Pitt Updates

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Dean of Students Jack Daniel said on Monday… Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Dean of Students Jack Daniel said on Monday that he has taken “every single recommendation verbatim” from the report on the Greek system compiled by director of Public Safety Deborah Furka. Daniel will meet with leaders of Pitt’s Greek community to discuss the report on Wednesday, and he said they will be given copies of all the report’s conclusions and recommendations then.

Panhellenic Association Chair Alissa Krutoff said she was “eager to see what it says,” and said she and the other Greek leaders were “ready for the meeting.”

Daniel said the administration was going to look to “help Greek life improve where it needs to improve and sustain where it should sustain.” He added that he thought the Greek system, as a whole, was underrated.

“I don’t think the University knows all of the positive things they do,” he said.

Daniel said that he could not release the entire report because some of its contents, such as private interviews, grade point averages and budgetary matters, were confidential.

-Greg Heller-LaBelle, News Editor

According to an Office of Human Resources memo dated Nov. 7, 2002, Pitt does not require staff to use vacation days for school closings in the case of a “State of Emergency.”

“If the Governor or other local governing official declares a State of Emergency, staff employees will be expected to abide by those directives and will not be required to use accrued vacation or personal days for their absence,” said the November memo from Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources Ronald Frisch.

Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Robert Hill said local media made the distinction that “a state of disaster emergency is not as profound as a state of emergency.”

“There is no one who can claim that the Commonwealth ordered all motorists off the road,” Hill said.

– Christian Schoening, Staff Writer

Members of Student Government Board were still unavailable for comment last night concerning the dissolving of the Dean’s Student Advisory Council by Dean of Students Daniel.

SGB member Andrea DeChellis said board members would be available for comment Tuesday night after SGB President Kevin Washo Jr. and other SGB members return from a conference in Texas.

Daniel said he plans to continue facilitating contact between students and administration.

“I will definitely find ways to periodically have groups of students meet with administrators,” Daniel said, adding that he thinks students “don’t fully understand the roles and functions of administrators.”

Daniel also said that he will continue to try to make himself accessible to students in ways like his Tuesday afternoon open office hours.

– G.H.L. Pitt Program Council and Black Action Society hosted a presentation by director Hype Williams in the William Pitt Union Monday night. Read Wednesday’s Pitt News for coverage.

– Abbey Smith, Staff writer