Peace Nobelist

Sakharov35 Elijah Blue’s

mom36 __ de coeur:

impassioned plea37 “Gone With the

Wind” setting38 “Whew!”39 Sit a spell40 The Pac-12’s

Beavers41 Ego43 Citrine or

amethyst45 “Nobody can go

there,” nowadays48 A Bobbsey twin49 Stops53 Early New

Zealand settler56 “Something __,

something ...”58 Bug59 “Never heard of

you,” nowadays62 Cinch63 Sci-fi staple64 Golf shot65 Breton, e.g.66 Band tour stop,

perhaps67 Building

additions

DOWN1 Olive Oyl pursuer2 Eagerly consume3 One with

degrees?

4 Sauce ofsouthern Italy

5 Norm: Abbr.6 Capital ENE of

Custer7 Prefix with 5-

Across8 Intercollegiate

sport9 Lawyer’s letters

10 Moccasin, forone

11 Man around theHaus

12 Layer in the eye13 Considerable18 Posthaste19 Escort24 “Here,” on Metro

maps25 “__ to Billie Joe”27 Act the cynic28 Coming up short29 Bakery specialist30 Before, to a

bard31 Scatterbrain32 On the highest

point of33 Apollo’s creator34 Pharmacopeia

listing38 Abbreviation on a

lunch menu39 Splendor

41 Gastropod for agourmet

42 Geochronologicalspan

43 “¿__ pasa?”44 Three-time Indy

winner Bobby46 Transported47 Favored to win50 “60 Minutes”

regular51 Sri Lankan

language

52 What apedometercounts

53 Catchall file abbr.54 Archer of “Fatal

Attraction”55 Common face

shape56 Redolence57 Jiffy __60 “Science Friday”

radio host Flatow61 Greek “H”

Wednesday’s Puzzle SolvedBy Robert Fisher 2/19/15

©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC 2/19/15

The

Pitt

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This summer, Pitt students can voice their opinions on a to-be-decided dean of students.

The University’s search to replace former Dean of Students Kathy Hum-phrey will begin this summer, accord-ing to Ken Service, vice chancellor for communications. Chancellor Patrick Gallagher appointed Humphrey as se-nior vice chancellor for engagement and chief of staff on Jan. 14. In the mean-time, Kenyon Bonner has assumed the role of interim vice provost and dean of students after working as director of student life for the past 11 years and associate dean of students for the past seven.

The timing of hiring at universities is cyclical, Service said, aligning with the academic year.

A search committee, which isn’t yet established, will conduct a national search for the new dean, Service said.

Bonner will continue to serve as in-terim dean of students while the search is underway, according to Service.

Service could not provide details as to how students will provide feedback on the job search, but he said more details will be available closer to the time that the search committee is es-tablished.

Students to have a say in next dean of studentsDale Shoemaker

Assistant News Editor

ICYMI: Hillman Library was evacu-ated briefl y Wednesday afternoon after a ballast burned out. ! e evacua-tion ended 20 minutes later. For more information, visit pittnews.com


OPINIONSCal U football making

the right call

EDITORIALEDITORIAL

Western Pennsylvania has a rich football history. In recent months, however, a Pennsyl-vania Division II program has made the headlines for the wrong reasons. Now, thank-fully, it’s implementing mea-sures to discourage criminal activity among athletes.

The California University of Pennsylvania released a report Tuesday announcing reforms to combat the growing number of criminal incidents involving its football players, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Three months ago, six Cal U football players were arrested and charged with committing a violent street assault. As a result, the school’s interim President Geraldine Jones told the Post-Gazette that Cal U aims to reevaluate its drug-test policies for athletics, start requiring players to self-report arrests outside the local com-munity and more closely scru-tinize high-risk transfers from other programs.

These measures are advan-tageous to a university trying to hold athletes’ character to high standards. However, Cal U, located in California, Pa., and other programs should outline more specific policies to show that education and character-building should trump football at any school — no matter what division level.

However, we are concerned about Cal U’s decision to make players self-report arrests out-side the local community. The plan sounds good, but where are the details about how the

school will actually execute it?We must remember that

college football is not a right, but rather a privilege. It is refreshing to see a university prioritizing character over football. However, perhaps Cal U’s intended reforms do not go far enough.

If athletes have repeated run-ins with the law and do not represent the school in a respectable fashion, then schools should remove them from their respective pro-grams. Playing sports can build character for the ath-letes involved, but only if the player prioritizes the oppor-tunity to grow over the glory of the game.

Here at Pitt, our athletic programs have displayed a commitment to holding their students accountable for crim-inal actions. In 2012, basket-ball coach Jamie Dixon sus-pended Trey Zeigler for DUI charges. Zeigler later trans-ferred to TCU. Additionally, three Pitt football players were suspended in April 2013 after being charged with possession of drug paraphernalia follow-ing an overnight raid on their South Oakland home.

College should be a place in which students learn not only football or academics, but, most importantly, how to be responsible individuals and citizens. Cal U is taking the right step, but let’s hope the university properly en-forces its own rules, and other schools join their commitment to character over football.

Cartoon by Fatima Kizilkaya

Have we gone too far in our treatment of celebrities?

Katie McGrath For The Pitt News

MCGRATHMCGRATH

McGrath 7

The tabloid business is a strange one. Magazines such as People, US Weekly and Star stay afl oat because of celebrities. The writers use their degrees meant for hard-hitting journalism to report on who Kim Kardashian would like to take a self-ie with and Kate Winslet’s strategy for losing baby weight. To a point, I think this reporting is OK. That’s fair game. Pursuing a career in fashion, fi lm or politics, for example, naturally thrusts one into the public eye — it comes with the job. In 2015, most of modern media is all about creating snack-sized content and clickbait to generate ad revenue, and public fi gures realize that their lives are often fueling this strategy. And as long as we keep reading them, magazine outlets will keep producing them. The problem is that many people scrutinize celebrities’ every move once they’re in the public eye . Our culture has such a hunger for use-less knowledge — what celebrities ate for breakfast or at which res-taurant they were spotted — that

I think we’ve forgotten where to draw the line — or that there even is a line.Tabloids often post photos of ac-tors, basketball players, designers, etc. pumping gas, grocery shop-ping or taking out the trash (“Stars! They’re just like us!”). Depicting celebrities doing normal human ac-tivities attempts to take them down from the pedestal upon which we have placed them. But there is no line of discrepancy, and our culture should strive to defi ne one.When a celebrity goes to rehab, gets a divorce or anything personal, re-ally, we hear about it. We see pho-tos, read tweets and post blogs with nasty captions to attract attention, weighing in on someone we most likely do not know on a personal level, much less know at all. There is a lot of speculation right now that Bruce Jenner is undergoing a transition to become a woman, and whether he is or not, we should leave him alone. If he makes the decision to share his story with the world (making an agreement with the tabloids to generate that clickbait and ad revenue discussed earlier!), then so be it. But whatever Bruce is going

through, he deserves nothing but respect and privacy — neither of which he is a! orded when the en-tire pop culture landscape has seen photos of him in his car, ducking down, with his windows rolled up, smoking cigarettes with gel tips on his nails. Celebrities are “Just Like Us!” — except when they are dealing with something private.This past fall, Amanda Bynes be-came America’s New Train Wreck, and in November, Star Magazine posted headlines reading “Amanda Bynes’ Psych Ward Diary.” Stop right there.How are we okay with this? Why do we consume news about intimate details of a di" cult period in her life and hear about how she refused to shower and used a silver compact mirror as a cell phone? When she tweeted that she was homeless, the paparazzi took photos of her sleep-ing on benches. The paparazzi are part of the problem, yes, but they are driven by the promise of a re-ward for the most intimate, reveal-ing photo. If these magazines did not put such a bounty on captur-ing these moments, the paparazzi


E S T A B L I S H E D 1 9 1 0

Editorial PoliciesSingle copies of The Pitt News are free and available at newsstands around

campus. Additional copies can be purchased with permission of the editor in chief for $.50 each.

Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the students, faculty or University administration. Opinions expressed in columns, car-toons and letters are not necessarily those of The Pitt News. Any letter in-tended for publication must be addressed to the editor, be no more than 250 words and include the writer’s name, phone number and University a!liation, if any. Letters may be sent via e-mail to [email protected]. The Pitt News reserves the right to edit any and all letters. In the event of multiple replies to an issue, The Pitt News may print one letter that represents the majority of responses. Unsigned editorials are a majority opinion of the Editorial Board, listed to the left.

The Pitt News is an independent, student-written and student-managed newspaper for the Oakland campus of the University of Pittsburgh. It is pub-lished Monday through Friday during the regular school year and Wednesdays during the summer.

Complaints concerning coverage by The Pitt News, after first being brought to the editors, may be referred to the Community Relations Com-mittee, Pitt News Advisory Board, c/o student media adviser, 435 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260.

The editor in chief has the final authority on editorial matters and cannot be censored, according to state and federal law. The editor in chief is selected by the Pitt News Advisory Board, which includes University sta", fac-ulty and students, as well as journalism professionals. The business and edito-rial o!ces of The Pitt News are located at 434 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260.

Copy Sta!Sarah Choflet

Anjuli Das Kinley Gillette Johanna HelbaEmily Maccia

Bridget MontgomerySarah Mejia

Michelle ReagleMegan Zagorski

Abbey Reighard, Assistant News EditorDale Shoemaker, Assistant News Editor

Courtney Linder, Assistant Opinions EditorDan Sostek, Assistant Sports EditorJe! Ahearn, Assistant Visual Editor

Mason Lazarche!, Multimedia EditorDavid Gardner, Social Media EditorSam McGinley, Assistant Copy Chief

Emily Hower, Assistant Layout Editor

Danielle Fox, Managing [email protected]

David BaroneAllison Soenksen

Robert CaponeAlex Kanner

Antonio BlundoA.J. Campli

Franny TishKaitlin Kramer

THE PITT NEWSNatalie Daher Editor-in-Chief

[email protected]

Kevin Vanover, Business [email protected]

David Barr, Sales [email protected]

Kelsey McConville, Inside Sales [email protected]

Molly EmerickVictoria HetrickDanielle Murphy

Stephen EllisMarketing Manager

Kristine Aprile

Marketing AssistantAlly Stevens

Digital Manager

Inside Sales

Account Executives

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Harrison Kaminsky, News [email protected]

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Stephen Caruso, Layout [email protected]

Ad Designer Mark Janavel Genna Gincel

Senior University AccountExecutive

Matt Reilly

MCGRATHFROM PAGE 6

would not fl ock to them anymore.Bynes has tweeted that she su" ers from bi-polar disorder, but she shouldn’t have to do so in the public eye.A report released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services in 2012 found that 45.9 million American adults experience mental illness at least once annually. But we don’t publicly make fun of them, unless they’re

famous, and it drives web tra! c.Bynes isn’t the fi rst celebrity to su" er in the public eye. Britney Spears and Lindsay Lo-han have had their dirty laundry aired out in public as well.The public shaming and bullying must stop. Bullying people for their mental illness is nei-ther kind nor appropriate. When Robin Wil-liams committed suicide last August, we col-lectively mourned his loss. We wrote messages ceremoniously on park benches, changed our profi le pictures and tweeted movie quotes. We shared emotional stories of crying and how

we felt like we had lost a friend.The Robin Williams we knew publicly was very di" erent than the Robin Williams who com-mitted suicide. When his publicist released a statement that Williams su" ered from severe depression, we collectively decided that we should raise awareness about mental health and remove the stigma.But a few months later, when Bynes sought psychiatric treatment, many gossiped about her and shamed her for “going o" the deep end,” instead of supporting her. If we are going to talk about helping those with mental illness,

as we did following Robin Williams’ suicide, we can’t leave out celebrities such as Bynes. I write this article and cite these sources, not to draw more attention to them, but to point out our culture’s fl aws and illustrate just how personal some of the reported information is. We have the power to change our consump-tion. The magazines publish what they think we want to see, and it is up to us to demand better. Humanity deserves better.Just be kind to one another.

Write to Katie at [email protected].


ARTS and ENTERTAINMENT

The early-year movie dumping ground just received a new shipment: the overblown and thoroughly generic “Jupiter Ascending.”

The Wachowski siblings — Lana and Andy — still living o! of goodwill from the fi rst “Ma-trix” fi lm, have concocted another ambitious sci-fi epic. They seem to hope that it’s in the vein of the scope and intelligence of their last fi lm “Cloud Atlas,” but the end product has far more in common with the colorful, repetitive folly of “Speed Racer.”

The borderline self-parody sounds about

as corny and contrived on paper as it looks onscreen. Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) is a dis-gruntled caretaker, unaware of her status as royalty — she’s something of a reincarnation of the late queen of Abrasax, a powerful alien dynasty. The family has control over the earth, which is ripe for harvesting the human popu-lation for an elixir that grants immortality, but Jupiter’s presence makes Earth’s future uncertain. Titus (Douglas Booth), one of three heirs to the throne, hires out hunter and half-wolf, half-man Caine (Channing Tatum) to bring her to him for marriage so that he can take over Earth. Balem (Eddie Redmayne), the other male heir, has equally nefarious plans of his own.

What sounds like it barely qualifi es for a TV movie is pumped with a $175 million dollar budget and taken all too seriously. The Wa-chowskis’ attempt at an original science fi ction universe is admirable, but it comes o! as a rip of “Star Wars,” “Star Trek” and damn near every-thing in between — it’s a melting pot of nerdy, half-baked ideas. While the result is visually impressive, it does not elevate the legitimacy of the project, but only makes it more obvious

h o w l i t t l e original-ity and purpose lies in the fi lm’s life-less script. The same goes for Michael Giacchino’s score, which blows a blood vessel while straining to be epic.

If only its performances could save “As-

cending.” Kunis has yet to prove that she can

‘Jupiter Ascending’: ! e Wachowskis’ latest epic, indulgent misfi re

Ian Flanagan Staff Writer

Terrence Howard as Lucious Lyon. TNS

After a brutal fall season of underperforming debuts, Fox

finally has a new hit on its hands.The network’s newest primetime

drama “Empire” has been the rare freshman frontrunner of ratings

weekly — it debuted to 9.9 million and later netted 11.36 million in its fourth week. Its breakout success speaks both to hip-hop’s integra-tion into mainstream America and middle America’s fascination with the genre. Not only was “Empire” Fox’s most watched debut in the last three years, but it’s also currently the most streamed show online — a testament to its growing, word-of-mouth popularity. Alongside “Empire,” a handful of network TV’s highest rated programs now feature African-American casts and creators, such as “Blackish” and

“Scandal.”Created by Lee Daniels, “Em-

pire” is a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s play “King Lear,” and revolves around a dying hip-hop mogul, Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard), his three ambitious sons and his recently-paroled, scorned ex-wife Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Hen-son), who returns to the family. Much like King Lear, Lucious has to sort out who gets which pieces of “the empire.”

Described as a “musical drama,”

!Empire" pushes against TV"s status quo in dynamic, entertaining ways

Jack Shelly For The Pitt News

Empire 10

Jupiter 10

“Jupiter Ascending”

Directed by: The Wachowskis

Starring: Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean

Rated PG-13 for some violence, se-quences of sci-! action, some sugges-

tive content and partial nudity

Grade: D

“Empire”

Wednesdays, 9 p.m. on Fox

Four episodes viewed for review

Kunis and Booth

get swal-lowed by ‘Jupiter.’


headline any sort of dramatic material, but her lack of charisma and presence is almost befi tting of such schlock. Tatum is fi ne, and he pulls o! his elf ears better than expected, but his emotionless character gives him little room to turn in a strong performance . The only consis-tent redemptions is Redmayne, clearly aware of the ridiculousness of the laughable space opera surrounding him, whose villainous turn is both menacing and slyly tongue-in-cheek.

“Jupiter Ascending” is, at the very least, watchable trash . Caine’s anti-gravity boots, which he uses to skate through space, are neat but shamelessly overused, being the basis of nearly every action scene. Jupiter Jones falls, enter slo-mo, Caine catches her — the exact sequence is repeated multiple times. Despite one long slog of a midsection and an overly generous runtime, the Wachowskis squeeze every bit of underdeveloped drama, hackneyed romance and unneeded visual bedazzlement they can out of their “original” creation.

As risky as it is terrible, “Jupiter Ascending” makes you wonder how it possibly got made at every turn.

JUPITERFROM PAGE 9

the cast performs sporadic musical numbers produced by Timbaland. But the magic behind “Empire” is not in its music, which is fairly mediocre, or even the cliché-dotted script. It is rather the powerful performances from Howard, Henson and, to a lesser extent, their onscreen children.

Howard is convincing as a street-smart business mogul who will do prac-tically anything to get his way. He plays a ruthless drug dealer-turned-rapper while his three sons also each deliver solid performances as an Ivy League-educated suit, a gay singer-songwriter in the vein of Frank Ocean and an ob-noxious, yet talented, emerging rap star, respectively.

But the breakout character of “Em-pire” is undoubtedly Henson’s Cookie, who takes the beyond overdone, arche-typal “angry black woman” and makes it entirely her own. Henson creates a com-plex character who is attention-seeking, bitter, intuitive and formidable — often

all in the same scene. The narrative of a mother who gave birth to three children and then spent most of their childhood behind bars adds another intriguing dimension to the storyline.

“Empire” is not just the story of Lu-cious Lyon and his dysfunctional family — it also mirrors the current hip-hop scene . Lucious’ character is, in many ways, little more than a thinly veiled fictionalization of Russell Simmons or Jay-Z — men who, born to inner city abuse and neglect, hustled every day to break out of the projects and write a new future for themselves. The many unsavory things they did to create a better life — from selling drugs to get-ting involved in gang-related violence — were perhaps unavoidable in order for them to achieve success.

After decades of crossover appeal and enormous philanthropy, Lucious Lyon’s murky past comes back to haunt him, raising the question of whether anyone can truly escape their past.

“Empire” also raises questions about the future of hip-hop. Lyon’s young-est son, the aspiring rapper, faces the

challenge of writing lyrics that will resonate with hip-hop’s traditionally underprivileged fan base, despite his highly privileged upbringing. As hip-hop has found fans among the bour-geois masses, many of its new artists no longer have the same rags-to-riches life stories that were once a cornerstone of rap music. For example, Drake — one of the most successful contemporary rappers — grew up in an affluent sub-urb of Toronto. Kanye West grew up in a middle-class household in Chicago with his mother, a college professor with her doctorate. As upward mobility and increased social opportunities for African-Americans lifts many of hip-hop’s most devoted fans out of poverty, what direction will the music take? How do artists remain connected to the his-tory of rap, hip-hop and urban R&B for decades while remaining authentic to their life experiences?

No matter the answers, the grow-ing popularity of “Empire” speaks to the changing demographics and sen-sibilities of television as well as music audiences.

EMPIREFROM PAGE 9


T P NS U DO K U

Today’s di! culty level: HardPuzzles by Dailysudoku.com


SPORTS

Saleem Brightwell LB

Ben DiNucci QB

Allen Edwards DL

Darrin Hall RB

Malik Henderson DB

Quadree Henderson WR

Gentry Ivery WR

Dane Jackson DB

Anthony McKee LB

Alex Paulina OL

Nathan Peterman QB

Tony Pilato OL

Jay Stocker DB

Tre Tipton WR

Jordan Whitehead DB

2015 Pitt Football Recruiting Class

8 Recruits

7 Recruits

Recruits per coach

Unsurprisingly, Pitt’s women’s basketball team has had more success in the friendly confi nes of its home court than when facing foes on the road.

While Pitt only lost one more game at home than its three defeats on the road , the away games saw the Panthers playing their worst this season. Part of that has been a drop in shooting once the team leaves the Petersen Events Center.

To prove their competitiveness among upper-tier teams and compete in postseason

play, the Panthers must show resolve away from home. They’ll travel to face North Caro-lina State on Thursday and No. 8 Louisville Sunday.

“We have to embrace playing in those en-vironments and playing in front of opposing fans. So much of it is mental,” Pitt head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio said. “Great teams win on the road and that’s what we need to do.”

In their last game away, the Panthers lost to No. 15 Duke, 62-45. In that game, Pitt shot 18-62 from the fi eld and 7-29 from 3-point range.

“O! ensively, shooting the ball well has been the biggest detriment for our team [on

the road],” McConnell-Serio said.Senior guard Brianna Kiesel said acclimat-

ing to the rims on the baskets is one of the main adjustments that a player needs to make when playing on the road, which could cor-relate with the Panthers’ shooting struggles. Even if the rims aren’t necessarily di! erent, the constant shooting practice at home can typically get a player more accustomed to shooting on home baskets than away ones.

“It’s just getting adjusted to the rims, try-ing to get adjusted to di! erent courts,” Kiesel said. “Some rims are harder, some rims are softer.”

The hostile and opposing atmosphere also

slightly impacts the team’s performance, ac-cording to sophomore guard Chelsea Welch.

“I wouldn’t say the atmosphere is a big part, but it does have some type of e! ect,” she said.

Perhaps most importantly, Pitt has just happened to play tougher teams on the road. Of those three losses, one was against Duke, another was against No. 9 Florida State and the other was against James Madison , who received top-25 votes in the most recent AP and USA Today Coaches Poll rankings.

While North Carolina State isn’t quite the

Panthers begin weekend road trip at NC StateJeremy Tepper

Staff Writer

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Another year, another National Signing Day in which Pennsylvania received little national attention. Maybe it’s the media’s way of punishing us non-Ohio State-loving northerners for our crazy notion that life exists outside of football.

Locally, however, the brewing recruiting rivalry between Pitt and Penn State looks to bubble over. Second-year Penn State head coach James Franklin made it a point of pride on Twitter and in press conferences to

“dominate the state” in recruiting. Franklin sought to make State College the only desti-nation in Pennsylvania for top local players, and his recruiting class this year gives a backbone to that pledge. Recruiting often comes down to what angles and weaknesses a rival coach can exploit. One advantage that Penn State has over Pitt is stadium at-tendance rates, and Franklin could have played that card to get 10 more recruits than Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi did.

Franklin’s fi rst full class features 25 play-ers, 11 of whom are four-star recruits and 14 recruits who are three-stars. Compare that

to Pitt’s class of 15 players, which includes three four-star recruits , 11 three-stars and a quarterback transfer from Tennessee.

Of Pennsylvania’s top seven recruits, six stayed in-state, and fi ve of those chose Penn State. Baldwin High School ’s Sterling Jenkins and Whitehall High School’s Saquon Barkley, a massive o! ensive tackle and a tal-ented running back respectively, are bound for State College. Both are from Pittsburgh’s South Hills. The only notable western Penn-sylvania recruit that Pitt scored is Jordan Whitehead, a highly sought-after corner-back from Monaca, northwest of the city.

Why does Penn State hold such a domi-nant edge in local recruiting, even in west-ern Pennsylvania?

Analysts and media members will point to Pitt’s coaching instability. In my four years at Pitt, I’ve seen a coach hired and fi red in two weeks, a coach bolt before a bowl game without addressing his players and a coach return to the school from which he came after two years. Brand new head coach Pat Narduzzi entered the game late when he joined the program in December,

Dust clears between Pitt, PSU after National Signing DayAlex Wise

Staff Writer

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same caliber of those teams, McConnell-Serio, Kie-sel and Welch said the Wolfpack is better than their 12-9 and 3-5 ACC record indicates. The second-year head coach pointed out that North Carolina State team stays close in many games until the end. Though it lost, North Carolina State fell by seven points to No. 8 Louisville and by only four to No. 13 North Carolina.

“[North Carolina State has] a lot of talent, they do a lot of great things defensively, their guards are very quick,” McConnell-Serio said.

North Carolina’s biggest strength may come in its varied, balanced scoring. Six players on the Wolfpack’s roster have scored seven or more points per game, with half of the group scoring in double digits. Those three include guards sophomore Dominique Wilson (14.4), sophomore Miah Spen-cer (13.0) and senior Len’Nique Brown-Hoskin (10.1).

“They all can shoot and they all can drive. That’s something that we have to focus on, which is defending multiple aspects,” Welch said.

McConnell-Serio said the Panthers will have to respect the shooting ability of several scorers on their team.

“All fi ve starters — any of them can have a great night. I don’t think you can key on one player to shut down NC State,” McConnell-Serio said.

Pitt has also tried to spread its scoring around, making use of these strong shooters.

“It really does help a lot. A lot of teams focus on keying on that one good players, that one shooter, that one driver,” Welch said. “The fact that we have three, four people scoring in double digits, it makes it harder.”

The similarities continue as the Wolfpack also starts a power forward who shoots threes: their sophomore Jennifer Mathurin, who is similar to Pitt’s Monica Wignot.

“They have really balanced scoring, and they have a stretch four just like us. It’s almost like we’re the epitome of the same teams,” Kiesel said.

Though they’re similar, Kiesel knows for cer-tain what it takes for her and her teammates to win on the road.

“We know what we’re good at. We know what’s going to be successful. And we just got to go in and execute our game plan,” she said.

It’s just a matter of being able to translate those strengths on the road to come out successful.

“We’re just trying to keep our energy, we’re try-ing to stay positive and take the confi dence that we have at home on the road,” McConnell-Serio said.

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and probably focused on convincing current Pitt commits to stay with the school.

But coaching changes aren’t an acceptable excuse for losing recruit-ing battles to Penn State, which, as most will remember, is fresh o! of the most crippling NCAA sanctions since penalties cut Southern Method-ist University’ s program in 1987 . Over the past three years, players still chose Penn State over Pitt when the sanc-tions made it so the school couldn’t even promise them a bowl game op-portunity. Hell, the school couldn’t promise scholarships to them.

So why can’t Pitt do better?While I could write a manifesto on

why we need a stadium on campus in Oakland, I’d prefer not to start my day angry and bitter, so I’ll avoid that topic. But stadium atmosphere must have something to do with it.

By my calculations (by adding ev-ery game’s attendance and dividing the

total by the number of home games — easy), Pitt’s average game attendance this year was 41,315 at Heinz Field, which seats roughly 65,000. Penn State’s average attendance at Beaver Stadium, which holds around 107,000, exceeded 101,000.

I don’t think it’s necessary to have a massive stadium in order to have a great game day atmosphere. Heinz Field can be an insane venue when full — just ask the rest of the NFL’s AFC North division. But, as a big time recruit, why would I want to play in a stadium that leaves close to 40 percent of its seats unfi lled and where the ma-jority of students leave immediately following their drunken rendition of a Neil Diamond classic?

This must all add up for some re-cruits, as evidenced by Altoona High School linebacker Kevin Givens fl ip-ping his commitment from the Pan-thers to the Nittany Lions earlier this week.

James Franklin has set the tone for the future of Pennsylvania college foot-ball. It’s up to Pitt to respond.

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