By SHANNON O. WELLS

In his remarks to the Senate Council at its March 23 meeting, Chancellor Patrick Gallagher didn’t shy away from the controversy surrounding student-sponsored events featuring conservative speakers — two focusing on transgender issues.

“There’s many of you now … questioning the anti-trans and transphobic events that are happening over the coming weeks,” he said. “They’ve generated a lot of controversy, debate and concern across our campus and outside of our campus.

“I think you all know this: Ideas are dangerous and powerful things. … And universities are in the idea business. And one of the principles that sort of centers a lot of universities is the idea of a liberal education,” he added. “And the liberty we’re talking about is the freedom around ideas. And to support that we do a number of things.”

Two of the events Gallagher referred to were sponsored by Pitt’s chapter of Turning Point USA, a national group that promotes conservative politics on college and high school campuses. On March 24, Cabot Phillips, senior editor of the conservative website The Daily Wire, spoke on “Everything the Media Won’t Tell You” in the Cathedral of Learning. On March 27, Turning Point hosted Riley Gaines, a former college swimmer who is outspoken about transgender women competing in women’s sports, in the O’Hara Ballroom.

Sparking perhaps the most outcry is a debate about transgender rights on April 18 between transgender activist Deirdre McCloskey and Michael Knowles, a right-wing commentator who, at the Conservative Political Action Conference on March 4, said “transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.” Some label this a call to violence against transgender people. During a speech at the University of Buffalo in early March, Knowles defended his comments as being against a system of beliefs and not a call to eradicate transgender people.

As Gallagher explained it, a university is not a place to limit or quash ideas, no matter who is espousing them.

“You can infringe on that freedom of ideas by limiting who’s allowed to participate in it,” he said. “So if the University was only open to certain people and not others, that’s limiting that freedom as well. And that’s what our diversity programs are all about.”

Most of the time the values of diversity and  “this fundamental liberty” of free speech and sharing of ideas “leaned on each other in support, and we almost don’t notice,” Gallagher said. “But when the speech is attacking one element of our community, these two values go into tension. And that’s when it’s most difficult … and I thank all of you around this table because you’ve been involved with this and discussing and debating it (and) know how challenging this is.”

Adding that a value is “only as good as you’re putting into practice,” Gallagher said the real test of values is doing what’s difficult. “And our values are going to be tested in the coming weeks.”

Standing together

Gallagher pointed out that social media is “exacerbating this already difficult situation” via a community not based at Pitt. “This has been fueled by social media commenters, those that are trying to create dissent, foster activity — and I just want to remind everyone, they bear no responsibility for their actions. Whatever dissent and outrage they create, they don’t bear any responsibility. They’re outside the University.”

Cautioning against overreacting to provocation from what he called a “technology-driven megaphone of the likes we’ve never had before,” Gallagher emphasized to Pitt community members, “whether they’re trans themselves, identify that way, or whether it’s because their friends, family, loved ones, or just because of the passion they have for the importance of that issue,” that rather than an academic debate about free speech and diversity, equity and inclusion, “this is just personal, and it just hurts deep,” he said. “And I don’t want us to forget our core humanity.

“They’re part of our community,” he continued. “And our solidarity toward them, our support, is a powerful way to express and support this very difficult circumstance. And I hope our community does reach out, whether it’s through deed or word and just saying, ‘Look, we stand together. We know this is painful. We support you, and as Panthers, we hang together.’”

Carla Panzella, associate vice provost and dean of students, said she and her colleagues have taken steps to ensure students’ safety and comfort during the events, which also included a peaceful, student-led transgender rights rally on March 24 outside the Cathedral of Learning. About 250 attended the evening gathering.  

“We are monitoring the location and event and different events that are being planned,” Kear said, noting she sent a letter to students about Pitt’s demonstration policy, “and we encourage all students to review that practice and understand their rights and responsibilities related to that and certainly their freedom and liberty to do that as well.”

University staff are planning logistics, “including ticketing, time management, crowd control, counter events,” Panzella added. “We met with folks in the Student Government Board yesterday, and I want to reiterate … that we do encourage everyone to trust their gut, understand their personal safety and do what they need to do to remain safe, both physically and emotionally, throughout this process.”

Panzella’s office also sent out a message to students support that is available to them. Student Affairs’ Office of Inclusion and Belonging will provide support spaces during the events for the LGBTQIA-plus community and its allies. University Counseling Center staff also will be present, and counselors will be available for drop-in visits.

Senate President Robin Kear said she’s initiated a process to form an ad hoc University Senate-based group “that will allow deeper discussion of free speech, hate speech and the responsibilities of our community members within the obligation of being a public university and an open intellectual environment.”

Asking for suggestions of those who should be involved in this “critical” conversation, Kear noted that “sometimes the process of examining issues in this way can be beneficial to the community in the short term and medium term.”

Gallagher added to Kear’s comments that “obviously, the rights come with responsibilities, and a lot of those are about conduct and behavior. By the way, those are also applied irrespective of viewpoint,” he said. “There’s a lot of options here, and one of the great things is we’re reacting to (visiting speakers) with more speech. And so there’s a lot of great events happening on campus.”

He also noted that everyone has a choice to express themselves by participating or not participating. “Boycott is a powerful message,” he said. “We’ll support each other.”

Outgoing provost

In other topics, Gallagher also congratulated outgoing Provost Ann Cudd, who is departing Pitt this summer to become president of Portland State University in Oregon. Gallagher acknowledged that he will not play a direct role in choosing a new provost.

“The competition for that you would expect to happen will be something that happens under the next chancellor of the University, so my transition is affecting the timing there,” he said. “I would not be expecting any announcements on this until after the end of the term. So it won’t be until May or June before that happens, in case anyone’s waiting by the phone for an update.”

Gallagher, who announced in April 2022 that he would transition this summer to Pitt faculty in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, reiterated that Cudd will remain as provost relatively close to when she departs for Portland in August.

“We’re very excited and proud of that accomplishment,” he said of Cudd’s new position. “As many of you know, she’ll be here as provost — she hasn’t left us yet — until mid-summer. And I know there’s a lot of questions about what will happen. There will certainly be an announcement of an interim provost.”

Gallagher went on to speak about March being Women’s History Month that’s “celebrated on our campuses in many different ways.” He highlighted what he called “a great example” in the School of Pharmacy, where a painting of Ella Stewart, the first Black woman to earn a degree in the pharmacy school, was unveiled.

Admitted to the School of Pharmacy in 1914 and graduating in 1916, Stewart also was the first Black woman to practice pharmacy in Pennsylvania — “one of the very first in the country,” Gallagher noted. “This is a story that is not widely known, and a number of our doctor of pharmacy students are taking the lead to highlight and make sure the story is told, and so I want to recognize their work in this effort.”

Senate Council president report

In her Senate Council announcements, Kear reported on the Union of Pitt Faculty’s Council of Representatives vote to create a standing committee to facilitate Senate-union communication. The group met for the first time on March 21.

In addition to Kear, the group includes the other Senate officers —Kris Kanthak, Chris Bonneau, and Penny Morel — along with Senate administrator Lori Molinaro, and from the union, Michael Goodhart, Nick Bircher, Haitao Liu, Gretchen Aiyangar, and Robin Sowards from the United Steelworkers .

She also encouraged attendance in the spring Senate Plenary, scheduled for 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 4 in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room. The event includes lunch and is also available via live streaming. The topic is generative artificial intelligence and mixed-language models.

Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.

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