The United Student Government (USG) of Point Park University swore in four new members this week, including the new Treasurer, Laura Draghiciu, two new at large senators, and one final senator, Sadie Pillion-Gardner, who had been elected in the last election. 

The new at-large senators, Francisco Alba and Gillian Paluch, were both applicants for the Treasurer position but weren’t chosen. However, they did express a desire to be senators-at-large if they were to not be appointed as Treasurer.

USG’s guest speaker this week was Chris Hill, Vice President of Operations at the Physical Plant. Hill discussed several of the Physical Plant’s upgrades over the summer, explained some of their plans for the future and went over some statistics with the legislative body. One of these statistics showed that the Physical Plant had already received close to 2,000 work orders this semester. Another statistic tracked the shuttle usage for the first week of the semester and showed that only one student used the Mount Washington shuttle. 

When it came to student feedback, President Berlin brought up the newly-placed graphic on the side of Boulevard Apartments and asked who decided to put it there. Hill said that it was a decision made by the Marketing and Enrollment team, but that he personally liked the new mural, but that if students really didn’t like it, the letters could be easily removed. The letters  were not painted on but actually are large stickers. 

Hill also asked for students to send him any suggestions they may have for upgrading the commuter lounge space that currently exists on the fourth floor of Lawrence Hall. Hill stated that he was interested in knowing if students were more in favor of upgrading the space to be a lounge space or a new meeting space. He invited students to email him at [email protected].

At the end of Chris Hill’s segment of the meeting, Jake Berlin expressed USG’s interest in the activities of the Physical Plant and offered USG’s help in further projects. 

“The library may tell you that they want their desk moved six feet back, but the majority of students are telling you that’s unnecessary,” Berlin said. “Enrollment and Marketing may tell you they may want those words on the building, but the majority of students will tell you that’s unnecessary. And somebody from Student Affairs may tell you that shuttles should go to Mount Washington, but you can see the majority of students think that’s unnecessary. So if there’s ever an instance where you can come to USG and say that someone has an idea and do students support it, we can help you just as much as you can help us.”

President Berlin mentioned that after talking with CES, he was able to schedule some USG legislative body meetings in Lawrence 200 to see if it was a better fit for the group than the JVH. 

USG also recognized two new clubs, the Tap Club and PPU Fashion club. USG mentioned that it will have a representative from the PPU Police Department as a guest speaker in two weeks. Next week’s meeting will take place on Sunday.