Typically, if the treasurer of a governing body were also the head of an organization requesting funding, the conflict at hand would require the official to remove him or herself from those deliberations.
On Monday, Thaddeus Covaleski, treasurer of United Student Government (USG) and President of the Honors Student Organization (HSO) found himself in the middle of such a conflict. While he did not excuse himself from the room during deliberations, Covaleski said he did not voice his opinions or make any suggestions as the finance committee earmarked $2,586 to HSO, a move he and USG President, Julian Singleton, said was fair.
“When I announced that he would be my treasurer in the spring…a lot of students came to me and expressed concern,” Singleton said after the USG meeting Monday. “I went into [this year] with the thought that he is, in fact, the best person for the position, regardless of if he’s President of the Honors Student Organization or not.”
During the two-hour meeting in which $19,466 was doled out to 22 groups, HSO reaped the second highest amount to the Rugby Club’s $2,753 for the first half of the semester. HSO requested funding for its book club, two general meetings, a National Collegiate Honors Council Conference in November and various HSO events such as the Pink Feet fundraiser and Banned Books Week.
Covaleski defended himself, making it known that, as the chair of finance committee, he does not vote on the budget, but only offers suggestions and advice to clubs of which he is not a member.
“This past funding meeting where we talked about the budgets, I was in the room, but I gave the budget proposal to one of my committee members and he led the discussion about the HSO budget,” Covaleski said after the meeting. “I can say, honestly, that all precautions are being taken to make sure that conflict of interest does not arise.”
USG did not go into Monday’s meeting with a set budget for fund allocations. Since this is a new funding process, they had to establish the cap for this period after evaluating the proposed budget from each club.
“We went trial-by-error for this first [allocation of funds],” Singleton said. “We wanted to make sure that every club got most of what they asked for without putting too many stipulations on [them]”
Some clubs, however, received much less than the proposed budget. Table Top Tirade’s budget was tabled until it can be re-evaluated and voted on again due to a misunderstanding of the new process.
Club president Emily Bowen represented Table Top Tirade, a group that meets weekly to play board games, at the meeting. The organization requested $1,533 for games and various seasonal events, but was allocated just under half of that proposal, $765. Bowen spoke up at the meeting, notifying USG that her club accidentally requested the entire semester’s budget for the first allocation period, due to confusion surrounding the new funding process.
“I think in theory [the two-part funding process] is a good idea,” Bowen said after the meeting. “I’m not so…sure in practice yet because it is so new, and it was also very confusing. I know of a few other clubs that were a bit confused by it.”
In past years, any student organization leaders who were unsatisfied with the funds allocated to their club could speak up and voice their displeasure at the meeting.
This year, USG let students make it known that the clubs would like to amend their budget, but organization leaders could not voice specific issues. Instead, any student organization leader who wishes to request changes to his or her budget for this period is invited to the funding meeting this Thursday at 7 p.m. in the USG office on the seventh floor of the Student Center.
Jeffrey Besong, Chief of Police at Point Park, also spoke at the meeting on Monday afternoon to alleviate student concerns pertaining to the implementation of a new security firm.
Besong said Point Park evaluates its companies’ contracts every 3-5 years and submits a Request for Propsal (RPF) to various companies.
This year, the University sent its security requirements to 6-7 different companies, who then bid on a contract with Point Park, offering their prices. U.S. Security, who is also under contract through the University of Pittsburgh and Robert Morris University, won the bid.
“[Their prices] were lower than everyone else,” Besong said during the meeting. “It was worth enough for us to make the switch.”
Many students have voiced their opinion on the matter, expressing frustration after growing fond of the current desk attendants, who are employed by AlliedBarton.
“I was told that…just because they’re losing their contract here does not mean they’re unemployed,” Besong said.
The current desk attendants will remain with AlliedBarton, but will be moved to different locations unless they choose to apply with U.S. Security to remain at Point Park. Besong stated that about 12 out of 45-50 current desk attendants applied to work for U.S. Security.
“It’s not a huge change. It’s just a process that we; every company; every university goes through,” Besong said.
Editor’s note: Thaddeus Covaleski is a coworker of Kristin Snapp. Normally, this would be a conflict of interest, but Snapp chose to give Covaleski a chance to defend himself of any accusations.
