The Finance Committee of Point Park’s governing body is in the process of drafting a bill that, if passed, would create mandatory community service for student organizations.

The committee, led by Parliamentarian Blaine King, is drafting the new bill after a similar proposal was denied last year. 

“There was just a lot of ambiguity in discussion [last year],” President Pro Tempore Gabriel Dubin said. “It’s one project…That’s it.”

While the specifics of the bill are hypothetical, at least seven members from each club will be required to participate in the activity. Additionally, USG hopes to get a signature from the organization each club is working with to ensure that clubs do not lie about completing their community service. 

 “We give [student organizations] money for food, for meetings…We give them money to go to Pirates games as a club to bond,” Dubin said. “…It is not outrageous to ask clubs to give back to the University and the city that they live in.”

Although the bill has not been finalized yet, clubs who do not participate in their community service activity may be punished when it comes to the allocation process. 

 “If they ask for $1,000, [their lack of community service] isn’t saying that we wouldn’t give them $1,000,” Dubin said. “We would just look less favorably upon them.” 

King plans to reach out to all student organization leaders to see their opinion of the proposal before it is voted on by the legislative body. 

One of the main concerns brought up during the discussion was USG’s definition of community service versus what student organizations consider to be community service. 

USG is defining customer service as, “any outside work that helps other people, other things, places…[any work that aims] to give back to our community in a positive way,” according to Dubin.

USG also plans to help student organizations find community service activities by reaching out to the Office of Student Activities Involvement and Leadership (SAIL) and also to some of the nonprofit organizations present at this year’s Job and Internship fair. 

The next USG meeting will be held on Monday, Oct. 13 in the JVH auditorium in Thayer Hall. USG invited Tim Wilson, Point Park’s Information Technologies Assistant Vice President, to speak at the meeting to give an update on the wifi project that was recently completed and speak of any other plans. 

Vice President Andrew LeDonne encouraged the legislative body to come prepared to the meeting. 

“Reach out to your constituents…bring in whatever concerns [they] have,” LeDonne said