Student Government Board announced election results for president, vice president, and board member positions and voted to pass the Workers United ad hoc committee charter at its weekly meeting in Nordy’s Place on Tuesday.
The SGB election took place on March 11 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and was open to all undergraduate Pitt students for online voting.
The H2PinskyBudike ticket won the election with 1,749 votes. Marley Pinsky, current community and government relations chair, was elected president for the 2025-2026 academic year with Olivia Budike, the current facilities, transportation and technology chair, as vice president. The opposing Forward ticket, with board member Mercy Akanmu running for president and board member Evan Levasseur running for vice president, came in close second with 1,726 votes.
Chukwudalu Dumebi-Kachikwu was elected board member for next year with 1,149 votes. Kylie Baker, current community and government relations vice chair, was elected to the board with 1,014 votes and current wellness chair Siya Saraswat was elected to the board with 818 votes.
Current communications director Rachel Smookler was elected to the board with 817 votes and Sophia Doval was elected with 747 votes. Current board member Shanthi Baskar was reelected with 806 votes and current board member Andrew Elliot was reelected with 673 votes.
When discussing the 2025 SGB election, current elections chair Charles Rutkowski said it was the “most engaging and successful one in a long time”.
“We had the highest turnout in three years with 3700 ballots submitted, which is a 400% to 500% increase from last year,” Rutkowski said. “I would like to thank all the candidates whose energy and passion allowed this to happen.”
Rutkowski also announced that all four referendum questions on the ballot passed. The questions as listed on the website ask, “Do you want the University of Pittsburgh to commit to phasing out single-use plastics? Should the Student Code of Conduct be amended to ensure that, at all Hearings, one or more students serve as additional Hearing Officers or as members of a Hearing Board? Should the University of Pittsburgh disclose the contents of its investment portfolio and undergo a yearly, public auditing process to ensure that University operations are transparent and accountable? Should the University of Pittsburgh divest all financial holdings, if any, from weapons manufacturers arming Israel?”
Previously, activist organization Students for Justice in Palestine successfully pushed for the inclusion of questions three and four at the February 18 board meeting, which the Election Committee had originally denied.
Later in the evening, the board voted unanimously to approve the charter for the Workers United ad hoc committee that was introduced two weeks ago. The ad hoc will provide a way for employed students and the board to communicate more effectively.
“The committee will meet with student and non-student workers at Pitt to determine what issues they face and determine what actions must be taken by Student Government Board to help solve them,” board member Neal Gupta said on February 25. “These actions include meeting with administration to negotiate raises and uplifting union organizing efforts.”
The committee will also work to educate student workers in order to ensure fair and safe working environments.
“The committee will serve as a resource for students to learn about their rights as workers, which will uplift labor organization efforts,” Gupta said at the previous meeting.
Current SGB president Sarah Mayer announced that the board has secured additional funding to fulfill allocation requests in the rest of the spring semester. The funds will draw from the SGB reserve fund, which contains money left over from previous school years.
“The additional money is approximately $200,000,” Mayer said. “We are collaborating with the Dean of Students, [Carla] Panzella, in order to better solve this problem in the future.”
The board did not hear any allocation requests this week due to spring break last week.