Criminal and Civil Liability

By Carlino Giampolo
September 8, 2020

Dean of Students Kenyon Bonner
University of Pittsburgh

Mr. Bonner

This is my third and final letter to you. The first two are on the website www.OaklandDignity.com Links 109 and 110. Yes, over 100 actions have been taken to end the injustices against our community.

The University’s unconscionable policy, which supports students hosting parties of up to 25 persons even while in an “elevated risk posture”, reinforces what we have previously written: the University’s COVID-19 policies are like a runaway train on a bridge to nowhere.

In your thoughtful letter to students, you suggested that those living in the residential community should not have gatherings of more than 5 persons in their dwellings. There is no logic in this policy which totally contradicts your letter. It sends mixed messages to students.

Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Your response to this policy was in communion with the collective consciousness of the 5,600 full- and part-time faculty members who have already witnessed numerous injustices against our community: Protect your job. Stay silent when you see injustice. Don’t rock the boat.

If anyone at the University is still not aware of the devastation of Oakland’s residential and business districts due to the University’s presence, they have deliberately chosen ignorance.

Every university teaches the principle that you can delegate authority but you cannot delegate responsibility. Chancellor Patrick Gallagher bears the responsibility for this unconscionable policy. Though the University has stated that harsh consequences will come to students who host large parties, their policy does not consider 25 attendees as a “large party”.

Chancellor Patrick Gallagher knows that he faces possible criminal liability of negligent homicide if residents of Oakland, especially the elderly, contract the deadly coronavirus due to this policy. District Attorney Stephen Zappala must make that serious judgment.

There are those who cause a tragedy, and there are those who allow it. Silence is compliance. The individuals listed in the second letter, especially those who have a fiduciary duty to our community, have remained silent. They too face the same possible criminal consequences.

There are two sides to the University of Pittsburgh. One is the research departments and its affiliates which have produced great pioneers such as Dr. Jonas Salk and Dr. Thomas Starzl. They are just two of many who made tremendous contributions to better our world. The other side is the University that severely impacts its host community with its policies and decisions. To praise one side while ignoring the other is being dishonest with oneself.

Prior to the University’s uncontrolled expansion, Oakland was the most eclectic neighborhood in all of Pittsburgh. Residents had nearly everything they needed from birth to death, within their own neighborhood. Now, the neighborhood is tragically losing its very identity.

What is the value of this tragic loss of our neighborhood due to the University’s presence? One billion dollars? Two billion? More? The legal forces of the University are formidable. However, what if seven law firms joined together to file a class-action lawsuit against the University? That would be magnificent.

Simultaneously, what if seven media organizations joined together for an in-depth, ongoing investigation of the University’s decimation of our neighborhood? That would be magnificent.

To paraphrase Dr. King, “He who passively accepts injustice is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.” What if seven neighborhoods in Pittsburgh joined together in raising their voices to end the decimation of Oakland? That too would be magnificent.

The result of these three forces coming together in synergy could change the course of the history of how university administrators in our country treat their host communities.

Then, human dignity would finally become the highest priority of all universities.

Note: Kenyon Bonner has not responded.