With a bang of the gavel, Student Government Board President Zechariah Brown began the first ever SGB meeting hosted from his dining room.

Brown, along with the rest of the board, hosted a test-run of SGB’s new system for public meetings — group calls over Zoom.

Brown began with the announcement that students can still submit questions to SGB, which will be answered by members of the board during and Dean of Students Kenyon Bonner during and outside of public meetings.

“We’ve been working diligently to record the questions we receive from students and we will be presenting those answers during public meetings starting next week,” Brown said.

Brown said SGB’s public meetings for the remainder of the semester will be conducted on Zoom and students will be able to attend and ask questions. A link to join will be posted on SGB social media accounts advertising next Tuesday’s meeting later this week. The number of participants will be limited to 300 people, according to Zoom’s guidelines.

During board reports, Executive Vice President Anaïs Peterson reminded students about Pitt Mutual Aid, a resource for students and community members who face various forms of insecurity from stipulations of the coronavirus outbreak.

Brown ended the meeting with a reminder that while SGB members are not physically on campus, they are still here to listen to student concerns. 

“We’re still here to be there for all students on campus,” Brown said.