SGB president returns to meeting after recovering from illness

Student Government Board President James Landreneau welcomed students back to Public Meeting…Student Government Board President James Landreneau welcomed students back to Public Meeting Tuesday night after his temporary sick leave.

Landreneau, who recovered from mononucleosis and neutropenia — a white blood cell deficiency — reported that Oct. 28 will be the first town hall meeting to be publicly held on campus. It will take place at 7 p.m. in Sutherland Lobby.

“There will be free pizza and an SGB activity, but hopefully, it will help to foster more communication with people on campus,” he said to the roughly 30 people at the meeting at Nordy’s Place in the William Pitt Union. Holding town hall meetings was one of Landreneau’s Board initiatives when he ran for president last year.

The Board ­­— responsible for distributing funds from the more than $2 million Student Activities Fund — transitioned to discussing issues concerning student access to programs on and off campus, as Board reports addressed the issues of Panther Funds, the Collegiate Readership Program and “I Heart Pitt Day.”

Board member Alex Murdoch reminded the audience of the Panther Funds initiative, which was a focus in his platform during the previous SGB election. Murdoch said the University will be requiring all businesses who offer Panther Funds to have high-speed internet connections in order to operate the Panther Funds program more efficiently. Students can load Panther Funds onto their student IDs to use as an alternative form of cash at participating businesses in Oakland.

While outdated dial-up systems previously prevented students from purchasing items with money loaded on their Pitt ID, Murdoch said that an official deadline hasn’t been set yet to complete the upgrade. But businesses and restaurants on Forbes Avenue should have faster-operating Panther Funds systems by the start of the new year.

Murdoch added that he was open to hearing from students which businesses they would like to see accept Panther Funds.

Board member Julie Hallinan highlighted a portion of the Collegiate Readership Program, informing students that they will have the opportunity to be one of 300 students to have unlimited online access to USA Today and The New York Times for 24-hour periods. The Collegiate Readership Program, which distributes 300 copies of The New York Times and USA Today to students on campus every weekday, cost $30,500 in 2012 and is funded by the Student Activities Fund, the sum of the Student Activities Fee paid by all undergraduate, non-College of General Studies students.

“Each day, students can try to be the first to sign-on and have full access to these sites — no firewall, No set amount of clicks before being locked out,” Hallinan said. “We also have a lot of other cool, free giveaways through the program that we will be raffling off from students’ completed crosswords, so watch out for that.”

Board members Megan McGrath and Natalie Rothenberger reminded students to stop by the William Pitt Union on Friday from 12:25 to 2:25 p.m. to celebrate “I Heart Pitt Day.” The event, which hands out free food and T-shirts, offers time to mingle with Kathy Humphrey, vice provost and dean of students, and celebrate Pitt.

Students can also enter a video on the official “I Heart Pitt Day” Facebook page about why they love Pitt in order to compete for free field passes for an upcoming Pitt football game. Students can win the contest by garnering the most “likes” on Facebook for a video that explains the reasons why they love Pitt.

“I hope you all come out this Friday in your blue and gold, because it will be a lot of fun,” Rothenberger said, noting that the usual Food Committee meeting outside Market Central will be canceled in place of the event. “So you should all come if you like food, friends and fun.”

Landreneau closed the meeting with his first “president’s remarks,” imparting some wisdom on the public.

“I usually don’t have any president’s remarks, but my old high school principal used to say ‘Hallelujah; It’s a great day to be alive!’” he proclaimed. “And so it is, and this will be my new president’s remark each week.”

Allocations

Women’s Fast Pitch Softball requested $1,023.75 for new uniforms. The Board approved $882.00 for the uniforms and denied $141.74 for socks in line with the Allocations recommendation.

Women’s Fast Pitch Softball requested $754.20 to compete in a competition. The Board approved the request in full in line with the Allocations recommendation.

The Korean Student Association requested $1,293 for a leadership retreat. The Board denied the request in full in line with the Allocations recommendation because it doesn’t fund off-campus leadership retreats.

The Chinese Student Association requested $8,145 to fund Chinese acrobats for a two-hour show scheduled for November. The Board approved the request in full in line with the Allocations recommendation.

The men’s Ice Hockey Club requested $10,210 for transportation expenses. The Board denied the request in full in line with the Allocations recommendation.

Pitt Tennis Club requested $3,634.88 for court time and tennis ball expenses. The Board approved $3,154.88 for the court time and tennis balls and denied $480 for court expenses that were already paid for.