Candidates vie for SGB

They disagreed about the particulars concerning allocations, professor profiles and fall… They disagreed about the particulars concerning allocations, professor profiles and fall break, but they agreed on one thing – they want more students to care.

Student Government Board candidates Brian Kelly and Jesse Horstmann presented their views on how to handle the new Pick-A-Prof Web site, campus Governance Groups, and the potential for a future Fall Break, in a debate held Monday night in David Lawrence Hall. A notable feature of the debate was its sparse audience of about 12 people, aside from the candidates and moderators.

While both candidates discussed the importance of continuing SGB programs from term to term, each plans to take these projects in a different direction. Both plan to develop a Web site that would provide students with access to information about Pitt professors.

Horstmann advocated that a professor profiles system would be most beneficial in the program’s initial stages. He said that the University’s financial situation and the level of support the program would garner from the administration would affect how the program is implemented.

“Having professors be able speak about how they run their class is a bit better than having students bash professors,” he said. “Professors shouldn’t have to defend themselves.”

Kelly argued in favor of a program that would allow students to exchange information about professors. His site of choice, called Pick-A-Prof, would be run by a company not affiliated with Pitt and cost about $5,000 a year for maintenance. He added that it is not SGB’s job to protect Pitt’s faculty.

“They should be somewhat responsive to the students,” he said. “I think that this will be the beginning of having professors serve the students more.”

The candidates also have different plans for handling governance groups on campus. Kelly explained that governance groups, which include the Black Action Society and Resident Students Association, don’t have funding caps on many of their programs, while non-governance groups are usually restricted to about $2,000 on any single program. He added that Pitt’s administration has put a hold on governance groups until better criteria are established for determining which student groups should be governance groups.

“Because these groups do a lot of programming on campus, it would not be beneficial to have caps on a lot of their programs, Kelly said.

He added that SGB is currently working on a proposal to increase the student activities fee, and that the resulting increase in overall funding for student organizations would make governance groups’ funding less of an issue.

Horstmann countered by saying that SGB should not wait for more funding before they handle this issue. Instead, he suggested working on clearly defining the criteria for governance groups, outside of the realm of money.

When asked about adding a fall break to Pitt’s calendar, Horstmann said he thought it was both possible and a good idea – particularly in terms of boosting morale during the fall semester.

“I think the benefits of it outweigh any kind of cost,” he said. “It’s important that students get the necessary down time. People burn out every semester, and this is an extremely stressful time of year for them.”

Kelly said that a fall break wasn’t likely in the next few years, since Pitt’s yearly calendars are scheduled in blocks. He added that he wants to ensure that students will have a say in future plans for a fall break, and that a fall break would not interfere too heavily with Pitt’s early graduation, which gives students a jump on the summer job market.

The candidates answered questions regarding the potential for establishing a multicultural center at Pitt, which would house the offices of campus multicultural groups and support related programming. They also discussed their plans for handling allocations and working with other board members. Kelly also mentioned SGB plans for its SWAPitt project, an eBay-like online auction for Pitt students.

Both candidates are currently members of SGB. Kelly, a junior Spanish and economics major, has served as SGB business manager, worked on the allocations committee for a year and a half, and been president of the Resident Students Association. Horstmann, a senior and a communications major, has served as president pro-tempore of SGB and chair of the public relations committee. He’s also held various leadership positions in Pitt’s Greek community.

One of the few attendees asked what the candidates planned to do to handle the apparent student apathy. Horstmann advocated community office hours, during which board and committee members would leave their offices and cubicles and go out on campus to establish better relationships with students.

“Once you know somebody up in the office, you tend to go up there a lot more, and you tend to know what’s going on,” he said.

“I think once we roll out the SWAPitt Program and the professor profiles on the new Pick-A-Prof, students will really be excited about Student Government Board,” Kelly added. “I think it’s just a matter of showing students exactly what we do.”