Money talks during forum

Despite criticizing Student Government Board President Brian Kelly for arranging just one… Despite criticizing Student Government Board President Brian Kelly for arranging just one board meeting to discuss the Student Activities Fee reform, and for not staying for the entire meeting, Todd Brandon Morris left early from the first public forum to discuss the reform.

In the midst of the meeting, board member and fellow presidential candidate Morris made a final statement and left the SGB office.

He later explained that he had a test Friday for which he had needed to study, and that he had already spent about an hour and a half doing SGB work on Thursday, between the meeting and forum.

Morris said the poor organization of the forum gave Kelly and some candidates associated with him an opportunity to push their ideas, and he added that there should have been an outline and more structure to the conversational meeting. Morris suggested that providing more structure and making sure to address issues on which the board wants input might have made it more productive. By the time Morris left, he said, the meeting did not seem to be going anywhere.

At less than an hour into the forum, Morris was the first board member to excuse himself, but he was not the only one.

Later, board members Matt Hutchinson, Amit Kotz and Joe Pasqualichio also left. And with board member Lauren Evette Williams not attending the public meeting or the forum, Kelly and three board members were the only ones left by the end of the two-hour meeting — which followed an abbreviated, half-hour normal SGB meeting.

The board has had only one private meeting to discuss the increased fee and how to distribute it.

Pasqualichio said that he and his fellow board members did not know how long the forum would last, so he stayed for as long as he could before leaving to tend to other plans. He added that he thought there were many good ideas discussed, but that when the discussion began getting into specifics, it was always cut off.

Both Hutchinson and Kotz later explained that they needed to tend to personal issues Thursday evening.

When the forum began, however, the number of board members present almost rivaled the 12 people in attendance. SGB members had planned to send an e-mail telling student organizations about the forum, but it did not go out, so the advertising for the event was limited.

In opening the informal forum, Kelly announced, “There’ll be no gavel-banging tonight.”

He added that the meeting was meant to help reform a “staple in our SGB lives”: the allocations manual.

Issues raised during the hour-and-a-half-long forum ranged from SGB being the only organization allowed to host a conference, to the funding caps placed on club sports.

But the major issue presented involved accountability. After a group receives its funding from SGB, little is actually done to make sure the funding goes toward the prescribed causes or events.

Jon Hill, of UPTV, broached the issue with the board. Suggesting that he knows of groups not using money toward the purposes for which they request it, he used his personal experience at the Pitt television station to illustrate the loopholes that may exist.

The station has thousands of dollars worth of equipment, Hill said, but no board members have come to the station to make sure that it is all there without his inviting them.

“I could graduate, walk out with $30,000 worth of equipment, and no one would know,” he said.

He added that it is not his place as an average student to “rat” on his fellow students, but that it bothers him to know such loopholes exist.

“I don’t want to sound like I think there’s rampant stealing,” Hill added.

One proposed remedy to this problem would be enforcing the allocations committee’s liaison program. Currently, the committee members are responsible for staying in touch with student organizations.

Allocations Chair Josh Taylor claimed responsibility for the problems of not keeping in touch with groups and of needing liaisons to play a more active role.

“That’s our fault,” he said of the communication gaps. “You’re right; it needs to be done.”

But keeping track of the hundreds of student organizations is a “daunting task.” Prior chairs have expressed similar interest in holding groups accountable, but they never get past initial discussions of how to actually attack the problem, Taylor said.

To empower the committee, Taylor said, the board needs to stand behind committee decisions. The board often exercises its right to override suggestions made by the committee.

Charging each person on the allocations committee to physically meet with every group and attend each group’s events may be difficult to implement because of the limited number of people sitting on the allocations committee. As a result, some suggested the Judicial Committee be given such a task

Board member Joe Salvatore said the board is interested in keeping inventory by requiring student organizations to keep their supplies in a communal area in the William Pitt Union, so that people could keep track of products that SGB buys.

Throughout the current SGB election campaign, the issue of capping funding has been a hot one. Up until the meeting, Kelly had supported lifting caps, while Morris proposed simply increasing the caps.

Kotz, who sat on the allocations committee before joining the board, said the caps were necessary. She asked the audience whether it was better for SGB to sponsor five $2,000 events or one big $10,000 event.

Zachary Ransom, who sits on the committee now, said the caps must be lifted, at least with club sports. He explained that $2,000 is not enough to fund some groups, and that simply increasing the cap to $3,000, as Morris has suggested, would not remedy the problem.

But keeping caps intact ensures equality in funding, Morris said.

“When it comes to caps,” Morris argued, “money is a scare resource.”

He said students choosing to join a club like men’s ice hockey know going into it that the cost of the sport is high.

“Thank god I’m running for president,” Morris added, saying that, as president, he would not have to vote for reforms unless the vote is tied.

Pasqualichio, who ran with Kelly in last year’s election, said caps prevent a group from reaching its potential.

“I don’t think we should tell groups how good they can be,” he said.