Mayoral candidates to face off at SGB event

The three mayoral candidates will face off at a public meeting hosted by Student Government… The three mayoral candidates will face off at a public meeting hosted by Student Government Board’s governmental relations committee this weekend.

The committee chair, Nick Trainer, announced at the board meeting yesterday that Mayor Luke Ravenstahl agreed to join independent candidates Franco Dok Harris and Kevin Acklin at the event scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m. in David Lawrence Hall rooms 120 and 121.

Trainer said that the candidates will each have 20 to 30 minutes to use as they please. They may deliver speeches or ask questions.

Board member Lance Bonner introduced a resolution to change the SGB elections code. The Board tabled the resolution for one week, the normal procedure.

SGB president Kevin Morrison said the Board votes on the election code every year to make the sure people running for Board positions understand the rules.

Morrison said the proposed elections code allows businesses to put up SGB campaign advertisements as long as the business fills out an endorsement form.

“We shouldn’t have to regulate that,” Morrison said.

The proposed code also defines when candidates may start posting fliers. The election will be held from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 19. Paper campaigning begins Wednesday Nov. 18.

Board member Max Greenwald said posting fliers doesn’t really help candidates get elected.

“The only reason they do it is because they see everyone else doing it,” he said.

The Board reminded students to wear blue at the game versus University of South Florida on Saturday as part of the Turn it Blue initiative. Greenwald said Pitt Athletics and other organizations have been working together to decorate the campus for Homecoming.

Morrison commented that he liked the blue-painted trees.

“I don’t know if it’s going to, like, kill them, or if they’re going to live through that, but either way it’s definitely worth it,” he joked, referring to the trees.

SGB Notes:

-The Board approved the allocations committee’s recommendation of $1,740.98 out of the $1,773 Hillel Jewish University Center requested to bring in a speaker.

-The Board granted Free The Planet $261.06 of the requested $782.12 to send students to the Power Shift Conference.

-The American Society of Civil Engineers received its requested amount of $1,360.22 for five of its members to attend a conference.

-The Board approved the allocations committee’s recommended amount of $1,653.47 for the Red Eye Theater Project. The group requested $1,707.63.