Liz Mantush | staff writer

The Student Government Association launched the Museum Initiative last week, which allows all students to access four Pittsburgh-based museums free of charge.

By showing their Duquesne ID, both undergraduate and graduate students can now take a free trip to the Kamin Science Center and Andy Warhol Museum located on the North Shore, and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Art in Oakland.

Up until this semester, only members of the Honors College received free entry to museums, and all other students were charged an entry fee.

“A lot of students wanted it, even if they weren’t in the honors college,” said SGA President Nick Miller.

Miller encourages students to give feedback to SGA throughout the launch of the program.

The idea for the program came about last year, and after the distribution of conference appropriation money moved from SGA to Duquesne Program Council, they had some money to work with.

“It’s one of the first things that we’re doing this year that’s seen as something that SGA can do for the student body,” Miller said. “To see that other people are utilizing something that we created is why we do it.”

Steve Kovac, associate director of service and engagement at the Kamin Science Center, said it’s a tremendous opportunity for students to enhance what they’re doing in classes at the museums.

Along with encouraging students to engage outside of the classroom, Kovac said he hopes that the new opportunity will encourage young adults to take advantage of resources located close to them.

“We want to have as many young people as possible … any school, any major, be able to come to the Carnegie museums for free,” Kovac said.

Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh partner with other local universities including The University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, Chatham, Carlow, Point Park and the Community College of Allegheny County to offer similar programs to students.

“This is a really unique asset in Pittsburgh, four world-class museums that are accessible,” said Betsy Momich, senior director of corporate communications for Carnegie Museums. “Our goal as a family of museums is to be accessible to all.

After a week of operation, Miller has already received student concerns regarding transportation to and from the museums.

“I know people have expressed that they would like to see the [Oakland] Loop Bus run during the day, one day a week,” Miller said. “If there’s some way we can ultimately do that throughout the year, at some point we will. Those are usually types of things that we can’t change until next semester, they have to be planned out.”

Miller said the initiative is a step in the right direction in getting students interested and involved in student government and their city.

“We’re trying to make sure that people know what SGA can do and the ability that we have, and this is one of those things we were able to do,” he said.

Liz Mantush can be reached at mantushe@duq.edu