Result of US election may hurt Pittsburgh’s new image

Pittsburgh was hit hard by the decline of the steel industry in the ‘70s and ‘80s and suburbs still didn’t fully recover. But the city is making progress in transforming from the US’s steel capital to one of the world’s best higher education centers. But the city’s transformation may be at risk. Jan van der Made reports.

The Pittsburgh Cathedral of Learning RFI/Jan van der Made

The most spectacular landmark in Pittsburgh is a 163 meter high tower made of brick and limestone: the “Cathedral of Learning.”

A Cathedral for learning

The inside consists of a cavernous space that resembles the interior of Notre Dame cathederal in Paris.

But no gods are worshipped here.

Michael Walter, University of Pittsburgh RFI/Jan van der Made

“The Cathedral of Learning is just that. Never been used for religious services,” says Michael Walter who works for the University of Pittsburgh and gives tours in the building.

Seated at sturdy wooden tables are students with Apple computers and piles of notebooks and study material, surfing the web via a University Wi-Fi channel.

It took thirteen years to build the Cathedral and when it was finished in 1934 it contained 2000 rooms, of which about some thirty “Nationality Rooms” reflecting art and architecture of the different immigrants living in Pittsburgh and the enormous “Common Room” that children of visiting school classes compare with Harry Potters’ Hogwarts School for Sorcery.

The massive structure cost 10 million dollars at the time, largely collected through community funding.

The bricks cover a massive skeleton of steel bars. “It is constructed like a steel skyscraper,” says Walter.

At the time that the Cathedral was built, Pittsburgh was the worlds’ steel capital, thanks to a process introduced by Alfred Carnegie who made his fortune here.

He donated much of his capital to society, art and education.

Pittsburgh’s Renaissance

But today, Pittsburgh’s steel industry is defunct as industrialists were slow to modernize in the face of growing foreign competition. The city lost half of its population as many moved away.

But things are changing.

“We are currently experiencing a kind of renaissance,” says Sean Bailey, a computer science student with the University of Pittsburgh.

Student activist Sean Bailey, Univeristy of Pittsburgh RFI/Jan ven der Made

“There has been a tremendous investment in terms of education, medical technology, and research, that has re-invigorated our local economy,” he says.

This is so successful that Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University this year ranked no. 22 on the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

But the educational success may not last. Already students are facing tremendous difficulties.

“Debts are crushing,” says Bailey, who is also the chair of his Universities’ chapter for Young Democratic Socialists.

“The amount of money available for student loans is shrinking, and is not rising enough to meet costs.

“Students are taking out massive amounts of high-interest private loans to fund their education and they are graduating in a job market that is over-saturated with university graduates and work in jobs that they are massively over-qualified for,” he says.

Hillary Clinton has pledged that public universities such as the University of Pittsburgh will be free of charge.

“We thank Bernie Sanders for that,” says Bailey.
But if Trump wins, the students, and the US education system is doomed, he says.

Pittsburgh’s efforts to transform in a leading center for education may be hit hard.

“There will be a worsening of the economy, which is bad for the students. There are going to be less jobs, and there won’t be economic policies put in place that are beneficial for recently graduated students. Most jobs are going to be for less pay, and there will be more people competing for those jobs.”

But even if Trump wins, local idealism and persistence may prevent the worst damage from happening.

“The demographics of Pittsburgh may have changed,” says Walter.
“But one of the things that hasn’t changed is this ideal of service to the community. And the foundation of that was laid down a long time ago,” he says, symbolized by the towering presence of the Cathedral of Learning.