University Times

Honors Provost James Maher and Chancellor Mark Nordenberg congratulate David Levering Lewis, center, after he was presented with an honorary Doctorate of Humanities at Pitt's 23rd annual honors convocation Feb. 26. Lewis, the Martin Luther King Jr. Professor at Rutgers University and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize winner in biography, was the featured speaker at this […]

The Murphy administration is urging the city Human Relations Commission to reject Pitt's challenge to a city law that prohibits discrimination against gays an d lesbians. In a brief filed last week with the commission, city attorneys disputed the University's argument that Pittsburgh and other Pennsylvania municipalities lack the authority to pass laws banning discrimination […]

Attorneys for Pitt reiterated their argument last week that if the city Human Relations Commission accepts Deborah Henson's case against the University, all Pittsburgh employers (including the city itself) will be in violation of the city's anti-discrimination law unless they: * Extend spousal health benefits to homosexual employees, or * Discontinue spousal health coverage altogether. […]

Pitt's administration issued the following statement about the Henson case on Feb. 18: The University of Pittsburgh is proud of its long-standing record of respect for the civil rights of those with whom it deals. Relying upon well-established legal principles in defending itself against an employee benefits lawsuit is not a departure from that record, […]

Faculty reaction mixed to possibility of moving games Student Government Board members urged Faculty Assembly members this week to support their fight to save Pitt Stadium. But except for agreeing that University officials should consult with students in deciding whether to move Pitt football games to a planned North Side stadium, Assembly members' responses were […]

After the March 4 Board of Trustees meeting, Pitt senior administrators weren't commenting about the University's legal challenge to a city ordinance protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination in the workplace. They referred reporters to a written statement issued by Pitt that day. See text of statement on page 3. But board Chairperson J.W. Connolly […]

Streamlined job classification plan expected to go into effect July 1 A plan to streamline the number of staff job classifications, identify career paths and improve staff retention at Pitt is scheduled to go into effect July 1, Human Resources officials say. The plan will introduce new concepts and terminology, including "job families" and "job […]