Despite last-minute concerns that new pay rates approved for student-group leaders would
unfairly cut pay for the ASUO
president, vice president and the general manager of campus radio station KWVA, the Programs
Finance Committee finalized its allocation of student money Friday.
The new pay rates reduce funding for each of the three positions by three-fourths or more. Pay for the president and vice president positions will drop from $8,400 per year to $2,100 per year, while the general manager’s pay will be cut from $6,600 to $1,500 per year.
The PFC approved a 6.91 percent increase for a total budget of about $5.23 million next year.
Although it falls within the
maximum 7 percent increase allowed by the Green Tape Notebook, the budget exceeds the 5.62 percent benchmark approved by the ASUO Student Senate earlier this year.
Senators will hear the budget
during its Wednesday meeting.
The PFC targeted the stipend
model for cuts, approving an 8.9 percent overall increase earlier in the process as a way of remedying excess budgetary spending. Stipends came under scrutiny this summer when University President Dave Frohnmayer expressed concerns that some groups received more money for stipends than programming.
By decreasing the number of paid positions some groups can have,
reducing pay for all positions by $25 and changing payroll stipends into scholarships, the PFC was able to save enough money to use its budget recommendations for all groups.
The committee previously considered using the ASUO Executive’s recommendations, which only
account for groups’ spending and fundraising habits.
Yet ASUO President Adam Petkun told the Emerald he is concerned that reducing the president’s stipend from $700 per month to $175 per month next year will deter some students from running for the office. He said students vying for the position need to be able to work about 40 to 60 hours per week with “very little pay.”
“What I’m worried about … is that it affects who has the ability to run for ASUO president in the first place,” he said, adding that the reduction might make the ASUO a “place where only the privileged can work.”
KWVA General Manager Charlotte Nisser expressed similar concerns to the PFC on Friday, noting the general manager’s pay will decrease from $550 per month to $125 per month. She said students who work as the general manager are working the equivalent of a full-time job because they are on-call 24/7 in case something goes wrong at the station.
Petkun said the president’s
duties also prohibit a student from working other jobs to supplement his or her income.
“I think that if someone’s dedicated to the job, it’s very hard to have any work outside the ASUO at the same time,” he said.
He said the vice president would be similarly affected.
Despite his concerns, Petkun said it was necessary for the PFC to examine stipends.
“While I definitely see this as a negative side to the stipend model, I think it’s important to finally have a discussion about the model,” he said. “I think that overall we’re satisfied with the job the PFC has done. I don’t see a reason to justify major objections on our part to the budget … they will be passing.”
Committee members discussed
options for giving the three positions more money, but they could not agree on a way to do so without exceeding the PFC’s funding benchmark.
ASUO Accounting Coordinator
Jennifer Creighton-Neiwert said funding the positions at current levels would increase the budget by roughly $18,000, putting it over benchmark at 7.27 percent.
The PFC briefly considered cutting all stipends by an additional $25. But PFC member Khanh Le said he would “hate to go and adjust all stipends” to benefit the three positions that would be significantly cut.
PFC member Jared Axelrod agreed, saying the PFC couldn’t “keep lowering the stipend model just to get under 7 percent.”
Creighton-Neiwert said pay for the general manager position should be made hourly regardless of whether it was increased because the expectations for the position differ from “educational leadership” opportunities offered by student government positions.
She also cautioned the committee about exempting certain positions.
“When you start granting exemptions, where are you going to stop?” she asked.
PFC member Jael Anker-Lagos questioned why the first two stipend categories would even be needed if the positions listed within them were exempted from the model.
PFC Chairwoman Persis Pohowalla said the new model is a scholarship designed to compensate student
leaders for the work and responsibility of their positions instead of the
required hours or expenses required of their former positions as stipulated by the old model.
But she said questions remain about the criteria for awarding scholarships.
“That’s a gray area that I don’t think has been defined,” she said.
Axelrod said the PFC should make groups conform to the stipend model, rather than tailoring the model to fit certain groups.
Pohowalla agreed, but said the new model significantly cuts pay for the three positions.
“I just feel really bad, that’s all,” she said.
Yet Pohowalla, who sent an
e-mail Thursday night to student programs saying groups would not be able to appeal the budget, asked the committee whether it should grant a special exception for the general manager position because Nisser attended the meeting.
“If Charlotte wasn’t here, what would we do?” she asked. “Do we want to talk to other groups before we conform to one leader?”
Nisser was the only group leader who commented at the meeting.
Pohowalla said the general
manager’s new pay is “not fair, but it is consistent.”
“It’s really unfortunate and it really pains me to do this, but I think we need to go with what we have right now,” she said to the committee.
The PFC discussed writing a
budget note to the Senate asking it to work on the general manager’s pay.
Pohowalla also said the group will meet later this week to approve more of its minutes, a process that was delayed because of problems with audio tapes of some meetings.
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