Jeremy Levy
Faculty
My wife Chandralekha and I are both Professors at Pitt, with a combined 60 years of service (still shy of Cathy's 100). A few years ago, when Pat Gallagher was Chancellor, Chandralekha and I were showing our niece around campus during the Fourth of July holiday. The nationality rooms are always our go-to move with visitors, but the holiday had every room locked. We were headed out, a little disappointed, when we ran into Pat himself on the first floor. We introduced our niece and mentioned how sorry we were that she couldn't see the rooms.
Pat said, "wait just a minute." He trotted off and returned with something glistening in his hands. "Here, this is the master key to all the nationality rooms. Just slide it under my office door when you're done."
Our niece looked at Pat, wide-eyed, then us. We thanked Pat profusely and went on our way, unlocking (and relocking) every room, even the Austrian room! Along the way we managed to pick up a small gaggle of tourists.
One man did not look happy. He wore a baseball cap, and he came over to me.
"Hi, you're welcome to join us!" I offered.
"I'm in charge of security for the Cathedral of Learning. Where did you get that key?"
"We got it from the Chancellor!"
That quieted him down, although he did not join the tour. In retrospect, I understand and respect his concern for the building he was charged with protecting. We were extra careful the entire time, double-checking that the doors were locked before moving to the next room. At the end of the day, we slid the key under Pat's office door and filed the story away into our permanent memory.