"Rooted in your voice, branching towards action"
I’m Andrew Elliott, and I am thrilled to run for a position on next year’s Student Government Board (SGB) as a part of The Rooted Slate! I am currently a junior studying Biochemistry on the Pre-Med track. Along with that, I serve as president of the Autistic Student Union and am a member of several other clubs, including Model United Nations, Rollplayers, and College Democrats at Pitt.
Though I am passionate about my other extracurriculars, my main focus has been my role as an SGB Board Member. I have been a member of the Student Government Board in various capacities for my entire time in college, such as this year, when I was fortunate enough to be appointed to a vacancy on the Board from my original position as Wellness Chair. In my time on SGB, I have had the chance to work with many students and student organizations to hear their needs and to pass on their messages to administration. Though I am proud of what we have achieved, our organization and board are not equipped to fully represent all 20,000 undergraduate students at Pitt. Therefore, it is important for us to prioritize student voices and make a clear and accessible path for the average student to speak directly with administrators. SGB should be a resource for students instead of their only path to administrative change.
In service of this goal, the initiative I am most excited to tackle for next year is increasing administrators' available office hours for students every month. Currently, the Dean of Students only has two office hours a month to meet with students. Expanding his office hours would allow more students that have a direct voice in how Pitt’s Student Affairs department operates and sets priorities. By making these hours more public, administration will be able to hear more new student voices, which willcreate an environment where their work will always reflect students’ best interests.
In a similar vein, transparency regarding how administration operates is of incredible importance to the student body. Too many of Pitt’s inner workings are kept completely hidden, including how decisions are made in areas that primarily affect students such as tuition increases and academic schedule changes. This needs to change. By encouraging admin to be more transparent about who makes decisions on behalf of the University, we will hold administration more accountable to the student body, thereby fostering greater trust between the two.
Recently on campus, there has been a lot of concern regarding the opacity of the conduct process when it comes to advocacy groups on campus. I would like to demystify these policies in order to encourage fair process for students and keep them informed of their rights and protections. I would also like to work with Student Conduct to standardize and publicize how disciplinary hearings are run, and what rights students have in this process.
Increasing transparency has already shown real results in the Eatery. This past year, I worked closely with the head of the Eatery and many other members of Pitt Eats to tackle the problems brought to light this past Fall. While there is still a great deal of work to do in on-campus dining next year, I am proud of what we have already achieved. Together with Pitt Eats we have increased students’ ability to report issues with food safety and instituted additional training measures for chefs and food staff to prevent foodborne illness and unsafe food preparation. Next year, my focus with Pitt Eats will be to specifically work to increase allergen and dietary restriction labeling and awareness.
While I have many passion projects in SGB, the most important initiatives are the ones that the student body requests. Next year, I will meet with more organizations more frequently to get a better sense of what their members want to see out of administration and how I can best support and advocate for them. Often in the past, Student Government has been difficult to interact with for student organizations, and I strive to change that. Student Government’s first priority should be to support students, not to act as an extension of Pitt’s administration. I have been incredibly grateful for the chance to serve as your representative on SGB’s board this year, and I appreciate your consideration to represent you again in the 2025-2026 school year!