SGB holds last meeting of the semester

Student Government Board held its last meeting of the semester in Nordy’s Place last… Student Government Board held its last meeting of the semester in Nordy’s Place last night to a crowd of about five people.

The Board passed two resolutions that it had introduced at last week’s meeting.

The Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act Resolution will allow the Board to write on behalf of Pitt students in support of a federal legislation that would allow nonprofit entities to donate to fraternities or sororities without affecting the entities’ nonprofit status. Previous legislation did not allow nonprofits to donate funds to sororities and fraternities, forcing the organizations to raise their own funds to fix housing safety issues.

The Public Advertising Resolution will require every student organization that receives allocations funds for advertising will have to print out “paid for by the Student Activity Fee and allocated by the Student Government Board” on any of their advertisements.

Board member David Petrone said the Public Advertisement Resolution will “increase transparency and show students where the money is coming from.”

The Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act Resolution will have the Board write on behalf of Pitt students in support of federal legislation that would allow nonprofit entities to donate to fraternities or sororities without affecting the entities’ nonprofit status.

Board President Charlie Shull said that after talking with Pitt governmental relations administrators, the resolution would not affect the entities’ nonprofit status.

Molly Stieber, Board member, said she “really supported” the resolution and hoped that advertisements would bring students to Board meetings.

Shull said the current phrasing of the resolution includes formula organizations, such as the Pitt Program Council, to participate. Formula organizations do not go through the same allocations process as other student groups — instead, they receive a set portion of the student activity fee, rather than going through the allocations process.

Board member Phil LaRue said it was “essential” to include formula groups because they receive the largest share of money from the Student Activities Fee.

“The choices the PPC makes should be under public scrutiny just as much as any other organization,” LaRue said.

Shull cautioned students planning to participate in the upcoming SempleFest — an unofficial, annual block party on Semple Street that has historically resulted in students being cited for underage drinking and open container violations.

“Not to be a Debbie Downer,” Shull said, but “be cognizant of your actions.”

Shull reminded students that having an open container of alcohol on the street counts as an open container violation, for which students could face fines.

If students do not follow the commands of the police officers, and do something inappropriate, Shull said, they will be arrested.

Shull also announced that the Board will meet with representatives from USA Today and The New York Times looking to bring a pilot distribution program to campus in the fall, and that the program will cost roughly $5,000 to $10,000 out of the Students Activities Fee. The program would bring print editions of The New York Times and USA Today to campus.

“We will not buy it if the students do not want it,” Shull said.

The Board reviewed two allocations requests last night.

The Athletic Training Student Association requested $1,244.43 for a conference. The Board granted the group $837.36 and denied $407.07 because of a precedence to only send four members of an organization to a conference.

The Pittsburgh Panthers Lacrosse team requested $3,500 to pay toward its league, but because no representative from the organization attended the meeting — which presented a problem because of a Board resolution passed earlier this year  — the Board could have postponed it to the next meeting. But the next Board meeting is next semester.

Because the allocations request was time sensitive, the Board decided to vote on it.

The Board was divided three-to-three on the vote to approve the $3,500 request in full.

Board members Ali Noorbaksh, Stieber and Petrone voted for the approval of the funds and Board members LaRue, Zach Bombatch and Sam Rezaeian voted against it.

“I think it’s really disrespectful they didn’t show up tonight,” Board member Bombatch said. “It’s a lot of money to be giving them, and it takes 10 minutes to come here and speak their case.”