Spring Break
Salary raises questioned
Student Senate debates pay increases
Nicole Strittmater
Issue date: 12/13/07 Section: Campus News
With UW-Eau Claire's Organized Activities Budget waiting for approval from Student Senate next semester, one question still remains: What will Student Senate's salary be next session?
Senate, which is in charge of distributing student segregated fees to campus organizations, receives its stipend through those same fees.
While Senate voted earlier this year to increase the annual salaries of its executive board members by a collective total of $17,400, the Finance Commission only gave Senate half the requested amount, according to Commission records.
Debate from Senate members and the Finance Commission over whether or not giving itself a pay raise is appropriate - and if so, by how much - has left the situation with no clear answer.
"It's just morally more challenging. That's why we still need to discuss it as an executive board on what to do," Senate President Ray French said. "It's acceptable for Senate to change (its salaries) as long as the intentions are genuine."
There is currently $27,600 allocated for 18 paid positions, and the increase Senate requested would raise that amount to $45,000, according to an Oct. 18 article in The Spectator.
In that article, Senate Vice President Meghan Charlier said the increase in stipends would put Eau Claire at a level comparable to other UW System schools.
"This is more out of need," Charlier said. "I'm not exactly comfortable that we have to raise our stipends, but if we don't do this, we won't have qualified leaders running this organization."
Finance Commission director Tom Holtan said many of the Commission members - both members of Senate and at-large-students - understand this but feel such a large increase is not necessary.
"It will be interesting," he said, explaining the way things stand right now, Senate will have to give itself the other half of the $17,400 or amend its current bylaws to stay within its budget limitations.
French said he is conflicted about what to do.
"Technically, all (the Commission) provides us are recommendations. We don't have to follow their recommendations, but that's just how we do it, and (Senate) makes adjustments from there," French said.
"It's a tough situation. I do respect the Finance Commission, and the work they did and the opinions of the students and senators. It's very important what they do."
French said Senate members told the Commission during the appeals process that they want to find a way to make the raise automatic, so every few years it will be adjusted so this sort of thing doesn't happen again.
Junior Benjamin Cain, a Finance Commission member, said he doesn't have anything against Senate giving itself a raise, but like many other non-Senate members of the Commission, he doesn't think it should be as large of an increase.
"I think they do a fine job. They're trying to get their stipends up to where … most of the UW System is," he said. "We were just hoping that they would do it in smaller increments, and eventually they would get up to the point in a few years."
Freshman and Commission member Lindsay Kilsdonk said she voted to give Senate a $5,000 pay raise.
"There's so many organizations on campus that are asking for more money, and no matter how you look at it, everybody needs extra," she said. "But there's only so much money to go around. If we wanted to allocate everybody the full amount, we'd have to raise seg fees by a lot."
Kilsdonk said she thinks Senate is justified in asking for a larger raise, because it does a lot of work for the university and gets paid little in return.
"I think what they do is very valuable for the school and what they are getting paid kind of reflects that it's not as important to the school, but it really is."
-Nathaniel Shuda contributed to this report.
Senate, which is in charge of distributing student segregated fees to campus organizations, receives its stipend through those same fees.
While Senate voted earlier this year to increase the annual salaries of its executive board members by a collective total of $17,400, the Finance Commission only gave Senate half the requested amount, according to Commission records.
Debate from Senate members and the Finance Commission over whether or not giving itself a pay raise is appropriate - and if so, by how much - has left the situation with no clear answer.
"It's just morally more challenging. That's why we still need to discuss it as an executive board on what to do," Senate President Ray French said. "It's acceptable for Senate to change (its salaries) as long as the intentions are genuine."
There is currently $27,600 allocated for 18 paid positions, and the increase Senate requested would raise that amount to $45,000, according to an Oct. 18 article in The Spectator.
In that article, Senate Vice President Meghan Charlier said the increase in stipends would put Eau Claire at a level comparable to other UW System schools.
"This is more out of need," Charlier said. "I'm not exactly comfortable that we have to raise our stipends, but if we don't do this, we won't have qualified leaders running this organization."
Finance Commission director Tom Holtan said many of the Commission members - both members of Senate and at-large-students - understand this but feel such a large increase is not necessary.
"It will be interesting," he said, explaining the way things stand right now, Senate will have to give itself the other half of the $17,400 or amend its current bylaws to stay within its budget limitations.
French said he is conflicted about what to do.
"Technically, all (the Commission) provides us are recommendations. We don't have to follow their recommendations, but that's just how we do it, and (Senate) makes adjustments from there," French said.
"It's a tough situation. I do respect the Finance Commission, and the work they did and the opinions of the students and senators. It's very important what they do."
French said Senate members told the Commission during the appeals process that they want to find a way to make the raise automatic, so every few years it will be adjusted so this sort of thing doesn't happen again.
Junior Benjamin Cain, a Finance Commission member, said he doesn't have anything against Senate giving itself a raise, but like many other non-Senate members of the Commission, he doesn't think it should be as large of an increase.
"I think they do a fine job. They're trying to get their stipends up to where … most of the UW System is," he said. "We were just hoping that they would do it in smaller increments, and eventually they would get up to the point in a few years."
Freshman and Commission member Lindsay Kilsdonk said she voted to give Senate a $5,000 pay raise.
"There's so many organizations on campus that are asking for more money, and no matter how you look at it, everybody needs extra," she said. "But there's only so much money to go around. If we wanted to allocate everybody the full amount, we'd have to raise seg fees by a lot."
Kilsdonk said she thinks Senate is justified in asking for a larger raise, because it does a lot of work for the university and gets paid little in return.
"I think what they do is very valuable for the school and what they are getting paid kind of reflects that it's not as important to the school, but it really is."
-Nathaniel Shuda contributed to this report.
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