Almanac

50 years ago
March 23, 1954

The Council of Fraternity Presidents continued discussion on a new plan for more organized rushing. The controversial plan, designed to eliminate competition between fraternities, prevented fraternities from holding recruitment events except during certain hours and limited all recruitment activities to the Skibo student center.

25 years ago
March 20, 1979

A polyethylene tarp used to cover newly laid brick in one of the Margaret Morrison Apartment buildings then under construction caught fire when it was blown onto the building?s heaters. The extent of the fire was limited to the brick and construction equipment, and physical plant personnel claimed that it would not affect the construction schedule.

10 years ago
March 21, 1994

Erik Altmann, a doctoral student, was brought before UDC on charges of libel in a bboard against a member of Student Senate. There were over 60 instances of Altmann flooding the Senate bboard with ad hominem attacks against an unnamed member of the body. Several groups were worried that fear of prosecution would curb use of bboards as public forums.

5 years ago
April 5, 1999

The University announced that it had finalized a deal for a $1.4 millon mansion for the University?s president. Located in Squirrel Hill, the 9000-square-foot mansion was purchased to act as an additional space for fundraising activities. The sale was then the largest residential real estate sale in Pittsburgh history.

1 year ago
April 7, 2003

The University started examining options for a plus/minus grading system for final grades, altering how many quality points different final grades are worth. In addition, they explored making pluses and minuses permanent additions to midterm grades. Students continued to express disapproval of using the qualifiers on final grades because it would inherently lower QPAs.