Dressed in bright red shirts, protesters contained within a block on Wood Street spanning Third to Fourth streets, chanted, “What do we want? Contracts! When do we want it? Now!” on Friday.
The demonstration occurred as the inaugural parade, in honor of the ninth president of Point Park University, Chris Brussalis, filed down Wood Street and into the University Center. The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh Local 38061, representing full-time faculty at Point Park held the demonstration to push for a fair contract negotiation.
The protest lasted for about 20 minutes and finished with a small rally among participants in Village Park.
A majority of the crowd were not full-time faculty, but students, community members and other Newspaper Guild members standing in solidarity with the demonstrating faculty.
Riley Mahon, a sophomore political science major, said he was thrilled with the student turnout.
“I am a strong supporter of collective bargaining rights,” said Mahon, “I think it’s a really good thing to see so many people working here have solidarity and care for each other.”
Sophomore acting major Wema Shitambasi said that as an actor she empathizes with the union. She made a sign that read, “Pay our faculty fairly.”
“We all deserve to get paid,” said Shitambasi, “We all deserve a livelihood, and–especially with theater–we deserve to at least be able to put food in our mouths.”
A student leader invited to the inauguration staged a demonstration in protest
After their inauguration processional down Wood Street, in the Playhouse foyer administrators invited to the inauguration waited for the event to begin.
After Brussalis spoke with a Globe reporter, Veta Piscitella, a senior student leader on campus, dressed in a blue white-spotted dress, asked him for a photo. Her intention was to capture an image of the president with a sign that read, “1.8 million to presidents who don’t work here and we can’t pay faculty?”
Instead of taking a photograph, a video was recorded.
The video that circulated on Instagram Friday shows Piscitella guiding Brussalis to the side for a photo, hiding the protest sign behind her back, before attempting to hold it up, to which she did briefly.
“What does your sign say behind you, can I see that please?” Marlin Collingwood, vice president of enrollment management said, before attempting to pull the cardboard sign out of her hand.
Without the permission of editorial staff, a student representing the Globe as a photographer recorded the video for Piscitella at her request.
“My plan was to get a picture with the president while I was holding up this sign,” Piscitella said.
According to the Assistant Vice President of Public Relations, Lou Corsaro, he said that Collingwood pulled the sign down to maintain peace and professionalism in the lobby.
“This was done out of an abundance of caution to ensure the safety and appropriateness of the interaction, given the formal nature of the inauguration proceedings,” Corsaro said.
After the video ended, Brussalis pulled Piscitella aside to talk.
“After the video camera that was recording was turned off, President Brussalis said he was disappointed in me,” Piscitella said. “I was basically told, ‘Well still you have to do this through conversations,’
She said that conversation hasn’t been working, so she decided to hold them accountable in a public way.
In the talk Marlin Collingwood allegedly said to her that “Performing guerilla actions is not the way to go about it.”
“I was told these things can be done through conversation and I was asked when I had a conversation with President Brussalis,” she said. “I went to the town halls that he held when he was first established as interim president. In one of the first meetings we brought up the fact that we believe that our faculty are not compensated fairly. It shorts us as students.”
Corsaro said Mr. Collingwood and Brussalis expressed their willingness to have a more in-depth conversion with her in a one-on-one setting.
“They emphasized their openness to hearing student perspectives on university issues in an appropriate setting,” Corsaro said.
Piscitella said she stands by her actions in the video, but feels her reputation may have been tarnished among Point Park’s administration
Corsaro said the interaction was handled respectfully by all parties involved.
“President Brussalis and the administration remain committed to open dialogue with students while also maintaining the decorum of official university events,” Corsaro said.
Faculty union frustrated with stalled contract negotiations
Full-time faculty protestors began rallying students around 2 p.m., roughly half an hour before Brussalis’s inauguration parade was due to start.
It was at this time Globe reporters met with union leaders and negotiators to gather statements.
Karen Dwyer, a professor of creative writing and lead negotiator for the Newsguild, said negotiating teams are stalled on wage increases.
“We haven’t even made it to 3%, and they’re saying there’s not enough money,” Dwyer said.
Dwyer added that peer universities of Point Park pay their administrative figures substantially less in comparison.
She cited both Robert Morris University (RMU) and Slippery Rock University (SRU) as examples of this payment difference. RMU and SRU, like Point Park, file under 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, so personal compensations are public.
SRU’s highest compensated figure was Edward Bucha, executive director, who was paid $146,404 in the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
RMU’s President Michelle Patrick was their highest paid, receiving compensation of $524,988 in that fiscal year.
Point Park’s highest paid was former president Paul Hennigan receiving $868,293 cumulatively in the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
“We’re not asking for anything gratuitous,” Dwyer said. “We’re asking to be acknowledged in our work and we’re asking for our wages to reflect what the work is that we do.
“None of this works without us. I don’t mean that as a threat, I mean that as a statement of reality,” Dwyer said.
Richard Schiavoni is a political science professor and the president of United Steelworkers Local 1088, who represents part-time faculty at Point Park. He attended the protest in solidarity with the full-time faculty union.
“I think every worker is entitled to a fair contract, especially higher education workers that without them the university doesn’t function,” said Schiavoni.
Dwight Hines, a professor in the school of arts and sciences and negotiator for the union, said he was frustrated with the reception dinner held ahead of the inauguration.
“They just had a fancy feed inside that we could see and couldn’t touch because we weren’t invited,” said Hines. “The average faculty were not invited. I think it really stinks and it’s really kind of tone deaf.”
Hines said he thinks the protest will push negotiations in favor of the union.
“It’s easy to interpret it either way, pessimistically or optimistically,” Hines said, “But, I’ve done this three times now and at this point it tends to work out.”
Negotiations have been held for around five months, according to a statement released by the Newsguild.
The next bargaining session between the faculty union and administration will take place this Friday, Sept. 27, according to Pittsburgh Union Progress.
