Board member unable to revise Allocations Manual

Student Government Board member Thomas Jabro didn’t want to be a lame duck at Tuesday’s public meeting.

But it appeared to be duck hunting season as Board member Mike Nites shot down a series of Allocations Manual revisions that Jabro proposed. 

Jabro attempted to introduce revisions to the Allocations Manual last night, which would allow the Board to fund for individual membership dues — such as chapter dues — if they relate to the organization’s existence, as well as to fund for child clearance and disposable items that are not provided by the Student Organization Resource Center office. Jabro’s proposed revisions would prevent the Board from funding for the advertising efforts of a student organization.

The Allocations Manual is the governing document for the Allocations Committee and outlines how the committee disseminates the more than $2.3 million Student Activities Fund. Every non-College of General Studies undergraduate student is required to pay $80 into the fund per semester. 

After Jabro introduced his proposed revisions, Nites, a former allocations chair, announced that Jabro did not have the authority to revise the allocations because of section 6.02 of the Board’s constitution. This section states that only the allocations chair can propose revisions to the Allocations Manual. 

After Allocations Committee Chairman Alex Majchrzak confirmed he had never heard or seen the revisions before that moment, the revisions did not move forward.

“Well, that’s a bummer,” Jabro said during the meeting. “Alex, sorry for not ‘cc-ing’ you on that email.”

Jabro said after the meeting that he did not consult the constitution before proposing the revisions, but sent an email with his revisions to every Board member Sunday night. None of the Board members expressed concern about a conflict with the constitution before Nites’ announcement at the public meeting.

Nites said he did not mention the constitution sections to Jabro before the meeting because he was busy, had only browsed through the email quickly and did not think about the subject again until the Board’s meeting discussion at 8 p.m., just before the 8:45 p.m. public meeting. 

Nites said he only confirmed that a Board member’s proposal of Allocations Manual revisions was against the constitution while he was rereading the document on the way to the meeting at 8:45 p.m., but said he didn’t have a specific reason for not informing Jabro of the conflict. 

For Nites, the rules were clearly outlined in the constitution.

“I don’t think that it’s necessarily right to say that I should have said something earlier,” he said. “How about we all just know about what the rules are?”

Nites said he expressed to the Board during the premeeting discussion that he thought Jabro was rushing the changes and did not think the wording was clear. 

Jabro confirmed that Nites expressed concern about the wording, but did not recall Nites saying the changes were rushed.

During the premeeting discussion, Jabro said he established that Tuesday’s public meeting would be the last opportunity to table the motion and discuss the proposed revisions for a week.

Jabro said he did not initially approach Majchrzak because he thought “it would be best to consult people on the Board.” 

“Sometimes, in my opinion, Alex doesn’t see eye to eye with my ideas,” Jabro said. “I thought we could discuss the revisions during the tabling process.”

Majchrzak said he did not think he was deliberately excluded from the email. 

He also said he would not be in favor of most of the revisions because they would change the current Allocations Manual to reflect the opinions of a specific Board. 

Jabro attributed his motive to a personal “exuberance [that] came from trying to continuously improve SGB and work for the student body until the end of the semester,” but said he assumed that people didn’t want to tell him about the conflict in his proposal.

“On my own Board, I had a former chair and former members of the Allocations Committee itself, and no one chose to bring it up to me,” Jabro said.

In other action:

Joe Kozak, Elections Committee chairman, introduced proposed revisions to the Board’s constitution and bylaws. The Board will vote on the revisions to the Board’s bylaws at its last meeting Dec. 3. Students will vote on the changes to the constitution that will be listed on the election ballot this Thursday. 

The Board will host an open forum about possibly changing the Board’s structure on November 25 at 8 p.m. in Dining Room B of the William Pitt Union.

Allocations:

The women’s fastpitch softball team requested $800 to join the National Club Softball Association. The Board approved the request in full in line with the allocations recommendation.

The Collegiate YMCA requested $2,000 for four members to attend the 2014 Leadership and Service Conference. The Board approved the request in full in line with the allocations recommendation.

The Pitt ski and snowboard team requested $996.05 for 20 members to attend a competition at Wisp Resort in Maryland. The Board approved the request in full in line with the allocations recommendation.

The Pitt ski and snowboard team requested $5644.20 for costs associated with six practices at Seven Springs in Champion, Pa. The Board approved the request in full in line with the allocations recommendation.

The Board has allocated $173,609.67 this year.