Nordenberg Must Resign

City Council Testimony – October 17, 2012

I held this sign in front of the Cathedral of Learning last Friday and again this week on Monday and Tuesday. I did the same yesterday in front of this building.

The University of Pittsburgh has had incredible impact on its surrounding community. But would you want a university to impact your community the way that the University of Pittsburgh has impacted Oakland? This impact involves university administrators taking ownership of 90 buildings in your community, building 8,000 dormitory beds, increasing enrollment to 27,000 students, persuading state authorities to invoke eminent domain thus evicting you and your neighbors from your homes so that university buildings could be erected, giving your residential organizations a paltry $23,000 a year in direct funding, and then having them tell you to start a Neighborhood Improvement District to resolve your problems such as litter, trash and binge drinking.

I now have two important questions for you. By a show of hands which of you would say yes, that you would like to see this kind of impact on your community? (No one.) Which of you would support the movement for the resignation of Chancellor Mark Nordenberg? (No one.) Interesting.

Recently, the city of Pittsburgh covered up the Bayer sign on the slopes of Mt. Washington. This was done because of tomorrow’s arrival of the One Young World Summit 2012, and because the city is ashamed of that sign. The University of Pittsburgh is like that Bayer sign when it comes to the negative impact the University of Pittsburgh has on Oakland. The mayor, media and others, until now, have masked, denied and ignored the university’s shame.

The elderly long-time residents of Oakland are not a Bayer sign. We have told university administrators that they will never take away our dignity, diminish our intensity, shackle our freedom, or break our spirit. As we seek social justice: We stand tall. We stand proud. We stand out.

It’s time - Nordenberg must resign.

Carlino Giampolo

The sign mentioned in the first sentence says:

Enough is Enough
www.oaklanddignity.com
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Nordenberg Must Resign

In addition, on October 18 the sign was held on 6th Street as 1,300 delegates of the One Young World Summit marched down 6th Street to Heinz Hall to presentations by President Clinton and other speakers. My positive message to the summit participants as they walked by was: "Stand Tall. Stand Proud. Stand Out. You are the mapmakers of a new world. This is the dawning of your day."

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Update: On June 28, 2013 Chancellor Mark Nordenberg announced that he is retiring on August 1, 2014. It is our hope that the chancellor will move his retirement date forward to the present.