The pay rates for some members of incidental-fee funded student groups may change next year after a panel of top ASUO officials revises the current stipend model, a move that has already delayed funding hearings for several programs.
The revision comes in response to a letter from University President Dave Frohnmayer to the student government. In the letter Frohnmayer pointed out stipends make up as much as 70 percent of some groups’ budgets, leaving a smaller portion to pay for other services. The annual letter was written last summer after Frohnmayer approved this year’s ASUO budget.
Concerns about the stipend model, which dictates flat amounts paid to student administrators based on the responsibilities of their positions, led the Programs Finance Committee to postpone budget hearings for several groups that receive stipends until the new model is ready after winter break.
Officials will present the new stipend model to the Student Senate for approval in early January at its first meeting after the break, PFC Chairwoman Persis Pohowalla said.
The current stipend model has been effective, but has not been revised for four years and needs to be adjusted to ensure equity of stipends among groups, ASUO Public Relations Director Nathan Strauss said.
Frohnmayer’s letter, addressed to ASUO President Adam Petkun, ASUO Vice President Mena Ravassipour and summer Senate President Rodrigo Moreno-Villamar, offered both criticism of the stipend model and congratulations to the ASUO Executive on its work to create a fair budget, Strauss said.
Strauss said communication between
the ASUO and the President’s Office is generally open, but that the student government makes independent decisions to best represent students.
“Generally, we take President Frohnmayer’s words very seriously and take them into consideration, but it’s important to remember they’re not the end-all, and the purpose of the student government is to represent the students, not the administration,” he said.
Pohowalla and ASUO Accounting Coordinator Jennifer Creighton-Neiwert said the Emerald would have to file an official records request for the document, but the University administration would not release a copy of Frohnmayer’s letter before press time.
The current model was developed “after severe inequities in stipends became apparent to members of the PFC and Senate,” according to the ASUO Stipend Model manual.
Pohowalla said many people incorrectly view the stipend as a salary or compensation for the time they spend fulfilling their administrative duties. She stressed that stipends are intended to reimburse group members for expenses incurred while on the job and are based on the extent of the group’s programs.
“Everyone sees it as a compensation, but that’s not what it is,”
she said.
Pohowalla said there should be a correlation between what a group does for the campus and its stipends, noting that Frohnmayer pointed out the fact that in some groups as much as 70 percent of the funding went to stipends.
“To me, I would want to see a good ratio going on here,” she said. “If you have less programs than you do stipends, why are we paying you?”
Ravassipour said the stipend model wasn’t a new issue.
“It was something that we had thought about, but once the budget season kinda started, we realized it was something we felt strongly about and needed to address,” Ravassipour said. Creighton-Neiwert said the stipend issue came up during the PFC process because the PFC is the first group to look at the program budgets.
She added that no one should take the blame for the stipend inadequacy, calling it a “frustrating issue.”
Pohowalla said the panel will work to reword the stipend manual to make it simpler and more
descriptive to counter confusion about the intent of stipends, adding that the changes might include what category and range a position falls under.
Creighton-Neiwert said although the model will be revised, the panel won’t start from scratch.
“We have something that’s been working for three years,” she said. “We will in no shape or form throw it out the window or start over.”
Yet Creighton-Neiwert said she didn’t know what the magnitude of the changes might be.
“It’s just a way to make sure everyone’s on the same page,” she said. “Does that mean something may change? Yeah.”
Strauss said the revision process might include looking at the stipends individual groups receive.
Pohowalla said she took it upon herself to head a group to re-evaluate the stipend model, saying as PFC chairwoman she would be reviewing the individual job descriptions for group members during the finance process anyway.
“I knew about a week ago and everything was happening so quickly for me at that point,” she said. “I was thrown into it, and I guess I had to step up.”
Pohowalla said groups whose budgets include stipends and
were slated to present their budgets to the PFC in the two days before the senate meeting have been moved to later sessions to allow their budgets to be reviewed using the new model.
Pohowalla said some groups have been upset because their budgets were tabled while a new model is implemented, and said she apologized to members of those groups.
Strauss also said the decision to revise the model reflects the executive’s goal of fiscal responsibility.
“I just want to emphasize how this demonstrates the executive’s demonstration to responsible use of the fee and affordable education in general,” he said.

[email protected]