 Students protest amid Downhill Derby controversy
by The TartanMay 11, 2013“News
| Anna Walsh
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Students gathered to protest outside Warner Hall on Thursday in response to an email from Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon, which they say could threaten the freedom of expression on campus.
Cohon's email, sent to the campus community Tuesday evening, addressed an ongoing controversy surrounding a performance at Spring Carnival's Anti-Gravity Downhill Derby, in which a female art student dressed as the pope and was naked from the waist down, her pubic hair shaved in the shape of a cross. Cohon called the act "highly offensive" and said the university is still investigating to determine whether disciplinary action is warranted.
"I regret that this occurred, and I apologize to all who were offended by this, for religious or other reasons, and especially to those who witnessed this behavior," he wrote.
The student protesters, however, say that disciplinary action against the student would represent a limitation on freedom of expression. About 20 to 30 students stood in fr...
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Editor's Note: Madelyn Glymour is a Contributing Editor for The Tartan.”
Catholic community members address Downhill Derby controversy
by The TartanMay 11, 2013“Forum
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Laughter is supposed to be the shortest distance between two people, at least according to Victor Borge. It is a great misfortune that this simple and powerful means of communion was flagrantly subverted at a recent Carnival event, whose title seemed to be a CMU-nym for "lighthearted." The Anti-Gravity Downhill Derby float that set out to mock both the pope as well as community standards of respect was calculated for exclusion of, among others, Catholics who actually think of their "pope" in familial terms.
Since Catholics on Carnegie Mellon's campus are made of hardy stock, we consider the architects of this float themselves more the victims of their own narrow and tasteless humor than we are; it differs only in degree from the sneering humor we have become perhaps too accustomed to over the years from a variety of sources. Still, we grieve the chance to conspire with them in laughter. Even had we ourselves been the object of ridicule, it would have been fun, since "angels can f...
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Father Joshua Kibler, director of Catholic campus ministry for University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, and Chatham University
Corina F. Ramirez, president of the Catholic Newman Club
Shannon Gallagher, secretary of the Catholic Newman Club
Steven Pepin, former president of the Catholic Newman Club
Kyle Anderson, CIT Ph.D. '13
Zacharias George, MS E&TIM '13
John Oravec, SDS '14
Christopher Sickler, SHS '15
Kate Uncapher, CIT '15
Lauren Williams, DC '15
Maria Marta Ferreyra, associate professor of economics
Gregory Lehane, professor, drama and music
Natalie Baker Shirer, associate professor, drama, voice and speech”
Response to Jared Cohon's email concerning Anti-Gravity Downhill Derby
by The TartanMay 11, 2013“Forum
| Ivy Krislov
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An open letter to President Cohon and others concerned:
Let me start by explaining something about myself. I have PCOS, or poly-cystic ovarian syndrome. The syndrome results in a low level of estrogen being produced by my body, making me skip my period, feel ill, gain weight, and suffer from bad mood swings. Around one in 10 women are affected by this syndrome. It is precancerous, if left untreated. Guess what the treatment is?
It’s birth control.
In the past and present, the institution of the Roman Catholic Church (not that I DO NOT say Catholicism) has been responsible for attempting to limit women’s access to birth control, whether they use it for this reason or for others. Condoms have been similarly stigmatized. This causes many women to face risks that will never be present for men, including myself. So, yes, I do have a stake in this conversation, the one that the girl on campus — who will hopefully remain unnamed — started during the Anti-Gravity Derby during Carni...
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Ivy Krislov
Dietrich College '14”
Gallery Crawl features film, sculpture, food, vendors, live comedy of the Cultural District
by The TartanMay 02, 2013“Pittsburgh Cultural Trust presents an overwhelming overview of Downtown Pittsburgh in sweeping exhibition that shows off venues and works by a variety of artists and performers
Pillbox
| Xiyu Wang
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust held its quarterly Gallery Crawl on Friday. The Gallery Crawl is a grand tour around the galleries, shops, studios, and restaurants of Pittsburgh’s Cultural District and is free and open to the public.
The Gallery Crawl features an eclectic selection of venues, artists, and performers designed to reflect the lushness and variety of Pittsburgh’s flourishing art scene. It includes both professional and amateur works of art and performance, as well as the wares and services of independent local vendors and businesses.
With nearly 40 stops to see and even more events to visit, the Gallery Crawl was completely overwhelming. It is impossible to cover all of the events even in four hours. Throughout the night, there were restaurants filled with activity, music filling the streets, and people rushing in and out of venues; it is almost the exact picture you would think of if asked to dream of a city.
The venues that inspired the atmosphere of the night ...
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 Women's tennis takes second place in UAA Conference Championships
by The TartanMay 02, 2013“Sports
| Abby Smith
The Tartans took second place in the UAA Conference Championships for the first time since 2009 in women’s tennis this weekend, sealing an overall record of 12–7.
The women’s tennis team began their championship run with a 9-0 victory over the University of Rochester on Thursday morning, marking head coach Andrew Girard’s 300th career victory.
The Tartans started the match with three wins in doubles action as junior Katie Cecil and sophomore Angela Pratt won 8–3 at No. 1 doubles, sophomore Bryn Raschke and first-year Brooke Tsu won 8–1 at No. 2 doubles, and senior Alex Tapak and sophomore Lydia Utkin won 8–1 at No. 3 doubles.
Cecil won her No. 1 singles match, followed by a No. 6 victory by Raschke. First-year Elizabeth Martin and Tsu each turned in wins at No. 3 singles and No. 4 singles, respectively.
The final two singles victories came from Pratt at No. 2 singles and first-year Abbey Hamstra at No. 5 singles.
On Friday afternoon, the team beat the No. 10 Washingto...
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Editor’s Note: Elizabeth Martin and Alex Tapak are staffwriters for The Tartan.”
Ultimate team ties for fifth at Regionals
by The TartanMay 02, 2013“Sports
| Karthik Nagalingam
The Carnegie Mellon men’s Ultimate team, Mr. Yuk, took part in the USA Ultimate’s Ohio Valley Division-I College Open Regionals this weekend. The team went 4–2 this tournament and ended up tying for fifth after being awarded the third seed at the onset of the tournament.
Head coach Aaron Kane said the team was disappointed with the overall result, having high expectations of finishing in the top two. The team took solace in the fact that the loss came against the best schools in the conference. Captain Nipunn Koorapati, a master’s student in electrical and computer engineering, said, “[We] wanted to be a strong contender in the region, and we definitely were, regardless of the final place result.”
Mr. Yuk had a busy weekend, with six matches over the course of Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, the tournament featured a round robin format, in which teams were split into groups of four and played three matches against the other members in the group.
Carnegie Mellon faced Sain...
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We should experiment with drug laws
by The TartanMay 02, 2013“Forum
| Kyle Henson
Anyone who has watched writer David Simon’s HBO television series The Wire is familiar with the term “Hamsterdam.” Hamsterdam refers to a section of Baltimore where the sale and consumption of drugs are legal on the show.
Hamsterdam came about because the drug trade on mainstream street corners became too disruptive to everyday citizens. People were murdered and taxpayers moved out of the city to the neighboring county to avoid violence and drug culture. As a result, a rogue cop created Hamsterdam, comprised of empty row houses where the drug trade is legal and regulated for violence.
Hamsterdam was incredibly successful. Street corners were peaceful. Crime decreased by 14 percent in the district. Groups that distributed clean needles and condoms set up in Hamsterdam and reached people in the shadowy underworld of the drug trade that were once unreachable. Narcotics Anonymous set up in Hamsterdam and saw an influx of members looking to stop drug use. Cops even started chargi...
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Kyle Henson (kahenson@) is a staffwriter for The Tartan.”
Mathletes take fifth at Putnam competition
by The TartanMay 02, 2013“Sci/Tech
| Desiree Xu
Though practicing math problems may sound dull and even repulsive to some, three students happily put their math skills to the test by representing Carnegie Mellon in the William Lowell Putnam Competition, one of the most prestigious math competitions in the country. They took fifth place in the competition.
Each participating school sends a representative three-person team to compete. The school’s ranking is essentially the sum of the team members’ individual places, with lower-sum teams ranking higher. The team members — sophomore mathematics majors Albert Gu and Michael Druggan, along with first-year Science and Humanities Scholar and mathematics major Linus Hamilton — regularly attend the weekly Putnam seminar, taught by assistant professor of mathematical sciences Po-Shen Loh. There, they prepare and practice math problems from topics covered by the undergraduate math curriculum including analysis, algebra group theory, combinatorics, and more.
The teammates also met for...
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The changing faces of Carnegie Mellon: A presidential retrospective
by The TartanMay 02, 2013“News
| Greg Hanneman
When it came time to give a title to his final speech before the student body, retiring Carnegie Tech president John C. Warner had a few ideas.
“Old presidents never die, they just lose their faculties,” he joked to his audience in December 1964.
As Jared Cohon, Carnegie Mellon’s eighth president, prepares to step down from the position, The Tartan takes a look back at the history of Carnegie Mellon’s other presidents and the events that marked their terms.
The information for this article was obtained from a combination of The Tartan’s own archives, minutes and notes from the university’s board of trustees, five published books on Carnegie Mellon history, and interviews with people involved in the university’s history and presidential searches.
The resulting 110-year historical picture reflects the Carnegie Mellon of today. The institution’s presidents themselves have embodied the contrasting disciplines, backgrounds, and approaches inherent in the modern multi-faceted...
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Editor's Note: Brent Heard contributed to this article.”
Horoscopes
by The TartanMay 02, 2013“Comics
| Kairavi Chahal
Some of the friends you made this semester will stick with you for the rest of your life.
Now is the best time to start a big project since you are pumped and ready to take on the world.
Summer break is a well-deserved breather for you, so don't do anything stressful.
Don't get your hopes up, because chances are, it's not going to happen.
If you push too hard, those around you may not appreciate it.
You may feel like you are being wise, but carefully consider your actions.
Don't give in to temptation. Resist and you will reap bigger rewards later.
There will be a lot of struggles this week, but don't let them get the better of you.
Pay attention to important issues this week, but not any more than they deserve.
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. You may want to hang out in large groups rather than with just one friend.
Nature calls, but not in that way. Try to de-stress before finals with a nice hike or a fishing trip.
Don't forget to look up from the paperwork once in a while.” | News Topics
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