Please share the seven-minute documentary with your Social Media Network Would you want a university to impact your community the way that the University of Pittsburgh has impacted Oakland? Would you want university administrators to take ownership of 90 buildings in your community, build 8,000 dormitory beds, increase enrollment to 27,000 students, persuade state authorities to invoke eminent domain thus evicting you and your neighbors from your homes so that university buildings could be erected, give your residential organizations a paltry $23,000 a year in direct funding, and then have them tell you to start a Neighborhood Improvement District to resolve your problems such as litter, trash and binge drinking? These are just a few questions that should be asked of any Pitt administrator, staff or faculty member who claims that Pitt has benefitted the community of Oakland. The time has come for new leadership at the University of Pittsburgh and the end of the University’s never-ending expansion in Oakland. There is a fundamental principle in life, which says that the means to an end are more important than the end itself. The educational and medical fields play an important role in job growth and sustaining our local economy. However, did Dr. Thomas Starzl, a pioneer in liver transplants, as well as other doctors and researchers at the University, need to witness the near destruction of the culture and heritage of the community in order for them to accomplish their innovative work? Certainly not! Martin Luther King Jr. once remarked: “Segregation is the burden of black people and the shame of America.” I would like to apply that to the current situation by saying, “Never-ending expansion is the burden of Oakland residents and the shame of the University of Pittsburgh.” —
The following letter to the editor appeared in the For the past several years, our grassroots movement has called for the resignation of Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. We sought Mr. Nordenberg's resignation when we experienced his indifference to the pain and suffering of Oakland's longtime residents and his lack of compassion and commitment to ending that misery. In October 2012 during the One World Summit convention, we held signs on Sixth Street Downtown and in front of the Cathedral of Learning that called for the chancellor's resignation. In December 2012, the same sentiment was expressed in the "Time for New Leadership" message that was placed in the University Times publication, and in public comments before Pittsburgh City Council. We again expressed that sentiment in April of this year with "Nordenberg Must Resign" messages in The Pitt News, in public comments made to members of the city council and in a letter to the editor in this newspaper. While others may praise the chancellor for his resignation, our hope is that the chancellor will move his retirement date forward one year from Aug. 1, 2014, to Aug. 1, 2013. The community of Oakland, which is severely impacted by the university's presence, must have a voice in the selection of the new chancellor. That new chancellor should bring forth a new consciousness, which adheres to the belief that human dignity must be the highest priority of a university. Carlino Giampolo
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