SGB heads to Lincoln University for conference

On Saturday morning, the Student Government Board will pack into two cars and travel 265 miles… On Saturday morning, the Student Government Board will pack into two cars and travel 265 miles on a day-long journey to formulate plans to resolve issues facing Pennsylvania college students.

The Board’s destination is a Pennsylvania Association of State-Related Students conference at Lincoln University. Together with the other state-related schools — Penn State, Lincoln and Temple — the student government leaders will brainstorm methods to collaborate in lobbying the state government for more funding.

“I think that the opportunity for all of us to get together and coordinate our efforts is going to be a great opportunity,” said Governmental Relations chair Robert Beecher, who will accompany the Board on the trip.

PASS, which represents the four state-related schools to the state legislature on issues affecting students, is comprised of student governments from the four state-related universities. Former SGB President Molly Stieber, along with representatives from the other schools, co-founded the organization in December 2010.

The representatives of PASS met at Penn State last spring and Pitt in the fall of 2011 and will travel to Temple in the upcoming fall semester. At the previous meetings, the representatives discussed the cuts in funding for higher education in Pennsylvania and House Bill 934 — a proposed bill that would require every Pennsylvania resident to show valid ID at voting booths.

Board President James Landreneau said that a possible topic of discussion is the upcoming PASS Rally on Jan. 31. At the rally in Harrisburg, students from the four universities will lobby at the Capitol for additional state funding for higher education after the drastic cuts in June and the recent midyear spending freeze for state-related universities instituted by Gov. Tom Corbett.

“I want to bring back ideas to create a more cohesive atmosphere between the four schools,” Landreneau said. “We need to have a discussion to have a more collaborative effort [for addressing state funding cuts].”

At Tuesday night’s public meeting, the Student Government Board allocated itself $666.60 to cover the costs of transportation to this weekend’s conference. The Board initially requested a budget modification of $934.44 to pay for hotel rooms and transportation. The Allocations Committee recommended that the Board approve $467.22 to cover the costs of one hotel room and transportation for one vehicle.

In order to receive funding, student organizations must submit a request to the Allocations Committee, attend an allocations hearing and send a representative to an SGB public meeting. A representative from the group speaks on behalf of the request and SGB votes to either approve, deny or amend the Allocations’ recommendation.

Landreneau served as the student organization representative for the request, and Board member Alex Murdoch amended the Allocations Committee’s initial recommendation to fund two vehicles for transportation and no hotel rooms, bringing the total request to $666.60.

Prior to the meeting, Landreneau spoke with SGB adviser Kenyon Bonner about the request, and they decided to omit the hotel rooms from the request and travel to and from Lincoln in one day. The Board approved the amended $666.60 request to cover the transportation costs of two vehicles at the standard mileage rate given to student organizations.