SGB discusses new allocations manual, increased funding

Student Government Board discussed student leader stipends, an updated allocations manual and an increase in allocations funding at their meeting on Tuesday at Nordy’s Place. 

President Ryan Young and Vice President of Operations Sarah Siddiqui announced the approval of their proposal to restructure the student leader remunerations system by former Vice Provost for Student Affairs Kenyon Bonner. The student leader remuneration system provides stipends for positions of “high student leadership” on campus. 

“We’re working with Student Affairs to implement a panel that will hear petitions to create new stipends for student leader positions this semester,” Young said.

Siddiqui said the next phase of the student leader remunerations system proposal will begin in the coming months. 

“We’re really excited to focus on the petition process, which will hopefully allow other student organizations to potentially get stipends,” Siddiqui said. 

Sarah Meyer, vice president of policy, explained that the allocations committee is in the process of revising the allocations manual, which details the allocations process’ rules and guidelines. 

“We’re going to work on writing some new allocations policies this semester,” Meyer said. 

Allocations Chair Maddie McCann-Colvard gave an overview of Sunday’s first allocations policy and procedure meeting. 

“Right now, we’re mostly brainstorming about what we like and dislike about the manual,” McCann-Colvard said. “Hopefully, by the end of this semester, we’ll have a much more usable manual that’s in the best interest of organizations and clubs.” 

Young announced an increase in the allocations budget of $200,000. Last year, SGB had a budget of $900,000 to spend throughout the year. 

“We’ve been receiving an extremely high volume of allocations requests,” Young said. “We are happy to announce that Student Affairs has approved a one-time expansion of our allocations budget of $200,000. This increase puts us on track to meet our current approval rate through the end of the school year.” 

Siddiqui said this year has been “a little bit more difficult” in terms of allocations funding. 

“We are really excited to receive another $200,000 in funding for allocations,” Siddiqui said. “We’re excited to have a little bit more additional funding so we can continue to support students this year.”

Young introduced SGB’s involvement in the General Education Reform Task Force, an initiative started by the University with the goal of unifying the general education requirements at Pitt. 

“[The General Education Reform Task Force] is a long-term three-year initiative,” Young said. “We’ll likely hold a town hall to hear from students about their experience in gen eds and how they’d like to see the system dramatically change.” 

Board Member Katie Emmert promoted a tenant workshop that SGB will host in conjunction with the Office of Off-Campus Living on Friday. 

“This event is great if you’re curious about red flags to look out for in leases, which clauses to pay attention to or how to navigate a renting problem,” Emmert said.

McCann-Colvard also gave an update on Experience Pitt, the new allocations platform that launched this month. 

“Experience Pitt is officially live,” McCann-Colvard said. “There’s a few kinks, of course, but I did just have a meeting with [Director of IT for Student Affairs] David Chao and we are looking to make changes according to student feedback.” 

Lastly, the board introduced resolution R-224 titled “Student Support for a Fair Staff Union,” in which they expressed their support for a fair staff union election and called on the University to honor staff demands. SGB postponed a vote for this resolution to next week’s meeting. 

Allocations:

Asian Student Association requested $5,000 to attend a conference. The board approved this request in full. 

Bethel Campus Fellowship requested funding to attend a conference. The board amended and approved the request at $1,240.

Chinese American Student Association requested $7,500 for a speaker event. The board approved this request in full. 

Salsa Club requested $4,400 to fund new fitness instructors. The board approved this request in full. 

African Student Organization requested funding for an event. The board amended and approved this request to $3,104.01.

Majorette Dance requested $2,700 for new uniforms. The board amended and approved this request to $1,400.