Pittsburgh student leaders meet with Mayor Peduto.
We recently spoke with Dave Gau, the President of the Pittsburgh Student Government Council (PSGC). The PSGC is a coalition of student governments from eleven colleges in the Pittsburgh area. Together, they advocate on local issues that affect students.
Please tell us your name and current position in student government. Please also tell us a little bit about who you are: your year, area of study, any other background info you’d like to share.
My name is Dave Gau, President of the Pittsburgh Student Government Council and also President of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate and Professional Student Government. I graduated from Pitt in 2011 with a BPhil in Bioengineering and BS in Math and Economics. I am currently a third-year PhD student in Bioengineering at Pitt. I am originally from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and also went abroad from 2011-2012 to work in Australia with a Whitaker Fellowship and Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship prior to returning to work on my PhD.
How did you get involved in Pitt’s GPSG?
I became involved with Pitt’s GPSG during my first year as a graduate student. I was involved in the undergraduate student government as a senior so I already knew a little bit about them. I started as the External Affairs Chair in my first graduate year and engaged the graduate student body with formal programming related to politics and policy. At the end of that year, I decided to run for President and felt that I was qualified because of my experience with the undergraduate student government and because I believed that I had a strong vision to develop a better graduate student community at Pitt.
Please describe the Pittsburgh Student Government Council. What does it do? How does it function?
The PSGC currently represents the 11 universities in the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. The PSGC was initiated in 2009 when then-Mayor Ravenstahl proposed to increase city revenue by taxing all students in the city based on the tuition each student paid. This rallied the students from the 11 institutions to form a coalition and push back against the proposal. In November of that year, the proposal was rescinded and the coalition formalized as the Pittsburgh Student Government Council.
Currently, the PSGC meets once a month and we rotate between the universities. Each institution has two voting members on the board and we also have an executive board with three positions: President, Vice President of Public Relations, and Vice President of Internal Communications. We also have an advisor from one of the universities who is a part of the university central administration. During these meetings, we invite potential partner organizations to meet with us about opportunities for collaboration with the students of Pittsburgh. We also discuss best practices between the universities, how to engage the student population, and work together on any city-wide student issues.
How did you get involved with the PSGC?
I was an undergraduate at Pitt during the initial phase of the student tax proposal and became involved with the undergraduate Student Government Board when the PSGC was officially formed. During that time, I participated in a few of the meetings as a voting member for Pitt. After returning from my year abroad, I became involved with the GPSG and again became the voting representative for Pitt. It was at this time that I was elected to serve as President of the PSGC.
What are some of the biggest issues facing Pittsburgh-area students?
One of the greatest things about Pittsburgh is that the city is growing despite having one of its biggest industries move out many years ago. I think one of the main reasons for this development is the commitment of the community to working together, from local government and nonprofit organizations to the residents of the city, to make this city great.
One of the greatest challenges which we are working on is ensuring the student voice in the decision-making process. While this is a great challenge, the city and community are very receptive to this notion and have been highly supportive of our desire to engage with the region. Students make up roughly 15 percent of the population in Pittsburgh and can have quite an impact in the area.
Another issue we have been working on for many years now is public transportation and making sure that it is adequate for students to travel around the city and county. Something more recently that we have been discussing as a group is the roll-out of the new Title IX regulations and how our universities are adjusting to them.
What has the PSGC been able to accomplish?
The PSGC’s proudest achievement thus far is the defeat of the student tuition tax. We have also been very active in the decision-making process for developing safer nightlife for the region. More recently, the PSGC now regularly engages with city officials and many different nonprofits in coordinating student efforts and providing student feedback on current and upcoming policy and programming.
While these are all external achievements, I believe that the PSGC has also been a great resource for each of the member student governments by helping them learn from each other what works or doesn’t work.
What have been the biggest challenges so far with this project? Lessons learned?
One of the largest challenges with the PSGC is communication. With a council of 11 universities, we have to somehow coordinate efforts among the council, outside members, and also the students that each institution represents. As one can imagine, trying to work with such a large number of constituents is extremely difficult and something that we are still trying to improve.
Something that we have learned is that regular communication is important and needs to happen through various means (email, social media, in-person, etc.). Communication needs to be regular or it is something that easily falls behind. Since each of the members on the PSGC are involved with their institution’s own student government board, we are all already committing time to two large-scale endeavors. As said previously, we still do not have a perfect solution for this but our current efforts have been working thus far!
What advice would you give to student leaders at other schools who want to establish a similar local or regional council of student governments?
If anyone is interested in forming a local or regional council of student governments, the first and most important thing is to have a vision for the organization. The PSGC was unique in the sense that the proposed student tax rallied our community together. In most cases, there will not be a dire situation calling the students to action.
The PSGC’s mission is to ensure that the students of the city and county are represented and that our voices are a part of the decision-making process for our region. As a part of the mission, the PSGC works together to empower the student government members – and in turn empower the students – of the organization through our discussions about best practices and approaches to any student-related issues.
Communication is also very important and each of the institutions needs to believe that the council is beneficial and worth their time. Always ask for feedback and ask what is important to each of the institutions, because what is important to them will more than likely be relevant to other schools as well.
If anyone is interested in forming such a council, I would be more than willing to talk with them at president.pittgpsg@gmail.com.
