The Pitt News T h e in de p e n d e n t st ude nt ne w spap e r of t he University of Pittsburgh
PITT BANS HOVER! BOARDS
Looking ahead to Pitt-Louisville men’s basketball on Thursday. Page 7 January 13, 2016 | Issue 85 | Volume 106
Dale Shoemaker News Editor
Pitt put its foot down Tuesday with a new rule that bans hoverboards from campus housing. Panther Central said in an email to students that it is banning hoverboards, which are selfbalancing electric scooters, from University housing following consumer reports that some boards malfunctioned and caught fire. As of Tuesday, Pitt’s ban only affects residence halls and Pitt-owned apartments, and students can continue to use hoverboards outside on University ground. In December, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a statement acknowledging that some hoverboards overheated and caught fire when consumers plugged the boards in to charge. The statement said the Commission was investigating the cause of the fires in the boards and urged consumers to be wary of where and what kind of hoverboard they purchase. The Commission also said to not charge the boards overnight. Pitt follows several other schools, including University of Notre Dame, Auburn University and University of Northern Colorado, which have all issued bans on hoverboards in the past week. Retailers, such as Amazon and Overstock, have also stopped selling hoverboards, citing the safety concerns of the vehicles. Panther Central said it had taken notice of the hoverboards’ fire risks and has given students about two months — until March 13 — to take their boards home. After March 13, the University will not allow hoverboards in dorms or Pittowned apartments. In the meantime, Panther Central said students must not use their hoverboards indoors or charge them in Pitt dorms or apartments.
PittServes hosted “Sole Hope” on Tuesday night, an event where students recycled old denim and plastic jugs to make children’s shoe materials for Ugandan shoe factories. Nikki Moriello | Visual Editor
SGB AMENDS TRAVEL GRANT RULES Lauren Wilson Staff Writer
Pitt Student Government Board has proposed new limits on the way it grants money to student researchers traveling to conferences. Board Member Lia Petrose introduced a new bill at SGB’s public meeting Tuesday night to place a cap on the number of students the Board will send to a single conference with its Undergraduate Conference Fund. With the proposed rule, SGB will fund a maximum of three students to attend a single conference. According to SGB President Nasreen Harun, the bill is supposed to promote fairness to students seeking research grants. Under the current system, the Board accepts grant applications on a rolling basis and does not limit the number of students who can attend a single conference. Each semester, SGB sets aside $5,000 to fund at least 20 students traveling to conferences. In theory, Harun said, 20 students could currently apply to go to the same conference, and the fund that semester “would be cleaned out,” meaning students going to conferences later in the semester will not have the same funding available.
“The idea is that we understand students don’t control the timing of their conference, so we are trying to find ways to allow students to get off-campus research presentation opportunities all throughout the year,” Harun said in an email Tuesday afternoon. The fund, which SGB established last March, grants up to $250 to a student who wants to travel to a conference to present his or her research. Last semester, Harun said the fund was empty after a month because of multiple applications to the same conference or from students in the same department, so SGB “took it as a learning experience” and wanted to prevent the same situation this semester. With Tuesday’s bill, the Board has proposed a three-student-per-conference cap, meaning the Board will spend a maximum of $750 on sending students to a single conference. The Board will accept applications based on a rolling, first-come-first-serve basis, as long as the first three meet eligibility requirements. Only undergraduate students who are invited to present their research at a conference are eligible to apply. Upon approving a student for a grant, SGB then reimburses the student after
the conference. The Board will not change its restriction that students can only receive two travel grants during their time at Pitt. Reena Naik, a senior economics major, said she agrees with the proposed rules. “Many of the Urban Studies conferences tend to be later in the year,” Naik said. “[The changes] would be good for encouraging firstyear students that are still figuring out details of their research.” Naik has done research in the Urban Studies department on computer programming and using databases for tracking legal mechanisms. Naik said she has not used the Undergraduate Research Fund because she was not aware of it when, as a sophomore, she attended her first conference, which she paid for with money from the Urban Studies department and her own fundraising. ”Getting the money to fund research can be really difficult,” Naik said. In other action, the Board voted at its weekly planning session last Friday to pass proposed changes to the elections code. See SGB on page 3