Student Government Board tackles cash issues

Student Government Board’s weekly meeting took longer than usual this Thursday as the board… Student Government Board’s weekly meeting took longer than usual this Thursday as the board debated on whether to grant or deny more than $75,000 worth of allocations to student groups such as the Cycling Club, the Roberto Clemente Minority Business Association and Hillel Jewish Center.

Members of the Cycling Club, a new student organization on Pitt’s campus, came to the meeting dressed in racing biker outfits and helmets.

A cycling club representative said that the group had already generated a large amount of interest, with most of the people wanting to race. The group requested $560 for transportation and to buy jerseys that students could rent for tournaments and races.

SGB granted the Hillel Jewish University Center $2,500 for a leadership dinner, but will review requests for money for a Shabat dinner. SGB is also going to review a request for money Thursday for 20 plane tickets to help with Hurricane Katrina victims.

Last week, the board members first suggested that the students travel with the Student Volunteer Organization, but after learning SVO was not accepting any more students, the board decided to reconsider the request.

“This is a charity event,” board member Sheila Isong said. “They are not going to be hanging out, having fun.”

While SGB did allocate the Roberto Clemente Minority Business Association the money it requested for an off-campus minority business conference, SGB denied the group $10,000 to bring Randal Pinkett – winner of last season’s business reality-television show “The Apprentice” – to Pitt.

Roberto Clemente representatives said Pickett originally asked for $15,000, but they had managed to get him to agree to speak for $10,000. The group pointed out the publicity that Pickett could draw, calling him “a role model for diversity.”

Les Scales, the president of the Roberto Clemente Minority Business Association, pointed out that the group has been self-sustained all year and independently raised money for the two to three events per week that the group organizes.

“We believe it builds leadership and character for the group,” Scales said.

But SGB was still unwilling to give Pinkett what board member Will Powers pointed out amounted to be $5.15 per second.

At the end of the meeting, nearly all of the board members thanked their audience for remaining.

Board member Alli Winn especially thanked all the representatives who spoke at the meeting.

“You handled yourselves well,” Winn said, adding that the board members drilled the representatives.