The atmosphere on the sixth floor of the William Pitt Union was hopeful as the 2006 Student… The atmosphere on the sixth floor of the William Pitt Union was hopeful as the 2006 Student Government Board met for the first time Thursday.

President Joe Pasqualichio expressed his satisfaction with the board’s retreat and its general hope for a productive year. He then outlined some of SGB’s broad goals.

“One is to promote a greater understanding of Student Government Board to the student body. Two, to be the voice of students whenever called upon,” he said, “to promote multi-cultural initiatives, to improve campus aesthetics as students based on campus and to continue the promotion of lasting traditions.”

Pasqualichio selected board member Joe Leinbach to be business manager.

“Joe has been around the office and he knows how things run,” Pasqualichio said. “This is a board with a lot of new people and I think Joe was a good choice.”

Board member Allison Winn was appointed president pro tempor.

The board unanimously approved both appointments at its meeting.

SGB also consolidated old committees and added new committees at its retreat. An environmental and an academic affairs committee will replace the special events and off-campus housing committees.

Pasqualichio explained some of the motivation for adding new committees.

“The University Times had an article describing that the Office of Facilities Management was looking for student groups to increase their efforts in recycling, so now we have our recycling committee back,” he said.

Board member Shady Henien, liaison to the academic affairs committee, said he hoped to create a composite of old tests and notes from classes for students to access in the SGB office.

“A lot of professors like to use the same questions from past exams,” Henien said. “We can have a composite [in the SGB office] where students can come and utilize them.”

In an effort to address the needs of the student body, SGB will hold one town hall meeting a month in the following months. The town hall meetings will have a specified topic for discussion, but students will be able to come and voice their general concerns to the board as well.

Returning board member Jennifer Anukem announced that she is working to add SGB weekly meetings to the UPTV lineup.

Anukem also announced that she is exploring alternative funding for the student leaders’ red carpet event held in the spring. Last year, a large part of the funding for the event came from the Student Activity Fee. Anukem hopes that student life and the Provost’s Office will be able to cover a majority of the costs.

Pasqualichio also announced that SGB would be creating a bylaw regarding the meeting time of future SGB members.

“This is so that people who run in future student government board elections will know when meetings will be and won’t have an excuse to argue about when meetings will be,” Pasqualichio said.

SGB meets weekly on Thursday nights at 8:30 p.m. on the sixth floor of the William Pitt Union.