Candidates debate visions for SGB

Candidates for the Student Government Board president – Liz Culliton, Pat Creighton and… Candidates for the Student Government Board president – Liz Culliton, Pat Creighton and Andrea DeChellis- agreed that the Board needs to change next year, but they varied on how to accomplish that goal Sunday night at their debate.

Liz Culliton, who spoke first, said, as a presidential candidate, she has no specific goals about what she would like to achieve next year. Rather, she said the president should act as an administrator and try to execute what his or her Board members have set out as goals.

She suggested setting up task forces so that each group could work on its own goal and to make sure that it was achieved.

“I want to have short term, achievable standards,” she said. “So students see changes.”

Culliton, SGB’s business manager, has worked to reform the allocations process and has researched the most effective ways for a student activities fee increase. She added that the current allocations process worked effectively in giving out SGB’s $680,000 to the more than 130 groups who ask for funding.

Pat Creighton spoke next, agreeing that working on a review of the allocations committee was important before changes are made to the activities fee and to get the precedents on paper. He also said he wanted to change governance groups status because they do not serve the campus community enough and that their budget takes away from other groups.

He added he wanted to create a biweekly or monthly newsletter so students know what the Board is working on.

Currently the only thing that SGB does is allocate money, but that has to change, he said. To do that, he proposed having applications for SGB committees online so students can sign up and get involved earlier than they did this year in their other committees.

The Board needs to represent all students on campus, according to Creighton. And for that reason, he was willing to support the Panthers for American Values when it wanted a resolution presented to the Board earlier this year, which was against Affirmative Action.

He said when he voted against a resolution to send a group of students to an Affirmative Action march, he was not taking the easy way out. He added he would do the same thing if a resolution about same-sex benefits was introduced.

Culliton and Andrea DeChellis, however, said they did not see voting for the resolution as an easy way out. Rather, they said, it was supporting the students who it affected.

Speaking about the resolution after Creighton, DeChellis said with privilege comes ignorance. She wants to work on retaining minority students at Pitt. According to her, many minority students leave because they are not understood on campus.

According to her, only a handful of students are involved with SGB, and unlike many, she is not doing it to build her resume or because she is an overachiever. She added, unlike some Board members, she has proven she will do the work that the job entails. She said she does not need the position of SGB president, but “the position needs someone like me.”

DeChellis also asked what students would be willing to come to the Board when they have a problem if the Board has shown that it is not willing to work for or fight for their causes.

“People don’t care what we’re doing and why should they?” she said.

She added that it was time for SGB to stop being Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Robert Hill’s “sidekick.”

“Either you do want me to be president because you know I’ll do a lot for students or you don’t want me to be president because you know I’ll do a lot for students,” she said.

DeChellis said she had worked on national and statewide campaigns over issues including tuition costs.

That grass roots experience, she said, could be applied at Pitt to get more people involved. She suggested recruiting more students by posting and handing out fliers and tabling.

According to Creighton, the Board has accomplished little this year, but individually, its members have done a lot.

Culliton said she was working on finishing getting Pick-a-Prof started and was involved with the alcohol task force and the Student Leadership Through Service task force.

Creighton said he had worked on getting club sports recognized, something that is coming together now, and has worked on changing some of the food services.

He added that the Board had worked together on campus safety issues.

DeChellis, though, disagreed and said only the women on the Board had worked on it.

This year, she said she worked on bringing multicultural speakers and holding grass roots training sessions so that students who do not like the way things are run can learn how they can make a difference.