At its weekly meeting on Tuesday at Nordy’s Place, Student Government Board heard concerns about rumors of ICE on campus and voted to pass the Omnibus Bill. The board also introduced a new bill to create a SGB Disability Liaison position, which will be voted on at the next public meeting.
A representative from Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which the university indefinitely suspended in March, stated that the organization is moving forward with a lawsuit against Pitt administration. They are suing the university on the grounds that administration has “violated” the group’s First Amendment rights.
“We have filed a federal lawsuit against the University of Pittsburgh,” the representative said.
“Several top administrators, [including] Chancellor Joan Gabel and Dean of Students Carla Panzella are being sued in both their official and individual capacities.”
The representative said they feel the university has mistreated SJP in the past leading up to and following the suspension.
“SJP has repeatedly been targeted, surveilled, and silenced,” the representative said.” Our events were cancelled and defunded and our members were harassed.”
A group of Pro-Palestine students discussed their concerns surrounding the possibility of ICE on campus. A Pro-Palestine identifying student said they feel that the potentiality of ICE presence on campus is an “attack on universities” and urged the board to take public action.
“SGB needs to be talking to administrators and they need to be making public condemnations,” they said. “We do not want ICE to be on our campus.”
A self-proclaimed “anti-Zionist Jewish student” said that there is “no excuse” for the board’s “inaction.”
“As Student Government Board and Student Affairs, it is your job to take care of your students, and you have been completely silent,” they said during the open floor. “As our student representatives, we need you guys to push more. Students and faculty are absolutely terrified.”
In response to these concerns, SGB President Sarah Mayer noted that conversations have been taking place between the board and administration regarding the university’s policies surrounding potential ICE encounters.
“This is an extremely frustrating, frightening time for everyone,” Mayer said. “We have been in these conversations with the administration to clarify the policies and procedures that we have in place here at Pitt when it comes to ICE and federal agents on campus.”
Current Community and Government Relations Chair and incoming SGB President Marley Pinsky discussed the newly elected board’s plans to make a public statement in support of students who feel threatened.
“Our new board is very eager to support you all and very eager to be proactive about issues like this and support our most vulnerable students,” Pinsky said. “A couple of the incoming board members and I are collaboratively working on writing a statement that we hope to release when the flip happens.”
Later on in the meeting, the board voted to pass a revised version of Omnibus Bill, introduced on April 1st. SGB Vice President Lauren Rubovitz explained how the bill will modify a variety of student government processes outlined in the student governing code.
“It’s a bill to give the student government board more opportunities to hold referendums and design a process to consider future student leader remunerations.” Rubovitz said on April 1st. “It will also clarify parts of the allocations manual and lower the honoraria cap.”
Rubovitz discussed the board’s current modifications to the bill, which include lowering the honoraria cap to a higher number than previously proposed and clarifying the governing code’s wording. The bill will go into effect in its updated form following an Allocations Committee vote this Thursday.
“We’re looking to amend this bill to lower the honorarium cap to $20,000, instead of lowering it to $15,000 from the original $25,000,” Rubovitz said “We’ve also clarified a line that says that the elections committee decides when the referendum dates would be.”
Board member Andrew Elliot introduced a new developing bill that would create a new SGB disability liaison if passed. Elliot said the new liaison will be responsible for “advocating for and collaborating with” both student organizations and administration.
“Their primary role will be to uplift student organizations and students with disabilities,” Elliot said. “They will spend their time in SGB making sure that mission is fully accomplished.”
Max Wasserman, President of Student Disability Coalition, discussed how the bill is a partnership between the organization and SGB because the student government members are “the only people that administrations ever listen to.”
“Students who are dissatisfied about the state of disability accommodations at this university have no direct line to the people responsible for creating and enforcing accommodations,” Wasserman said. “The goal is to create a permanent position to make a priority of facilitating communication between students and the administrators,”
Allocations:
Club Running at Pitt requested $2,690.52 to attend a competition. The board denied this request in full.
Reformed University Fellowship requested $2,302.26 to attend a conference. The board approved this request in full.
SailBot requested $3,030.45 to attend a competition. The board approved this request in full.
Men’s Ultimate Frisbee requested $2,897.44 to attend a competition. The board approved this request in full.