SGB rejects ensemble’s funding request

Members of the Pitt Jazz Ensemble left the Student Government Board meeting on Tuesday… Members of the Pitt Jazz Ensemble left the Student Government Board meeting on Tuesday disappointed, as the board denied them more than $11,000 for their trip to Jamaica.

SGB gave the ensemble $2,000 rather than voting on the full $13,854 requested and risking having the group walk away with nothing.

The Jazz Ensemble asked SGB for funding to pay for airfare and food for the trip. While in Jamaica, the group planned to teach impoverished students about music and to perform at various concerts.

Before Tuesday’s meeting, board members decided to meet to discuss the special circumstances of giving more money to the ensemble.

Four members of SGB were in favor of giving the Jazz Ensemble the requested funding, while three members felt that they were not in the position to award one humanitarian effort more money than others.

Board member Monica Higgins clarified her position.

“I made the personal decision to fund the $2,000 because I do not want the responsibility of judging one humanitarian effort from another,” Higgins said.

Member Dilinus Harris was absent from the discussion, but President Brian Kelly talked with Harris before Tuesday and concluded that he would have voted against additional funding.

If the members decided to vote against allocations recommendations, Kelly would have used the guidelines set by Robert’s Rules of Order — a classic document used by legislative bodies — to cast the tying vote that would have declined the request for more money.

The group would first have had to deny the $2,000 already granted, before they could vote for more funding.

In the discussion before the meeting, the board members concluded that the vote for the full $13,854 would not pass — leaving the group with nothing.

Rather than reject the $2,000 already awarded for another vote that they knew they would deny, SGB members decided to leave the group with $2,000 and not entertain the request for more money.

“That was the compromise we had to come to,” board member Liz Blasi said.

Despite the denial, Jazz Ensemble members still plan to go to the island.

“We have to make sure by any stretch that we get there,” said Brent Healy, one of the ensemble members present at the meeting.

“I’m glad we got something, but it’s still frustrating,” he added.