Board members plan for fall at new, earlier meeting time

The meeting went off without a hitch, or at least a Hutch — well, almost.

The Student… The meeting went off without a hitch, or at least a Hutch — well, almost.

The Student Government Board was scheduled to have its first public meeting since classes resumed this semester on Thursday at 6:30 p.m., much earlier than meetings in past years, which typically started between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m.

And apparently, not everyone got the message.

“Where are ya, Hutch?” President Brian Kelly asked board member Matt Hutchinson. While seven of Hutchinson’s fellow board members sat at the tables in the front of the conference room, Kelly spoke to Hutchinson on his cell phone, explaining to him that there was a public meeting — now. After a few moments, Kelly hung up.

“He’s in the elevator.”

“Didn’t he get the e-mails [about the time change]?” board member Joe Pasqualichio asked.

Kelly soon quipped that, according to The Pitt News, he hadn’t, citing comments made by Hutchinson to the paper this summer that he hadn’t received any e-mails from Kelly or his fellow board members regarding the student activities fee increase.

After a few moments, Hutchinson entered the room and the fall session of SGB came to order, with all of the board members but Charis Jones in attendance.

The first meeting of the term provided each of the elected officials with the opportunity to outline his or her goals for the rest of the year.

Kelly started the meeting by noting the changes in the student activities fee allocation, which will now give SGB the power to disperse all of the approximately $2.4 million to student organizations. Within the next month or two, Kelly expects to have finalized revamping the allocations system.

In addition, Kelly spoke about the changes that SGB has worked on and continues to work on with the Athletics Department, regarding basketball ticketing and the new parking permit passes for football games.

The Oakland Zoo T-shirts that have become popular with Pitt students at basketball games are also getting a facelift this year, Kelly said. SGB is developing a design contest in which the winner each year will have his or her design printed on the new shirts. And since the Pitt Stop will be donating shirts to SGB, the board will be able to make a profit by selling the shirts.

The profits, in turn, may be used for such activities as sending students to away games.

Board member Lauren Evette Williams discussed her upcoming leadership conference, which will be held the weekend of Oct. 8. At the conference, student leaders will enjoy a welcoming dinner, a day of workshops and a reception.

Board member Amit Kotz said she is working with the Traditions Committee to get ready for the second annual “Panther Pride, Campus-Wide,” a series of activities during Homecoming Weekend that was started under former President Liz Culliton. She added that she is also looking into students’ concerns regarding the food services at Pitt.

Advertising Pick-a-Prof, an online professor-critiquing site, is board member Joe Pasqualichio’s main goal. He said that he plans on passing out flyers to students to let them know that the site is indeed up and running at no charge for individual students. He’ll pass out memos to faculty members, letting them know the functions and purposes of the site.

Pasqualichio added that he continues to encourage students to bring him suggestions for how to make South Oakland a safer neighborhood.

And fellow board member and business manager Liz Blasi expressed her enthusiasm for tackling the new student activities fee this semester.

“I’m extremely excited,” she told the audience. She added that she hoped that, with the extra money SGB now has, her fellow board members would help her in getting a movie station put onto Pitt’s current television programming.

Before delving too far into his own goals, Todd Brandon Morris, a board member and Delta Tau Delta brother, thanked everyone for their support in regards to his fraternity brother Matthew A. Napper, who was shot about a week ago on Atwood Street.

Morris said he looked forward to completing the changes to the activities fee and was “pretty confident” in the board’s ability to do so. But, perhaps more importantly, Morris said he plans to perfect his “Hutch impersonation,” referring to his fellow board member.

Board member Joe Salvatore voiced his approval of Pitt’s decision to provide same-sex couples’ benefits, despite the University’s earlier fears of what the state government’s response would be.

He added that, since the city is planning to remove parking spots to create a park near Hillman Library, he is looking into encouraging administration to build parking garages to help accommodate more students.

Finally, Hutchinson gave his opening remarks. He reiterated Kelly’s plans to work with the athletics department on ticketing issues, and said that he wants to get the Greek community involved with the “Get Out the Vote” campaign this fall.

“I’m looking forward to getting involved with everything this fall,” he added.