The ASUO Student Senate debated their own pay and approved several special requests from student groups at their meeting Wednesday night.
The twelve newly elected senators say they were promised a $175-per-month stipend but are receiving only $125.

“If in the real world you make an $8,000 mistake, don’t show up to work the next day because you’re fired,” Sen. Adrian Gilmore said. “To me, it’s a non-forgivable mistake.”
Shortly before calling executive session, the senate debated how to rectify the situation, whether by a special request, a resolution or other measure. But many senators expressed concern that raising their own pay would generate a negative perception of the student senate.
“The fact that we would have (raised our stipend) could have created speculation about our motives for doing so,” Senate President Ben Strawn said.
Senators also expressed concern that the senate would sacrifice equal pay if they raised the salaries of just the 12 newly elected senators.
“I think it’s a bad idea to have some senators making more than other senators,” Sen. Kevin Curtin said.
After a lengthy executive session, the senate reopened the meeting and created a five-member ad hoc committee to study the issue. The committee will report back to the full student senate at a special meeting Nov. 24 at 7:30 p.m.
In committee updates, Sen. Kevin Day relayed student concerns regarding the rapid sellout of Civil War football tickets Tuesday. Day said many students hold the erroneous belief that tickets must be distributed over two days.
“Demand was so high yesterday that it was the first time that tickets went out in one day,” Day said. He added that an upgraded computer system helped the ticket offices sell out faster than ever before.