After “best semester yet,” Kelly unsure of his plans

Will he or won’t he?

Some student leaders speculate that current Student Government Board… Will he or won’t he?

Some student leaders speculate that current Student Government Board President Brian Kelly will attempt to run for re-election this fall. According to Kelly, however, there is no clear answer to the question, and he hasn’t ruled out anything quite yet.

But he did say his first semester as president was his best semester yet at Pitt.

When asked if he would run again if projects, such as the reallocating of the student activities fee, were not completed by election time, Kelly responded, “I would consider that.”

He was quick to add, though, that he firmly believes the new allocations system will be in place by the November elections.

Although a senior, Kelly is unsure about his graduation date; he said he might like to study abroad before graduating.

The current board has successfully pursued its three main goals, said Kelly, who hails from Doylestown, Pa.

The fee allocations process should not be different, he explained.

During the board’s annual retreat at the start of the year, the members established the board’s three main goals. They were evaluating and working toward the student activities fee increase, which was approved at Pitt’s board of trustees’ summer meeting; continuing current Pitt traditions and working toward new ones, which have been helped by the board’s creation of a Traditions committee; and getting more students involved in voting this fall, for which SGB is planning a Get Out The Vote campaign.

During his run for the presidency, Kelly suggested the creation of a two-tiered basketball ticket program. During the spring semester, SGB and the athletics department organized a sports forum for students to express their opinions regarding ticketing and other sports-related issues. According to Kelly, the forum was taped and will be used in the future to assist in making decisions.

One of the suggestions currently being developed is to sell basketball tickets to home games that occur during winter break separately from the other home games, allowing access to the student seating areas to students who are staying in town during the break, but who don’t have regular season tickets. Kelly added that he also wants to create more student seating closer to the floor.

He also promised to continue an effort to help students living off campus. During his term as a board member, Kelly and the board worked on providing resources for students who rent apartments and houses in the area. Among other changes, the board transformed the community committee to an off-campus housing committee. The committee has worked on getting Pitt’s off-campus Web site revamped, and making it more accessible to students.

Many of last semester’s public meetings were dominated by conversations concerning the Pitt-United States Student Association relationship, but Kelly has said that he will not let the topic dominate this fall’s meetings. There are many other important issues — particularly the student activities fee — that need to be addressed, he said.

Kelly chose not to vote when the board came to a split decision as to whether SGB should continue to pay dues to be involved with USSA. At the time, he said he did not vote so that his board could bring up the issue again if any of the members wanted to. He now says that he would vote against having SGB associated with USSA if given the opportunity to vote. He added that when he said he did not vote to give his board opportunities to discuss it further, he was willing to let the topic come up again in case any member felt strongly about going to USSA’s annual conference, which was held at Pitt this summer.

Last spring, someone suggested a referendum — an opportunity for students to vote — to decide whether Pitt should restore its alliance with USSA. Kelly now says that it is not necessary.

“[The] power vested in the board is to make decisions,” he said. “The board has spoken.”

For his board successfully passing the activities fee, Kelly credits having three returning board members, maintaining the ability to hit deadlines and having more time available. The previous board attempted this and failed.

Coming into his term, Kelly knew the increase was important, and, as a result, he made it a priority for the board. Upon coming into office, each group that normally received a percentage of the fee met with SGB to help the board develop a new plan. But after meeting with Pitt’s administration, SGB members received somewhat surprising news when the board learned it would control the allocation of all the money.

Traditionally, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Dean of Students Jack Daniel would have received SGB’s allocation percentage recommendations, then made the final decision himself.

The new plan that Kelly expects will pass — he said he thinks he has at least five votes in favor of it — would eliminate the percentage system, which Kelly described as “primitive.”

He anticipates that for the fall, each of the groups that normally received a set percentage of the fee, such as Pitt Program Council and WPTS, the campus radio station, would get 50 percent of the increase that SGB had suggested in the spring, when the percentage system was still expected to remain.

In the future, Kelly expects SGB to sit down and develop an annual budget with big-budgeted groups, and then to allow every student organization, including PPC and WPTS, to come to the board for supplemental requests.

“I have no doubt all the organizations will be happy,” Kelly said of the proposed new system.