By SHANNON O. WELLS
A new Division of Student Affairs-based task force aims to address areas related to students’ freedom of speech, a particularly timely topic given incidents this spring involving pro-Palestinian demonstrations and encampments around campus.
Of the task force’s three main elements, or “buckets,” as Carla Panzella, new vice provost for student affairs, calls them, the category of “Care” has perhaps the most significant philosophical implications for current and future Pitt students.
At the Student Aid, Admissions and Affairs Committee meeting on June 6, Panzella presented the concept as a series of questions:
“How do we create a culture of care when it comes to freedom of speech?” she asked. “… Just because you’re permitted to do this. Just because it's your right and it's the law, doesn't mean you should. We should hold ourselves to a higher standard.
“What impact does this have? Is that the impact you intend to have? And if so, how do we care for those who will be harmed in other people's freedom of speech?” she added. “How do we create a culture of care and concern? How do we have the proper structure of care in this time?”
Other arms of the task force, whose kickoff meeting took place June 7, include “Education,” along with “Events, Demonstrations and Protests.”
Education, Panzella explained, could be “anything from the law around freedom of speech. That could be education on our policies and our procedures at the institution. That could be on diversity and equity of the conversation — a lot of education. And we hope that will be campuswide. That will be for our students but also for faculty and staff, particularly on the student policies and practices that are playing out in real time for our students.”
The Events, Demonstrations and Protests category will address how to manage such events and educate students on what is permitted.
“How does Student Affairs help them create space for protests and demonstrations, provide them safe practices and teach them about community organizing and teach them about all the ways in which they can participate in their freedom of speech on campus?” she said, including discussing counter protesting and counter demonstrations and helping students understand such practices.
While the task force is new, Panzella stressed that Student Affairs already has taken action to meet many of these goals. She clarified the importance of identifying and sharing the goals with larger audiences.
“To be quite honest with you, each time we have an event, we learn and we grow,” she said. “We don't miss an opportunity with all these different events to take that information, take those experiences and understand the challenge. They’re all different. People interpret them differently.
“The experiences are different, and so they're pretty challenging,” she added. “But I do believe that there's going to be a common thread that we can get to, a value-based conversation where people can find themselves in that conversation somewhere. So that's just one major big topic we will be taking on over the summer, for the fall.”
Panzella, who came to Pitt in August 2021 as dean of students, was named vice provost of student affairs last month. She replaced Kenyon Bonner, who left Pitt in January for the University of Virginia. Panzella spoke highly of Bonner, with whom she worked closely and remains in touch.
“Although I'm not new to Pitt or new to Student Affairs, I think when you transition into positions … you're thinking in a little bit of a different direction on how to move the entire division in a way,” she said. “Fortunately, Kenyon and I were on a very same page, and he's still deeply missed in my office and in my world. So I call him all the time, which is a lot of fun and helpful for me.”
Changing landscapes
Members of the committee warmly welcomed Panzella in her first visit since becoming vice provost of Student Affairs. Co-Chair Nancy Glynn acknowledged the challenges Panzella and her office faced during pro-Palestinian encampments and protests on campus in April that flared up again in early June outside the Cathedral of Learning.
“It was a tough week,” Glynn admitted. “But we're thrilled that you're at the helm in this position and we're excited (to be) working with you and having you meet with us today and (letting us know) what's going on in the Student Affairs world.”
Responding to a question from Chenits Pettigrew, associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion in the School of Medicine, about what he called “surveillance intelligence” to help stay on top of “the changing landscapes around this Middle East circumstance,” Panzella said she’s learning through interactions with Student Affairs-related organizations from schools similar to Pitt.
“We're all learning from one another,” she said, mentioning an ongoing dialogue with other student affairs leaders throughout the country. “That group is helpful, because we are learning that what students are doing or what people are doing — because it's not always students. They're watching other campuses and other activism, and then they're bringing those practices to other campuses.
“I think one of my goals is to try to connect with the students as much as possible,” she added. “In some of these cases, they really do want to meet with folks who have decision power. But I think Student Affairs has often been the group that can broker conversations and educate on the different topics, which allows the students to better navigate the challenges.
“So we’re really hoping to make some inroads with communication and connection to the students.”
Culture of safety
Moving on to the broader aspects of campus safety, Panzella said this is another area in which she’d like to see Student Affairs have an ongoing voice and play an active role.
“I think Student Affairs would be really excited and happy to be part of that amplification of that conversation and be able to connect the conversation to students in particular,” she said.
“We have a lot of construction going on, and you can never have too much conversation about safety,” she added. “So that's an area that we would be interested in supporting and connecting with.”
On the morning of May 3, a pedestrian was killed near the Petersen Events Center when a large metal cylinder rolled off the construction site for Pitt’s new Arena and Sports Performance Center and struck her near DeSoto and Terrace streets.
Nancy Glynn noted the current multifaceted nature of campus safety concerns, including the hard-to-ignore surge in large construction projects.
“There's the culture of safety … safety risks, demonstrations, events and protests and things like that. And I think this newer wrinkle is the construction safety,” she said. “That also has happened, and being in the School of Public Health, I literally walk out and I feel like I'm practically in the construction site …
“You can't walk an inch around my building without almost feeling like you need a hardhat.”
Bailey Nichols, executive administrator of Pitt’s Graduate & Professional Student Government, said that a student survey from last fall that focused on mental health and emotional well-being may be recast this year to also encompass general safety concerns around campus.
“That was something that our president and our board had thought would be very important to include,” she said. “So we integrated students to separate surveys. We're trying to somehow strategically find the right time to administer a survey that will include both components of … a general pulse on how students are feeling: Are their needs being met? What needs are surfacing at that point? But also around safety as well.”
Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.
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