Board appoints Allocations Chair for upcoming term

Nick Reslink will serve Pitt’s student body as the SGB Allocations Committee Chair for 2015.

A nominating task force consisting of Board President Mike Nites, Board member Abby Zurschmit, Nasreen Harun, current allocations chair and executive vice president-elect, Board member and President-elect Graeme Meyer, as well as Allocations Vice Chair Robyn Weiner conducted the interview last night, according to a release. 

Reslink was the only applicant for the position. Reslink, a junior economics and business double major, will serve a year-and-a-half-long term beginning in January. 

Reslink will oversee the SGB Allocations Committee, whose 12 members he will help select. The Committee is responsible for aiding the Board in distributing the more than $2 million Student Activities Fund to roughly 400 University-recognized student groups around campus. 

Reslink and the members will be responsible for deliberating on weekly funding requests, holding office hours with students and assisting students with the allocations process and any funding questions.

Nites, Zurschmit, Harun and Meyer will select the rest of the members of the Allocations Committee, along with Reslink, after Thanksgiving. A date has not yet been arranged, according to Harun. 

Reslink said he has served on the committee since January, and, in the spring, he was involved in revising the allocations manual. Additionally, Reslink said he has worked with Nites on policy changes, such as Bill 025, which seeks to change how SGB allocates money to club sports. 

According to Harun, Reslink completed an application and a 30-minute interview with the nominating task force. Harun said the number of applicants for Allocations Committee chair fluctuates from year to year, and she was also the only applicant for the position last year. 

Harun said a lot of factors go into what causes people to apply for the position of Allocations Committee chair, including having upperclassmen on the committee as well as people who study abroad, which would affect their ability to serve a full term on the committee.

Harun said, “We still wanted to go through the formal process.” If the nominating task force thought that Reslink was not fit for the position, “he wouldn’t have gotten it”, Harun said.

“He stood out the entire year,” Harun said. “We took the whole year in consideration.” 

Reslink said he is “fortunate to be in this position for a year and a half,” noting that he’ll be able to build strong relationships with student organizations.

Reslink said his goal is to emphasize that the committee “is a friend to student groups,” and that he wants to give student groups “resources they need to operate” while also providing “valuable experiences for Pitt students.”

“We really, truly are here to help them,” Reslink said. 

Some challenges Reslink said he might have include the budget constraints that the Allocations Committee has for funding. To counter that, Reslink said, the job of the committee would be to “clearly explain [its] positions” when it comes to approving and denying funds.

Harun said she has “always seen great potential” in Reslink for the position, specifically citing his helpfulness in the creation of Bill 025 and noting that even from the first week he stood out as a potential candidate.

 “I’m so confident he’ll do a great job,” Harun said. “He really cares about the position.”