By SHANNON O. WELLS
Senate Council President Kris Kanthak kicked off her report to Faculty Assembly at its Nov. 5 meeting on a lighthearted-if-competitive note.
“As you may know, since we last met, I’ve had reason to celebrate. My team — and the team of a lot of us here — have notched an important victory recently,” she said, the day after the election. “After many long nights and even longer odds, my side got to raise the trophy, and as glad as I am to see the good guys win, I’m mindful of the importance of being gracious in victory.”
Noting that we “need to remember that as we celebrate that others are mourning,” and that “building a truly just community means that we need to make room for the feelings of everyone, both when things go our way and when they don’t,” Kanthak went on to congratulate “my Los Angeles Dodgers” for their World Series win and the Toronto Blue Jays and their fans “for an excellent season,” despite their ultimate loss.
Moving on to more Pitt-oriented business, Kanthak said she was honored to represent the University at a Nov. 3 dinner for campus visitors from the Arava Institute of Environmental Studies located in Israel’s southern Arava desert.
At the institute, she explained, students and interns live together in a campus community and take part in community-building programming along with mandatory weekly forums that facilitate “space for dialogue and discussion between students pertaining to challenging topics,” including historical narratives, identity and personal experiences.
“The unique and impactful feature of this program is that it’s one of the very few places in the entire region where Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians and other internationals can spend an extended period of time together and get to know one another and learn how to work together,” she said.
Alumni from the Arava program visited classes at Pitt to discuss their experiences.
“I was particularly struck by the words of Jawdat Kassab, an attorney originally from Nazareth, who’s dedicated his life to fostering dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis,” Kanthak said, noting that Kassab “talked powerfully” about seeing a photograph of Israelis suffering after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, and his “choice to respond with compassion and with care.”
“The thing that struck me most about his story was his use of the word ‘liberation,’” she said. “In the moment, he chose to acknowledge the humanity of others in that incredibly difficult time, he felt liberated. Recognizing the humanity in others is an act of liberation for oneself, and that’s a lesson I’ll keep with me for a really long time.”
Kanthak added that she’s “grateful” to Senate Government Relations Committee Chair Dave Sanchez and the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation for arranging “this important visit.”
Other updates
Immediate Past President Robin Kear will represent the Educational Policies committee on Provost Joe McCarthy’s “very important” calendar committee.
Educational Policies and other committees will consider the rollout of Claude for Education, a new artificial intelligence model, in partnership with Anthropic and Amazon Web Services, “which we are told will integrate with Pitt learning platforms.”
The Campus Utilization, Planning and Safety committee is taking a “deep dive” into campus safety issues and threat assessment. Kanthak said she’s grateful to Scott Argiro, assistant vice chancellor for public safety and emergency management, for his “comprehensive presentation to the committee” and willingness to continue the dialog. The committee also continues to consider the “perennial issue of parking,” looking at how construction and “our large cohort of incoming students may have affected that.”
Kanthak said that “pending some last-minute questions,” she’s “hopeful” the Human Cadavers and Recognizable Human Body Parts draft policy will be on the agenda for the Nov. 13 Senate Council meeting. The Senate also has received charters for the Lactation and Pregnancy Accommodation Policy and the Website Governance Policy.
In other news, Kanthak said the Pitt community sustained a loss with the recent passing of Lesa Skukan, assistant director for academics in Pitt’s College in High School program, after a long illness.
“Lisa was a longtime staffer of Pitt College in High School, where she had improved the lives of countless high school students and teachers throughout her career,” Kanthak noted. “I was grateful to get to work with her over the last several years. Our thoughts are with her and her family and her friends. She will be missed.”
Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.
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