SGB funds first female VP candidate’s visit to Pitt

‘ ‘ ‘ Student Government Board will give the College Democrats $17,500 to help bring Geraldine… ‘ ‘ ‘ Student Government Board will give the College Democrats $17,500 to help bring Geraldine Ferraro, the first female vice presidential candidate, to Pitt. ‘ ‘ ‘ During the allocations part of the meeting, SGB originally moved to deny the full $22,508 requested by the College Democrats. Then, after discussion, SGB voted 5-3 in favor of giving the organization $17,500 for the event. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘The main question that the board was having was if you could fundraise in order to bring her here,’ said board member Lacee Ecker. ‘ ‘ ‘ Ecker and fellow board members Amanda Reed, Gary Sanderson and Ryan Very voted in favor of the approval, while board members Ryan Haddad, Perry Servedio and Francee Varner voted against the motion. ‘ ‘ ‘ Because board member Nila Devanath was absent, SGB president Sumter Link had to vote to make it possible to have a majority. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I urge the board to vote in favor of the event,’ said Reed. ‘It’s a good opportunity for Pitt students and the campus, and I would like to see all this go down.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I think 16 or 17,000 would be a decent motion for a beneficial event like this,’ added Very. ‘ ‘ ‘ Servedio said the $17,500 that was requested was the board’s ‘uneducated guess’ and the issue should have been resolved at the allocations meeting last Thursday. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘They know what they’re doing,’ he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘The College Democrats should’ve shown up and stated the importance of this issue with them before coming to us with such a large amount,’ he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ Ecker countered, stating that SGB approves money ‘all the time for people who don’t even come to meetings for us.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Reed agreed, saying that the board makes the final decision on allocations despite the recommendations of the committee. ‘ ‘ ‘ Matt Spina, the College Democrats business manager, said the group previously asked SGB for money to have James Carville, a political contributor for CNN, speak at Pitt, but the board denied them the money. Ferraro was their next choice. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘We think that she’ll be a great speaker with great insight,’ said Spina. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘She will have unbiased opinions, and the event will hopefully help with voter registration. We need that big of a name on campus for this extremely important election.’ SGB Notes ‘ ‘ ‘ SGB approved $834.02 for the Panther field hockey team. A field hockey representative said the money funds competition in seven games, four of which occur at Penn State University. ‘ ‘ ‘ The board also approved $950 for the Society of Women Engineers and $1,950 for the Pitt Student Slovak Club. ‘ ‘ ‘ Pete Hammerle was approved as the new governmental relations chair at the end of the meeting.