Editorial: SGB presidential endorsement

Both SGB presidential candidates met with The Pit News editorial board yesterday to discuss… Both SGB presidential candidates met with The Pit News editorial board yesterday to discuss their respective platforms. After speaking with the candidates for about 30 minutes each, the editorial board decided to endorse a candidate for this year’s election.

This year’s election season began with the minimum of nine candidates to fill the nine positions on Student Government Board. Pitt senior and current Board member Charlie Shull ran uncontested for president, until Pitt senior Justin Romeo took advantage of an extended deadline to file to run for president last week — a move that provided much-needed competition to an otherwise stagnant race.

The current Board faced heavy criticism for its handling of the G-20 Summit aftermath. Shull hopes to take a much more proactive approach by establishing better contacts with city and Pitt administration and police upon taking office. After the Summit, Shull said Board members were “forced to scramble for contacts that [they] didn’t have.” Should such an urgent situation arise again, SGB will be prepared to get in contact with the right people.

Upon announcing his candidacy, Shull actively campaigned by speaking with student groups and subsequently seeking their endorsements. Romeo said that big-time affiliations and endorsements run contrary to his image as a candidate who is non-elitist and approachable to students. While well intended, Romeo would have been better off acquainting himself with more organizations. By doing otherwise, he distances himself as a candidate. Some voters will inadvertently only recognize Shull on the ballot — a move that cheats students of their right to be educated on both candidates and their platforms.

The most significant aspect of Romeo’s platform involves the formation of a council of student organization presidents, which would provide a forum for groups to meet directly with SGB to discuss issues and concerns. Romeo hopes such an organization would give smaller groups a larger voice, and it seems like it would. Club and student organization representatives, however, have a historically low turnout at SGB meetings, and we question how such a council would receive proper attendance.

Romeo also said that the council could be given powers such as voting on amendments to the SGB constitution. By instituting this, SGB would be surrendering some of its powers to a body of people elected by very specific groups of people — their respective organizations — rather than by the full student body. This differs from SGBs very purpose: representing all non-CGS Pitt students. Any SGB decisions should be made by all students through a referendum or by the Board members themselves.

Shull hopes to continue implementing his Symplicity program, a resource that intends to make the allocations process for student groups more transparent. It will allow students to electronically track the progress of their allocations. It also provides a means for student groups to post events and to communicate with one another and with the Board. It’s a straightforward system that should effectively keep student groups organized and in contact with SGB.

Romeo took issue with current SGB operations when some Board members regularly have nothing to report at the weekly SGB meetings on the projects they said they would probably work on. He said that the Board hasn’t completed enough concrete projects, despite big promises. While he’s been in contact with SGB members, Romeo’s only been to one meeting this year, an attendance rate that makes it very difficult to understand the current state of SGB.

Romeo wouldn’t necessarily be a bad president, but his limited background in SGB and his compartmentalized goals — such as educating students about why misunderstood University policies are the way they are — makes us think he’s better suited to run for a position as a Board member rather than president.

Shull said the current Board has done a positive job overall, however he agrees there are still some big projects left undone. If elected president, Shull said he’ll run his Board in a strict but professional fashion, and he won’t be afraid to call out underachieving members during public meetings if he feels they aren’t doing their jobs.

SGB needs a leader who isn’t afraid to firmly oversee its members and who has a clear vision of a direction in which to move the Board. For these reasons, The Pitt News endorses Charlie Shull for SGB president.