SGB announces fall break, finals reform

When Student Government Board public relations chair Nikolai Condee-Padunov decided to attend… When Student Government Board public relations chair Nikolai Condee-Padunov decided to attend SGB’s summer meeting Friday night, he expected student turnout to be slightly lower than a meeting during the school year.

Turnout was not slightly lower, however. Besides Condee-Padunov, it was nonexistent.

“This is our summer meeting,” said SGB president Sumter Link to Condee-Padunov, the board and the crowd of empty chairs grouped behind him in Dining Room A of the William Pitt Union, “Thank you all for coming.”

Just as students no-showed the SGB meeting, Link announced that they will also be skipping classes on Monday, Oct. 13 for Pitt’s brand new fall break.

“All the students are going to thoroughly love this, I’m sure,” said Link.

The three-day weekend comes after 56 percent of Pitt students voted in favor of an autumn vacation on a referendum on last year’s SGB elections ballot.

On the same ballot, 42 percent of students said they have had three or more final exams on one day. In response, board member Nila Devanath has been pushing for Pitt to adopt a policy ensuring students never have more than two finals per day.

While the policy won’t be in place for the fall semester, Devanath said that it will “most likely be effective in the spring.”

Devanath is still working with administrators to draft the policy, but students scheduled for more than two finals in one day will likely have to fill out a form requesting that professors offer an alternate date to take the exam.

Devanath also said that she is working with SafeRider to change the expectations new students might develop about the service.

“SafeRider is marketed as this magical bus