Speak-Out is forum for student concerns

At the SGB-sponsored Speak-Out Friday, students and board members agreed the students’ needs… At the SGB-sponsored Speak-Out Friday, students and board members agreed the students’ needs can be better served if the student body becomes more involved in decision-making. Pitt sophomore Yemi Adewunmi, who helped organize the Speak-Out, thinks that a senate-style SGB would be more effective.

Adewunmi suggested reforming SGB, possibly by creating a new committee. She said that nine members cannot accurately represent 17,000 students.

Guest speaker La’Tasha Mayes, who works for state Rep. Jake Wheatley, came to the event to discuss how students can address problems with higher education. About 25 Pitt students attended to voice their concerns.

Mayes, a Pitt alum involved with SGB, Black Action Society and the United States Student Association, talked about her experiences at Pitt and with Pittsburgh politics, saying that students need to work to make changes at the state level to improve higher education.

“I’ve always believed that in politics, if you are not voting, and you aren’t at the proverbial table, they aren’t thinking about you,” Mayes said. “You need to be able to articulate your vision.”

“We also need people to come to us and say what’s up,” SGB member Amanda Reed said. “It’s not just us doing it. We need students who care about these issues.”

Several students raised their concerns with Reed and Jahmaiah Lewis, a sophomore who helped plan the event.

Some of the major issues were the difficulty of the financial aid process and students’ lack of knowledge about University resources.

SGB member Nila Devanath said that while researching the transportation budget for an SGB project, she was surprised that she could not access the specifics. She said it was unfair that the exact specifics of the University budget are not made public for students.

“Sometimes it’s behind closed doors, and I don’t really understand why,” Devanath said.

She suggested offering financial workshops as a way to inform students.

Junior LaTrenda Leonard agreed, suggesting a mandatory session about financial aid during freshman orientation.

Another issue students raised was Pitt’s lack of diversity, particularly a lack of Hispanics, who currently represent just one percent of the student population.

“I think it helps to mend a color line when you have more than black and white,” a student in attendance said.

Another suggested that organizations should recruit minorities to come to Pitt by sending out letters or speaking to them personally.

Adewunmi said that students are more involved on campuses in other states.

“There’s no one [Pitt] organization that’s really involved and trying to move people on a regular basis,” Adewunmi said.

Reed said that this was one of SGB’s responsibilities that needs to be addressed further, and Devanath agreed.

“There’s not a lot of good communication, and we’re not necessarily showing the same goals,” Devanath said, explaining that SGB representatives come from different segments of voting student populations.

Board members Reed and Lacee Ecker, along with Governmental Relations chair Endia Vereen and other students, organized the Speak-Out.

The issues students addressed will be presented to Congress this summer. There they will develop a strategy to put students’ concerns on the presidential candidates’ agendas before the fall election.