Turnout low for SGB referendums

The students have spoken.

Sort of.

Along with electing a new Student Government Board… The students have spoken.

Sort of.

Along with electing a new Student Government Board this past Thursday, students had the opportunity to vote on three referendum items to help determine the fate of some potential SGB projects.

While 3,401 students voted in this year’s presidential election, the referendums received significantly less attention.

“Not enough students voted,” current president Shady Henien said, adding that he is working with Pitt’s Computing Services and Systems Development to extend the online voting period.

The highest voter turnout of the three referendums was for the USA Today Readership program, which would bring both USA Today and The New York Times to campus daily for a semesterly charge of $2.50 per student. Of the 1,522 votes on the issue, 890 students – about 58 percent of voters – opted for the program, which is currently in a free trial period.

SGB public relations chairman – and board member elect – Perry Servedio said he was not happy with the results. “I think it was a problem with the way the referendum was worded,” he said.

Servedio noted that while the referendum mentioned that both publications were available online for free, it did not mention that in addition to newspapers, USA Today would bring CEO job fairs to campus.

“We wanted the facts to be out there for all the students,” Henien said of the wording. “There is a difference between having the newspaper online and having it in your hand.”

The next most voted on referendum item dealt with president-elect Sumter Link’s pet project to establish a fall break at Pitt. Out of 1,506 total votes, 935 people – about 62 percent of voters – supported adding class days to the beginning or end of the semester and establishing a fall break.

“I’m definitely excited that students are in favor of it,” Link said, “I thought that the feedback would be a little more positive, but I guess not. I’m ready to move forward with this and take it to the administration.”

The third referendum asked students if they had ever had, or will have this semester, three or more finals in one day. This question comes in the wake of an SGB resolution passed last month declaring that no student should have any more than two finals in a 24-hour period.

Of the 1,259 votes on the issue, 427 of them – about 34 percent – said that they have experienced that problem. In a separate question 99 of 277 voters said they have faced four or more finals in one day.

SGB academic affairs committee chairwoman – and board member elect – Nila Devanath said that she will work to have a form created where students who face this problem can appeal to the University to reschedule a final exam.

“If this only affected something like 20 students, we would have had a smaller system,” Devanath said, “but now that it is 10 times that number, we’re going to use the forms.”

Devanath said that the next step in the process is to meet with the university registrar to create a process. Despite the lengthy process awaiting, Devanath said that she hopes to have the policy implemented by next semester.

If the registrar is not ready by next semester, “Dean [of students Kathy] Humphrey and I might just handle it ourselves,” Devanath said.?

Because the votes for these referendums directly affect SGB projects, Henien has called on students to log onto my.pitt.edu and cast their vote when the polls reopen.

Henien said he hopes to receive at least as many votes during the second voting period as were obtained during last week’s SGB elections.