SGB returns with new skills, plans

Using a container of eyeliner as a makeshift gavel, board member Bianca Gresco conducted… Using a container of eyeliner as a makeshift gavel, board member Bianca Gresco conducted last night’s Student Government Board meeting as President Shady Henien returned from a conference in Washington, D.C.

Henien spent the weekend sitting on the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee. The committee – consisting of student government members from across the country, in addition to several senators and congressmen – met to discuss American-Israeli relations.

Over spring break, representatives from Pitt’s SGB attended The Conference on Student Government Associations. The conference was designed to help student government members improve their leadership skills.

“We really learned a lot,” board member Janeace Slifka said. “We had a lot of great workshops on how to run an election, how manage a budget and we learned a lot about the Higher Education Act.”

Pitt sent 22 representatives to the conference, more than any other school in the nation.

SGB also has a few projects that they are beginning to work on.

Board member Sumter Link is arranging talks with Pitt regarding a fall break.

“The administration is for it,” Link said, “as long as the students are for it.”

Also, the Academic Affairs Committee is developing a “book-swap” program for students. The program would allow students to trade used textbooks with one another, minimizing the amount of books students would need to purchase at bookstores. The committee hopes to have the program ready by January of 2008.

Upon his return, Henien said he looks forward to hearing the first wave of student feedback on the USA Today Readership Program.

“This is something that SGB is really pushing,” Henien said. “Many of our competitor schools are doing this.”

Henien also hopes to develop a scholarship fund out of the program. The board would sell old newspapers to recycling or mulch companies and use a percentage of the money for a student scholarship.

Penn State University has a similarly arranged scholarship.