Board Member Shady Henien is not only the right guy to become SGB president if electedbut is the best SGB presidential candidate who will serve you with INTEGRITY that you can be proud of. If elected to the presidency you can say that you put the right guy in office.

FRESHMAN MENTORING PROGRAM:
The Pitt News failed to mention what Henien has already done and you have to wonder why they did not want you all to know that! Usually people care for those they know! Henien has gone a step further as your board member to care for those that he does not know too! He has had a heart to make sure that each freshman that came to Pitt was taken care of. Henien knew how hard it could be for incoming freshman to adjust to campus life so as a board member he implemented the Incoming Freshman Mentoring Program in which freshman are paired up with upperclassmen to help them through their college experience. Henien has shared how the program already has had an impact in many freshmen’s lives. Henien wants to continue to do that. We believe this is a very altruistic goal.

UNIFY CAMPUS:
The Pitt News disagrees that Henien can be a president who can unify this campus. How pessimistic of them! Their reasoning is that “Henien has too many connections with campus organizations whose politics could influence his decisions when it comes to allocating money.”

This is a blatant misrepresentation of what Henien stands for and has already done. First of all, the president of SGB does not allocate money. It is the job of the allocations committee to bring recommendations before the board who votes whether or not a funding is approved or rejected. The president presides over the vote and is involved in the case of a tie. Once again the Pitt News did not let you know that.

If the Pitt News made the statement they made for a candidate who had no board experience, they could have possibly instilled doubt in the minds of readers with their negative campaigning of Henien. But, Henien ran on the DRIVEN slate last yeat to represent your needs and concerns and all his votes are on file for you to see.

Once you look at his voting record you will see that ‘politics’ as the Pitt News liked to call it did not enter into the decision of any request Henien approved or disapproved. They were based on the merits of the request. That is Henien for you! If you are a student group who needs money allocated to you, Henien will make sure you get a fair deal as your president. It is a shame that scare tactics such as ‘too many connections with campus organizations whose politics could influence his decisions when it comes to allocating money’ had to be used. I thought the Pitt News had more integrity than to use that as one of their reasons against Henien.

You have to wonder if the Pitt News thought that Henien being a Christian and being involved in Christian organizations in addition to other organizations is what made them use the term, ‘campus organizations whose politics….’, as if Christian organizations on campus have a political agenda. Or could it be that because Henien is president of Pre-Medical Organization for Minority Students (POMS), there is politics involved. You have to wonder what the Pitt News was really getting at.

Henien talked with me that the Pitt News asked about his religious faith during their interview regarding him being a Christian. Henien’s response to me was that he was proud of his Christian faith but could not understand why they would ask him that question because it has nothing to do with how he would vote since votes should be based on merits of each request. I was kind of flabbergasted that they asked about his faith during the interview. I should not have been because him being a Christian and running for president was even questioned by another presidential candidate whether he would serve the students well.

Let me tell you that the amount of time I have spent interviewing Henien and those that I heard talk about Henien wherever I go, tell me only wonderful things about him!

He is supported by students of different religious backgrounds, political affiliations, different student organizations etc because of who he is. They are not worried to ask if him being a Christian would affect his decisions to effectively run the board and the presidency as some have.

Pitt News believes his involvement in too many organizations won’t serve the campus well. On the contrary, because he is involved in different organizations on campus he is able to understand the needs and concerns of different groups on campus to be a good representative president.

The Pitt News does not think so but those who voted in the Pitt News unscientific poll each day since it went up show that Henien is supported by 31% of the student body who voted compared to 23% for Leinbach even after the Pitt News' endorsement of Joe Leinbach.

The Pitt News did not endorse Shady Henien for president but his involvement in campus organizations have made him a better person who can interact and relate to people of different organizations who have endorsed him as part of INTEGRITY slate. Even those organizations that have endorsed other slates, Henien wants to represent them if elected president.

Here is the list of endorsements that Henien and his slate INTEGRITY have received so far: Ambassadors for Christ, Campus Women’s Organization (CWO), Circle K, Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, Delta Chi, Delta Tau Delta, Engineering Student Council, Freedom Honor Society, Future Educators of America, Ice Hockey, Men’s Soccer, Men’s Tennis Club Team, National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS), NPHC, ODK, Pan Hellenic Council, Pitt Marching Band, Pre-Medical Organization of Minority Students, RCMBA, Sigma Chi, SNPHA, Student Leaders in International Medicine, Triangle, and Women’s Soccer to name some.

MOBILE CAMPUS:
The Pitt News thinks Mobile Campus is a waste of money and will give people more spam. This is far from the truth. Mobile Campus is used on other campuses to help students and Henien wants to do that for you.

CONCLUSION:
There are a lot of good things Henien wants to do for you as your president which the Pitt News fails to mention. He will be working on a Giant Eagle shuttle to pick students up and drop them off so they can do grocery shopping; he wants to work with the Carnegie Mellon Safe Rider to take Pitt students home in their shuttle within their boundaries of Shadyside and Squirrel Hill and vice versa; also if an organization does not use its entire money, he wants it to go back into the money pot so it can be used for another organizations request; he also will work on an online survey where students can share their favorite food requests and it can be available in the cafeterias.

Henien has already served the Student Government Board with INTEGRITY that Joe Leinbach and James Priestas of the DEDICATION slate actually wanted him to run with them as a board member rather than run for president. Pittsburgh Standard proudly endorses Shady Henien for president.

Our board endorsements will come out by 7:00 a.m. EST tommorrow!

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