Editorial: Pitt needs stronger reaction to Rendell’s proposal

‘ ‘ ‘ On Monday, about 100 students at Penn State rallied around the Old Main building and… ‘ ‘ ‘ On Monday, about 100 students at Penn State rallied around the Old Main building and listened to speakers from various student government organizations in opposition to Gov. Ed Rendell’s state budget proposal. The students were especially critical of Rendell’s plan to offer tuition relief to students at community and state-system colleges, but not state-related schools. ‘ ‘ ‘ In contrast, SGB at Pitt has done little to respond to Rendell’s proposal. In an interview Tuesday, SGB president Kevin Morrison said that SGB would be sending students to Harrisburg to lobby the state government directly, and that plans to start a letter-writing campaign were also underway. ‘ ‘ ‘ But these actions don’t really seem to be in line with the magnitude of Rendell’s proposal. Letter writing is all well and good, of course, but it doesn’t convey a public message the way a well-organized public statement or demonstration can. ‘ ‘ ‘ This certainly isn’t a criticism of SGB’s response to Rendell’s proposal ‘mdash; it isn’t solely the responsibility of students to react to these issues. But Pitt’s administration has also been curiously silent on the issue: Chancellor Nordenberg has not yet issued a public statement on Rendell’s plan. ‘ ‘ ‘ As Pitt students, we feel particularly curious about the fact that Nordenberg hasn’t officially responded to Rendell’s proposal. Pitt spokesman John Fedele released a general statement Monday stating that they have not seen enough details to make a decision, and Paul Supowitz said that ‘state-related schools should absolutely be included,’ but the University has not released any official position on action they may take to bring funding to the school. ‘ ‘ ‘ During the past 13 years, Nordenberg has done a lot to make Pitt into a first-class public school, from increasing the endowment to more than $2.3 billion ‘mdash; putting Pitt in the top 30 college endowments in the country and eighth among public universities ‘mdash; to increasing the presence of the school’s research arm and subsequently turning it into a research powerhouse. ‘ ‘ ‘ These accomplishments are huge and shouldn’t be discounted. But they’re also all the more reason for Nordenberg to protect the school’s students. If students can’t afford to go to school, then there’s not much room for Pitt to grow. Nordenberg should be speaking on the behalf of Pitt to make sure that all students in schools affiliated with the state should get an equal chance at tuition relief. ‘ ‘ ‘ But that’s not to say that we can’t speak for ourselves, too. And while it’s good to see SGB taking some action, it just doesn’t seem like private meetings in Harrisburg and writing letters to state representatives is going to be enough. ‘ ‘ ‘ Part of Morrison’s platform when he was elected was to start a vocal student lobbying association that would work not only at the university level, but in the city and state government to benefit the interests of all students. And although Morrison’s plans could have a positive effect, we need for SGB and the rest of the student body to take a firmer stance than is conveyed by a trip to Harrisburg. ‘ ‘ ‘ We’re not necessarily saying that Pitt students should march in the streets ‘mdash; although Pitt has certainly demonstrated a capacity for mass public action. But bringing a public voice to a situation that affects a huge proportion of the student body would be one of the most effective ways to do something to bring about change. There’s no reason that we shouldn’t do more, or that we shouldn’t start doing it today.