SGB provides updates on food safety concerns, discusses campus initiatives

During the weekly meeting on Tuesday at Nordy’s Place, Student Government Board provided updates on food safety in the eatery, an issue that has been ongoing since early September, in addition to addressing the recent acts of antisemitism on Pitt’s campus.

Board member Evan Levasseur discussed his recent meeting with board member Andrew Elliott, Academic Affairs Chair Sophia Chebli, and Steve Churr, vice president of operations at Chartwells, which manages Pitt Eats, to address ongoing food safety concerns in The Eatery.

Levasseur and Elliott identified meal swap options and food safety as their top priority in recent meetings following reports of undercooked chicken and pests in The Eatery’s food. In response to the complaints, all food preparation in The Eatery is now handled by “blue hat” workers, chefs who are specially trained in meat and protein safety.

“We talked about ways [Pitt Eats] can market the meal swaps differently. The intention of the meal swap is for a balanced meal rather than grocery items,” Levausseur said. “If that’s their intention behind it, that should be explained to students.” 

Elliott reported that The Eatery has begun using frozen vegetables in lieu of fresh produce. It will continue to serve frozen vegetables until at least the end of the semester, if not longer. 

“Chartwells promised us that they had switched produce vendors. They halted that transition because they found out that both vendors were coming from the same farm,” Elliott said. “Instead, they’re currently using only frozen vegetables.”

Levausseur explained why Pitt Eats switched to frozen vegetables instead of switching to a new vendor. 

“The vendor that Pitt Eats is currently buying from is a minority-owned business. They didn’t want to switch away from them just because of one incident,” Levausseur said. “Pitt Eats is their biggest customer. It’d be unfair to take away all their business due to one problem.” 

Vice President Lauren Rubovitz delivered President Sarah Mayer’s report, as Mayer could not attend due to another commitment.

Rubovitz discussed a meeting the board had with several Jewish student leaders in response to the recent acts of violence against Jewish students. 

“We had productive conversations and started brainstorming several projects and initiatives to support the community,” Rubovitz said. “We’ve been in touch with administration to work together on our goals of inclusivity and understanding.”

Rubovitz added that Mayer attended Chancellor Joan Gabel’s Public Safety Advisory Council meeting. The Council advises the university on policing practices, safety policies and community concerns to address safety issues.

“The meeting mostly focused on how the university promotes free speech on campus. Some highlights were, since last fall, there’s been approximately 300 protests on campus,” Rubovitz said. “They also discussed the violent events against students, but the investigations are ongoing.” 

Rubovitz announced that a campus environment survey will be posted on SGB’s social media within the next few days to gauge students’ preferences for election season events. 

“We know that election season can be so tough for a lot of different students,” Rubovitz said. “We just want to see what kind of election season programming students might want.” 

Board member Sanai Overton reviewed preparations for her meeting with Marc Harding, vice provost of enrollment, on affirmative action in the admissions process. 

“If there’s anyone who’s interested in anything related to admissions that you’d like me to present during the meeting, please let me know,” Overton said. 

Board member Maddie McCann-Colvard discussed the start of the Fund-MORE ad hoc committee, which will recommend changes to the Student Union funding processes.

“The ad hoc is going to talk about IT funding and kind of create a better system for that in collaboration with IT and the student union,” McCann-Colvard said. 

Olivia Budike, chair of the facilities, transportation and technology committee, discussed her committee’s interest in forming an initiative to improve SafeRider conditions. SafeRider provides free transportation from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. for Pitt students with special non-emergency needs.

“Half of the committee was really interested in starting a transportation initiative, trying to get SafeRider to be a lot more reliable,” Budike said. 

Rachel Garcia, Office of Sustainability liasion, announced the start of the single-use plastics ad hoc committee, which aims to eliminate the use of single-use plastics on campus.

“We talked a lot about trying to get more administration support to eliminate single-use plastics,” Garcia said. 

Garcia added that Plastic Free Week will be from Oct. 21-25. The week’s events will promote the reduction of single-use plastics on campus. 

Allocations: 

National Society of Black Engineers requested $1,742.56 to attend a conference. The board approved this request in full. 

Students for Justice in Palestine requested $10,000 to hold an event. The board approved this request in full. 

Club Cheer requested $11,500 to attend a competition. The board amended and approved this request to $10,500. 

Club Tennis requested $10,000 for court rental fees. The board amended and approved this request to $6,402.04.

Society for Advancement of Hispanics and Native Americans in Stem requested $3,010 to attend a conference. The board amended and approved this request to $1,859.24. 

Out in STEM requested $3,473.03 to attend a conference. The board approved this request in full. 

Chabad House On Campus requested $6,429.50 to host an event. Due to unresolved questions, the board postponed the vote on this request to a later date.

On Sept. 24, Taaza Dance Competition requested $24,775 to host an event. The board initially denied the request in full but revisited it at tonight’s meeting, deciding to postpone the vote until Friday.