USG Vice President resigns, replacement to be announced

Written By Hannah Walden, USG Beat Writer

Vice President Davion Heron resigned from his position on Friday, Nov. 3, effective immediately.

According to a press release from the United Student Government (USG), Heron cited personal reasons, and has declined to comment on the issue. He served as a senator, recording secretary and vice president during his four years at USG.

“Though we will miss Vice President Heron, we understand and support his decision to step down and are grateful for his many accomplishments over the past four years,” President Bobby Bertha said in the press release.

President Bertha has until Friday to replace Heron. President Bertha will present his nominee to the senators, who will then vet and vote for or against the nominee during the following USG meeting on Nov. 13.

President Pro-Tempore Daniel Murphy held this week’s meeting and will continue to do so until a new vice president is elected.

While President Bertha has not received any nominations, he said that he knows of “a few people who have an interest in the VP position.”

The meeting started with discussing last week’s budgeting allocations, as senator Samiar Nefzi moved to recall the budget for the IT Student Organization and to then allocate them the $300 additional dollars on top of their previous funding of $763. The motion was passed, bringing the total to $1,063.

Senator Matt Bauman brought up a question regarding the Criminal Justice Club’s funding. The club asked for funding for two cakes that are gifts to two police districts in Pittsburgh during Christmas. Bauman motioned to amend the budget, however, that motion failed to pass.

“We had a good funding period, I only had one appeal come in,” Treasurer Josh Croup said during the treasurer’s report. “We had a couple club leaders come in and thank USG for their service and for funding their events. Overall, club leaders were happy.”

Pinnacle Productions requested additional funding of $102 for programs for the next three shows. The motion passed, changing their $884 budget to $986.

Senators then discussed student concerns brought to their attention, such as students needing permission to film in the library. Dean of Students Keith Paylo offered the solution of contacting the library director, Liz Evans, who will be speaking to USG in a meeting either before the winter break or at the start of the next semester.

Another issue was the pedestrian walk signs on the corner of First Avenue and Wood Street have disappeared.

“At one time, the desire was to have electronic signs that hang on poles that you see on other parts of the city,” Paylo said. “It could be that the signs are being replaced, because they were hit, that could be a possibility.”

There will be another Student Concerns table outside the Point Cafe on Wednesday Nov. 8 from 12-3 p.m.

The meeting concluded with President Bertha thanking senators for attending the women’s basketball game in the North Side, and encouraged senators to attend more games as a group to show support to student athletes.

Disclosure: USG Treasurer Josh Croup is co-sports editor for the Globe.