SGB hopes Intercollegiate Council could help it gain clout

Student government leaders at Pitt and other local universities said they hope they can have… Student government leaders at Pitt and other local universities said they hope they can have more say in local politics by bonding together.

Pitt Student Government Board member Nila Devanath said students and student government members from Pitt, Carnegie Mellon, Point Park, Duquesne and Carlow universities are working together to form the Pittsburgh Intercollegiate Council. The council will aim influence local politics and to promote diversity on each of the campuses.

Devanath said the idea started with CMU student Stephano Dubuc, who noticed what he called an underrepresentation of minority students on all of the campuses.

From there, Dubuc, who did not respond to requests for interviews, contacted Pitt’s Student Government Board and others to try to get each school to work together toward a solution, she said.

As of now, the council has met once with representatives from each of the five schools and will soon develop a constitution.

“Right now, we’re in the beginning stages,” Devanath said.

The process of writing the constitution could take a few months, she said, and gathering together the schools and electing representatives to attend the council meetings would take even longer.

Devanath guessed that the council could — but probably would not — be ready for another year.

The majority of Pitt’s SGB favors joining the council, she said. In particular, she and board members Alexa Jennings and Andrew Freeman have worked on bringing the council together.

With the current economy, student government members from Pitt and other schools have been reluctant to use resources on a new group without knowing exactly how the group will operate, Devanath said.

The council currently faces the challenge of bringing together student governments from universities with widely differing structures, she said. For instance, Pitt’s student government consists of a nine-member board, while Carnegie Mellon uses a senate structure.  

Even while discussing the structure for the council itself, the council received many different, often contentious suggestions, Devanath said.

Before it is ready, the council also needs the approval of the presidents and chancellors of each of the participating schools, she said.

Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey said she’d heard of the group, but declined to comment further on it until she knew more about how it will operate.

A few of the schools have sent members of their general student body but haven’t yet sent student government members, Devanath said. To increase the credibility of the council, she said, they hope to include the student government of each school.

If the council succeeds in bringing the schools together, they will lobby city council on issues such as the $12 rental fee for living in a dormitory and the ban on porch couches, she said.

Typically, Pitt gathers about 5,000 voters for a national election. Considering that in the last local election, Ravenstahl won the Democratic mayoral primary by 26,000, combined student voting could hold significant sway over the political dealings of the city, she said.  

Also, she said the council wants to work on the recruitment and retention of minorities on campuses throughout Pittsburgh.

Devanath added that she looks at the council as a long-term goal. It might not entirely come together while she holds office, but she said she would like to get it started for future Pitt students.

Eventually, the council hopes to resurrect a disbanded council of student governments across the state.

About 10 years ago, she said, such a council influenced statewide politics, but it fell apart when it lost funding.

With a council this large, Devanath said students could have more say in issues like tuition increases and funding drops.