Better uses for student money than chicken

Last night, I was honored publicly for being a student leader, or so I’m told. I wasn’t there…. Last night, I was honored publicly for being a student leader, or so I’m told. I wasn’t there.

The award was one of many given to student leaders at Student Government’s Red Carpet Event, a giant, self-congratulatory bash in the William Pitt Union designed with the intention of recognizing and fostering leadership, according to the event’s main organizer, SGB’s Jennifer Anukem.

But why, unless you were one of the 700-some students there, should you care? Because it cost about $9,000 of your money. And mine.

Last week, SGB allocated about $9,000 to itself to hold the event. That money comes straight out of the giant $2.2 million pool, made by an $80 fee in every student’s tuition bill. That money gets allocated, as SGB sees fit, to a whole host of student organizations, from the Rugby and Rowing teams to mammoth budgets of Pitt Program Council and Black Action Society.

So me, and about 110 of my friends, gave $80 each so Anukem, SGB President Brian Kelly and about 698 of their friends could have a party and eat what I hope was some really good chicken.

It’s true that, in the greater scheme of things, the $9,000 really isn’t much money to SGB. Anukem called the expenditure “politically correct.” When you have more than $2 million to throw around, what’s nine grand here or there? Well, it’s Indian Subcontinent Association’s trip to Washington, D.C., which went mostly unfunded. It’s the intramural swimming team’s suits, and they could probably buy enough so that they wouldn’t have to be reused from year to year. It’s uniforms for just about any organization, or new equipment for WPTS and UPTV. It’s a better band brought in by Pitt Program Council, another speaker brought in by Black Action Society.

And I would have been happier with it going to just about any of those worthy causes than to a pretentious gala to give me an award for things I do anyway.

The intentions behind the unfortunately named Red Carpet Event are undeniably good. Anukem said at a meeting that she hoped, “it will be an opportunity for members to be motivated to get more involved.” Presumably, freshmen, who were invited to the event along with student organization leaders, would see their comrades being honored and then want to rise to student organization greatness themselves.

I am fully in support of developing leadership in student organizations. Yes, I’m biased from having reported on them for four years, but I think the student organizations, from Greeks to jazz ensembles, are the heart and soul of what student life is at a good university, and their members — and consequently, leaders — are what make them vital and exciting.

“It’s our way of recognizing all students,” Anukem said of the event last week. Recognizing dedication is a trait that all good leaders have, and that true recognition never occurs at giant parties held with other people’s money. If it is to mean anything, recognizing a group or an individual must be more than an award and applause. It should be personal, direct and substantive.

We have incredible student leaders at Pitt. Some of them, such as PPC’s Stefanie Odett, SGB’s Monica Higgins and BAS’s Charis Jones, were recognized last night. Some of them, such as Sean Rowley and Sharae Bryant, never had the opportunity before they graduated. But great leaders — even just moderately good ones, really — have at least one more thing in common: They don’t do things for awards.

I’ve been in charge of one of the University’s biggest and busiest student groups for longer than Jennifer Anukem has been at Pitt. I’ve overseen hundreds of employees/organization members/family members, and I’ve reported on hundreds of student organizations, and seen their struggles and successes on an inspiringly human level.

And any person who will be motivated to leadership by seeing someone else win an award is not one who I would want in charge of anything.

Motivation for leadership must be based on a community. When people feel that they have a stake in the community because they helped build it, they care about the people in that community, and want to lead so that they can see further success. It’s a long, slow and difficult process.

Much harder than just giving out accolades and rolling out a carpet.

Tip O’Neill famously noted that “all politics is local.” SGB is no different, and after the logrolling and the pork barrel allocations, there are just a bunch of students who thought the people on the board could represent their concerns more competently and sympathetically than the other candidates.

Anukem is new to SGB, and there is no doubt in my mind that she meant nothing but good by having her Red Carpet Event, which I’m sure was a very nice time. But if she wants to be a great student leader like the ones she sought to recognize last night, she will have to learn that glitz and pomp are not substitutes for actual involvement in the day-to-day challenges and joys of her constituents.

Greg Heller-LaBelle is Editor in Chief of The Pitt News.