SGB is wrong for denying funding

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ I had always thought that Student Government Board had no impact on my daily life…. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ I had always thought that Student Government Board had no impact on my daily life. This isn’t meant as a criticism of SGB. Until a few weeks ago, I’d just considered it to be a collection of students with a penchant for playing at government and an incomprehensible fetish for fiberglass cats. ‘ ‘ ‘ But my opinion of SGB changed for the better when, back in September, SGB agreed to release $17,500 to fund former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro’s visit to Pitt. ‘ ‘ ‘ By partnering with the College Democrats to bring Ferraro to our campus, SGB demonstrated its ability to affect student life positively and to contribute to the education of students as they prepare to vote in this year’s presidential election. ‘ ‘ ‘ SGB became relevant to me and many other students on campus when it approved this funding. Saying that I was proud of SGB would be an overstatement, but I no longer considered it to be inconsequential, and so I started paying more attention to its weekly meetings. ‘ ‘ ‘ Then, last week, SGB dashed my newfound faith in its competence and usefulness when it denied the College Democrats access to this funding when it tried to bring Democratic strategist Donna Brazile to Pitt. ‘ ‘ ‘ Ferraro had to cancel her trip to our campus for reasons of personal health. The College Democrats sought to use the $17,500 allocated to them by SGB to bring in a new speaker. The executive board of the College Democrats decided on Donna Brazile, who has played a leading role in American politics over the last two decades. ‘ ‘ ‘ She was instrumental in the campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday and served as Al Gore’s campaign manager in 2000. Brazile has taught at Harvard and Georgetown and today is considered a leading expert on presidential politics. ‘ ‘ ‘ In short, Brazile’s experience makes her the ideal speaker to educate Pitt students about the electoral process as they prepare to vote in November. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ But rather than work with the College Democrats to bring this speaker to Pitt, SGB, led by board member Perry Servedio, refused the group’s application for a budget modification and effectively prevented the student organization from bringing Brazile to Pitt. ‘ ‘ ‘ But SGB didn’t stop there. Servedio read a prepared statement at last Tuesday’s meeting in which he called the College Democrats unorganized and accused their leadership of being incompetent. Servedio ‘also said that he was offended that the group sent out an e-mail to its members outlining how he and other members had voted during the Sept. 16 decision to fund the Ferraro event,’ as reported in The Pitt News. ‘ ‘ ‘ When I read about this in last Wednesday’s paper I decided I had to look into it further. I called both Servedio and Lissa Geiger, the president of College Democrats, so that I could hear both sides of this issue. Geiger returned my phone calls; Servedio did not. ‘ ‘ ‘ Geiger said that, contrary to Servedio’s allegations, the College Democrats had made the appropriate arrangements to host Brazile, including the reservation of a room for her speech. She said that the College Democrats are working with the Obama campaign to bring in a surrogate to speak to students now that SGB has denied them funding for Brazile’s visit. ‘ ‘ ‘ I worry that Servedio’s remarks and SGB’s vote against funding for Brazile’s visit will prevent the two organizations from cooperating in the future as they were prepared to do back in September when trying to bring Ferraro to Pitt. ‘ ‘ ‘ SGB can play a positive role in student life if it decides to promote discourse on campus and bring in speakers to educate students about the issues of our time. ‘ ‘ ‘ Someone has to take leadership in doing this: The Pitt Program Council, which has brought us Mo Rocca and a Playboy bunny this semester, has completely dropped the ball already. ‘ ‘ ‘ But SGB can’t do anything if it doesn’t have a positive working relationship with student organizations like the College Democrats. For this reason, SGB should officially refute Servedio’s comments alleging disorganization and incompetence on the part of the College Democrats leadership. Such personal attacks on campus leaders have no place in the official business of our student government. E-mail Giles at gbh4@pitt.edu.