Club sports funding question highlights weekly SGB meeting

Pitt club golf team President David Uhrmacher urged the Student Government Board to make changes to the Allocations process during the open-floor session of Tuesday night’s public meeting.

The problem, Uhrmacher said, is a feeling among club sports teams that when it comes to funding for competitions and tournaments, the amount of money the teams receive from SGB is not proportional to the amount other student organizations receive for their activities.

“They preach shared responsibility,” Uhrmacher said after the meeting. Yet, as he sees it, the Board supports groups who may not be providing their fair share of the funds.

The club-sports funding question was just one of the issues raised at the weekly public SGB meeting held at Nordy’s Place in the William Pitt Union. Outside of the open-floor session, Board members updated the 30 or so meeting attendees on their progress on their individual initiatives, promoted upcoming events and reported back concerning several members recent lobbying trip to Washington, D.C.

The concept of shared responsibility that Urmacher referred to stems from the Board’s tradition of allocating higher amounts of money from the Student Activities Fund to campus organizations that fundraise more within their groups.

According to Uhrmacher, many club sports teams require a high out-of-pocket fee from their members, and still receive low funding from the Board. He cited the club hockey team as an example, noting that each member pays over $1,700 in team dues but receives only $500 per person from SGB.

Uhrmacher offered a few suggestions to address the inconsistency he percieved: He said SGB could establish a club sports committee, assign a liaison to deal with the groups or revise the Allocations manual.

Board President Gordon Louderback said he plans on meeting soon with any club sports team president who is concerned about the Allocations process and is willing to start a conversation about the issue.

“It would be a lot more constructive to set up a meeting outside of public meeting,” Louderback said.

Louderback added, however, that he did not have a strong sense that all of the club sports teams were upset. Although Uhrmacher, Louderback and the club sports teams’ presidents were in email contact to discuss Uhrmacher’s concern prior to the meeting, Louderback said some club sports teams were not aware of Uhrmacher’s problem with the Allocations process. He added that some presidents did not have any problems with the way SGB allocated money toward the club sports teams.

Louderback said he was looking forward to what concerned club sports presidents had to say and wanted to give them the chance to voice their concerns and provide suggestions.

Before the open-floor session Tuesday night, Board members talked about their accomplishments and what they would like to see happen in the course of this and the next semester.

Board member Dave Rosenthal — who was recently named Officer of the Month for February — urged students to fill out a survey he passed around before the start of the meeting to better understand how students respond to the Collegiate Readership Program.

“We’re just trying to get feedback about the Collegiate Readership Program,” Rosenthal said.

Governmental Relations Chair Robert Beecher spoke about the upcoming mayoral election, which will take place in May. According to Beecher, the committee members will be tabling to get students involved in local politics.

Board member Amelia Brause said she would like to see lots of participation from different campus organizations and individuals for Fundraising Week, which will take place after the Activities Fair in the fall, and her Healthy U initiative, which will focus on a different health and wellness theme each month.

In an effort to incorporate all students’ input in the projects, Brause encouraged club members to come forward with ideas that will help the success of her initiatives.

Board member Thomas Jabro urged students who wanted to share ideas with Sodexo to attend Food Committee meetings to talk with workers about possible changes to incorporate in the types of food they serve.

In her initiative to enable students to make appointments for Student Health Services online, Board member Sarah Winston said she had found success. Winston said the new appointment system will be available as of April 1.

“Look out for that if you are sick and need to go to Student Health,” Winston said.

Board members Sowmya Sanapala, John Cordier, C.J. Bonge and Fundraising and Advertising Chair Erin Worbs joined the meeting near its conclusion, having just returned from their trip to Washington, D.C., to attend ACC Day, where they spoke with federal representatives about the importance of higher education.

“We had a lot of really positive face time with legislators down there,” Bonge said.

Allocations

The Performance Collaborative requested $1,129 for registration, lodging and transportation for a conference in Louisville, Ky. The Board approved $649 and denied $480 last week during a planning session because the group needed the money for last weekend.

Strong Women Strong Girls requested $3,170.81 for ground transportation for the rest of the spring semester to send mentors to various schools in the area. The Board approved the request in full in line with the Allocations recommendation.

The Original magazine requested $7,495 for publication costs for their April issue. The Board approved the request in full in line with the Allocations recommendation.

Indian Subcontinent Association requested $2,024.17 for facility rental, equipment rental, security, advertising, refreshments and supplies for their annual cultural show. The Board approved $1938.97 and denied $85.20 in line with the Allocations recommendation.

American Sign Language Club requested $600 for funding to bring in ASL interpreters and a captionist for their deaf/hearing panel. The Board approved the request in full in line with the Allocations recommendation.

Phi Beta Lambda requested $2,752.80 for lodging to go to the annual State Leadership Conference in Gettysburg, Pa. The Board approved $248 and denied $2,504.80.

Pitt Inline Hockey requested $1,069.29 for lodging for 12 players to attend the ECRHA regionals in Feasterville, Pa. The Board approved the request in full in line with the Allocations recommendation.

Muslim Student Association requested $1,131.18 for registration, lodging and ground transportation for four members to attend the MSA National East Zone Conference in Raleigh, N.C. The Board approved the request in full in line with the Allocations recommendation.

Pitt Men’s Glee Club requested $1,158.08 for 80 members to go to Johnstown for a concert. The Board approved the request in full in line with the Allocations recommendation.

The Board has allocated $140,636.57 from the Student Activities Fund so far this year.

Editor’s Note: David Uhrmacher is a staff writer for the Pitt News.