SGB met with Chancellor Joan Gabel, discussed Plan for Pitt

At Tuesday’s meeting, Student Government Board discussed their conversation with Chancellor Joan Gabel, commencement and Mental Health Awareness Month.

“I think it was an opportunity to kind of reestablish the Plan for Pitt now that she’s in office,” SGB President Ryan Young said. “I think that we got to talk about some valuable things and I think that it was productive. I think that we got to focus on things that matter to students. I’m just really interested in how an institution measures student wellness, so we brought up things like that.”

SGB met with Chancellor Gabel to discuss the University’s five-year plan, Plan for Pitt. This plan works to improve student wellness and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. 

During the meeting, Board Member Katie Emmert advocated for improvements that would create a better quality of life in Oakland.

“I talked about the housing problem in Oakland,” Emmert said. “I advocated for accessible, affordable and quality housing on an off campus and the need for an accessible and affordable grocery store in the area.”

Board Member Braydan Issermoyer is also working on an initiative to allow students who graduate in the winter to walk in the spring commencement. 

“The office of special events confirmed to me that there are two separate commencement ceremonies happening — one in the winter and one in the spring,” Issermoyer said.

Under the current policy, students graduating in the summer and winter will only be invited to the winter commencement and students graduating in the spring will only be invited to the spring commencement, Issermoyer said. He added that the University is currently not making any exceptions. Issermoyer said he plans to gain more student feedback regarding this policy and hopefully address student concerns. 

Vice President of Operations Sarah Siddiqui encourages students to participate in Mental Health Awareness Month events. 

“It’s really, really important — not just in October, but every month,” Siddiqui said. “It’s really nice for us to be able to collaborate with a lot of different student organizations on events that are specifically focused on mental health just to set the tone for the rest of the year. But of course, there are a lot of resources and a lot of other opportunities for students to prioritize their mental health outside of October.” 

Allocations:

Phi Alpha Delta, a pre-law fraternity, requested $830.13 to attend a conference. The board approved this request in full. 

Resident Student Association requested $1,500 for a funnel cake machine for upcoming Halloween events. The board denied this request in full.

Mock Trial requested $2,640.27 to compete in a tournament. The board approved this request with revisions.

Club Swimming requested $7,782.39 to compete in a tournament. The board approved this request with revisions according to documented costs.