SGB to fill vacancy

Amidst the anticipation of electing a new board member, Student Government Board unanimously… Amidst the anticipation of electing a new board member, Student Government Board unanimously passed a resolution yesterday evening stating that students with more than two finals per day should be allowed to request that additional exams be rescheduled.

While the resolution does not necessarily mean that the University will agree and take action, President Shady Henien is optimistic that some progress will be made.

“We are not trying to cause any difficulty [to the University], we are just looking out for the best interest of students and we really appreciate all the support that we have from the chancellor as well as Provost [James] Maher as well as [Dean of Students] Dr. [Kathy] Humphrey,” Henien said.

“This is just saying that SGB has made a stance that we want to have some type of rule in place for students,” he said. “The next step will be to bring it to the administration formally.”

Now that the resolution has been passed, representatives from SGB will arrange a meeting with the University to discuss the policy’s creation.

Henien cited future competition from students at other universities who already have this rule in place as a prime reason for drafting such a resolution.

Filling the Seat

SGB will spend the next week deliberating over which of the nine applicants will fill the vacant seat previously held by truant board member Joshua Carl.

The board will vote on the replacement at next week’s meeting.

At that meeting each candidate will be given about two minutes to plead his or her case. Then, following a question-and-answer session from both board members and students in attendance, the board will vote.

A candidate needs simple majority to win, and Henien will not cast a vote unless it is to break a tie.

The list of candidates includes Academic Affairs committee chair Nila Devanath, Governmental Relations committee chair Erin Schaefer and Public Relations chair Perry Servedio. The other candidates are Pitt students Corrie Berk, Lee Every, Cathy Park, Megan Rerko, Gary Sanderson and Kevin Taylor.

Henien invited all students to come and question the potential board members at next week’s meeting, which will be held Tuesday, Oct. 2 at 9 p.m.