IN THE LAST WEEK
Pittsburghers have been swept up in some national events lately, enjoying a rare outer space occurrence while trying to make something positive of a negative incident hundreds of miles away.
Like many Americans, they stopped what they were doing for at least a few minutes Tuesday — and often longer — to gaze upward at the eclipse. The Carnegie Science Center drew almost three times as many attendees as usual. The eclipse reached 81 percent of totality locally, darkening the sky and dropping the mid-afternoon temperature by about 5 degrees in the process.
Generating light and unity from a different kind of dark day, a multifaith group of area religious leaders jointly signed a letter denouncing white supremacy, anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in the wake of the Aug. 12 violence in Charlottesville, Va., that jarred the country.
“Putting down words on paper is obviously not the only thing that people are called to do at a time like this, but I think it is a start,” said the Rev. Liddy Barlow, executive minister of Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania.
He helped circulate the statement that had been signed by at least 50 local clergy by Friday morning. The letter came in advance of an interfaith gathering being to be held at 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill to further commemorate the cause of social justice. Meanwhile, a group of state lawmakers from southwestern Pennsylvania is pushing to expand the state’s law against hate crimes as a reaction to the divisive Charlottesville rally.
A new school year has just kicked off — or is about to start — at educational levels from kindergarten through higher ed, and the newsworthy events related to it aren’t confined to the classroom.
At Point Park University, a majority of the faculty approved a “no confidence” vote showing their opposition to school president Paul Hennigan, who has been the Downtown institution’s top administrator for the past 11 years. Separately, faculty union negotiators reached a first-ever tentative contract with the Point Park administration, which for many years had tried to block professors’ unionization efforts. Faculty will vote on the contract Monday. Woodland Hills School District administrators had a different problem at the start of their new year. Five former Woodland Hills High School students sued the district last week in federal court, alleging that school administrators and staff were responsible for a pattern of physical abuse and intimidation of students. The suit filed by black students alleged that race and disabilities were factors in actions that school officials took against them.