SGB presidential ring holds many hats, few certainties

People speculated. People asked if he decided.

Last weekend, Student Government Board… People speculated. People asked if he decided.

Last weekend, Student Government Board President Brian Kelly made his final decision: He’s running to be board president again.

Kelly said he first considered running again during the beginning of his term, but he waited to make sure he enjoyed the job before making a final decision. He added that, when people asked, he always told them he hadn’t ruled out the possibility of running again.

The last time that an SGB president attempted to re-run was in 1980 — before Kelly was even born. That year, Bill Abraham ran and won a second term. As in 2004, 1980 was the year of a presidential election; the activities fee had been raised and food services was one of the major issues on the agenda.

Though applications to run for SGB are not due until this Friday, only two other people had picked up applications to run for president by last Thursday night, according to Elections Chair Andrew Powers. K. Chase Patterson, who is not associated with SGB, and Lauren Evette Williams took applications to run against Kelly. Patterson ran for board last year and came in 10th place out of 10 candidates running for places on the eight-person board.

Williams, as well as all the other board members, said last week that she would not run for SGB president. But on Sunday, Williams said she was “seriously” thinking about it. She had planned on graduating this year, but she may now take additional classes for her major.

This announcement came a few days after SGB’s last public meeting on Thursday night, in which she stated several times that she was not running because she was graduating. At that same meeting, she said she would work with students — particularly those who could bring different, minority voices to SGB — to run this year in her place.

Williams also serves as the Black Action Society’s president, and if she won the SGB election, she said, she would not resign from BAS. She said it is important for the board to have a continued minority voice.

But there is still a chance she would just run for board, she said.

According to Patterson, the president should have his own goals — something he claims Kelly does not have.

“I do not like the current leadership,” he said, referring to Kelly’s effectiveness as a leader. “I don’t think the current president has done anything.”

Patterson explained that he thinks Kelly relied too much on his board members’ work and lacked goals of his own.

In response, Kelly said the role of the president is not to work on his own goals, but to help his board members accomplish their goals, as well as to help develop the overall goals of the board. He added that he does not take responsibility for the individual work each board member has accomplished.

“I’m not supposed to go [into office] with specific goals,” Kelly said.

While Patterson said his own chances of winning might not be good, he said the run is worth the try. He believes being a non-white Greek hurts his chances, he said, because the white Greek population of students “carries the vote.”

Regarding his run last year, Patterson said he did a “perfect job last year,” despite the results.

“I impressed a lot of people,” he added, saying that he had more endorsements than Kelly.

But Kelly believes that having a president who lacks ties to SGB is a bad idea. The president, who manages the board members and committee chairs, should know the responsibilities of the people he is in charge of, Kelly added. And with the allocations reform still in its early stages, Kelly stressed the need for the president to know about the entire allocations process — which, according to Kelly, not even everyone on the board understands.

Kelly responded to Patterson’s statement about the white Greek population by calling it “untrue,” adding that SGB does not have any statistics regarding who actually votes, so Patterson has no evidence to prove his accusation.

Kelly went on to add that when he ran last year, the historically black National Pan-Hellenic Council, Hillel, the Rainbow Alliance and Asian Students Alliance all endorsed him.

“I don’t think it’s fair to say Pitt students vote based on race,” he added. “SGB’s not about race; it’s about experience.”

This year, unlike some past years, there is a need for consistency within SGB, Kelly said. With the board edging closer to seriously reforming the allocation process of the student activities fee, SGB needs someone to make sure that reform is carried through properly, Kelly added.

He expects the current board to finalize the plans for the allocation process, but he wants to leave it to the next board to actually implement it. Kelly noted that the board deals with about $2 million total.

But according to Patterson, his experience serving several organizations makes him qualified to deal with the allocations process. As an involved student, Patterson said, he sees some of the flaws in the system. With more than 200 student groups, small groups often do not receive the proper funding, he added.

Current board member Todd Brandon Morris, whom some campus leaders believed to be the likeliest opponent for Kelly, said in an interview Thursday afternoon that he is definitely not running again. Morris said he made his decision during the summer, but used this semester to feel out the situation before making a final announcement.

At the public SGB meeting later Thursday night, Morris said he is “happily counting down” the days left in his term. Morris said he’s enjoyed this semester, but he wants to have some time as a normal student. Since making his decision, he said, he’s been nicer, less stressed and less skeptical of what people in SGB say and do.

“A lot of people are very upset with me,” he said of his decision. “If I did run, I would get elected.”

Morris recognized Kelly as a strong candidate and as someone with whom he has sometimes disagreed, but he said he does not have the drive to do what is necessary to beat Kelly.

In return for the average of 25 hours a week that he puts into his job, Kelly receives in-state tuition and about $150 a month. According to Kelly, he has worked between 20 and 40 hours a week during his term. This incentive helps, but Kelly said he did not make his decision to run again because of the tuition, and he said he would run again even without the in-state tuition incentive.

While already having run a successful presidential campaign may appear to be an advantage for Kelly, the only lesson he could recall was that candidates can have too many T-shirts to hand out — even when they’re passed out for free. In his last bid, he ordered 600 shirts, and he still has some left in his car trunk. Apparently, he ordered too many XL and XXLs.

To fund such campaign gear, just like the national presidential election, fundraising plays a big part. And while fraternities, groups and the candidate’s own wallet often contribute, Kelly also held a campaign party at Peter’s Pub. But this year, he promises more.

“This year it’s going to be better,” he said. “You just wait.”