USG allocates $750K

The top officers of the DU student government will be compensated next year after a 15-3 vote at Tuesday’s meeting of the USG that also saw the end to USG funds of student media.

The three top officers – president, vice president and president pro tempore, each will receive $500 per quarter, or $1,500 annually, for textbooks and other course materials.
But not all senators agree. Junior Dillon Doyle, on-campus senator, Tim Healy, HRTM senator, and Andrew Brown, performing arts senator, voted to reallocated those funds to other student initiatives.

“I was discouraged and confused to see a proposal for our executive scholarship at the expense of greater student initiatives,” Doyle said in Tuesday’s meeting. “I think $4,500 could fund fairly large student organizations. I think it could fund quite a few, a handful. I think $4,500 could bring hundreds more students on beginner Alpine Club trips. While I’m not trying to diminish the work the USG Executive Branch seeks to accomplish, I’m here to say that this is wrong and a disservice to our constituents.”

Healy said that this could cause students to run just for the money and not for the interest. But other USG senators and executives, such as Javier Ogaz, president pro tempore, think the scholarship will establish greater incentive and will hold executives more accountable.

Another spirited discussion followed on ending funding from the student activity fee of student media. In a departure from prior years, allocations for student media, including the Clarion, will no longer receive between $25,000 and $50,000 from the student activity fee, but instead by a special appropriation through the contingency fund operated through Student Life, which oversees all student activities.

These monies fund the Clarion, KVDU, The Spit Valve, the latter is a humor quarterly, and the annual Foothills Literary Journal, which this year, will be distributed during May Days.

Student media, in addition, has a separate account funded by money it earns from advertising.

“This will insure a free and independent media that is not subject to the views of the university, of the Undergraduate Student Government or of certain elected positions on campus,” said Antoine Perretta, student body president. “It’ll ensure SMB [Student Media Board] has it’s own autonomy to function free from the restraints we may or may not try to put on [campus media].”

Defending the funding of USG executives, Perretta said, “There’s a national trend to compensate elected officials at the student government level but it’s the hardest thing to implement. The goal is for people who aren’t that financially well-off to run for office.”

The allocations come from the $1.4 million student activity fee that all full-time undergraduates pay. The largest percentage of that money, $456,000, pays for the RTD pass that all students receive.

Another $200,000 is distributed to student organizations for their activities. The remaining money, amounting to $754,000 is allotted to recurring extra curricular activities for all students – DU Programming Board, club sports, student government, Greek Life and the campus shuttle, among others.

DUPB, which sponsors films and major events such May Days and Winter Carnival, will receive $200,000 the same amount it received last year. Another $125,000 goes to club sports, which includes Alpine Club. Alpine Club, the largest club on campus, received an additional $12,000 of funding for next year, while club sports gets a net increase of $6,000. The Alpine Club was moved last year to club sports because it sponsors activities that might place a student at risk for injury, like a sporting event.

The remaining $200,000 will be distributed to various student organizations that petition for funds.

The complete budget can be found below.

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14 comments

Anonymous

Tue Apr 20 2010 02:21

No one really cares about student senate. They shouldn't get paid. It's just a way for some students to play pretend politics and they only people who care what they do are them. Just like any club on a college campus. The newspaper kids care about the newspaper and the senate kids care about the senate.

Anonymous

Wed Apr 14 2010 20:02

I think the main problem with this initiative is that it comes from the Students activity fee rather than something like campus life supporting it. I don't think it's fair to make students pay for the three's books and course materials when being elected onto USG and much less the three executive positions talked about pretty much comes down to a popularity contest. I don't have as much of an issue with people on USG being paid (although I'm still not sure I agree with it, especially if only 3 of them get paid) as I do with it coming from Student activity fees.

Anonymous

Wed Apr 14 2010 12:48

Anonymous, I was under the impression that the Clarion did receive funds via the Student Media Board, but is largely (and, with the noted cuts, will be) self-sustaining based on ad revenue. I believe the writers are paid with this income, which is based solely on the money the Clarion brings in. I think the money from SMB is used for printing costs. If I'm in any way incorrect, please let me know. Anyway, that seems different than student tuition dollars directly funding a student leader's paycheck.

Furthermore, I have always voted and am heavily involved in several major organizations on campus. My school work has, at times, suffered because of this involvement. Why shouldn't I get paid for my efforts, or some sort of incentive to continue my work? I respect the USG and its senators and recognize the effort that goes into those positions, but that in no way justifies paying them at a school where other over-involved student leaders are doing the same thing within a different forum and not being offered a "scholarship" for it.

Anonymous

Wed Apr 14 2010 01:18

ahh... bureaucracy. Don't you just love it? Ok, check the facts... many universities pay their top student leaders. I don't know if other schools label the compensation as a 'scholarship' but the idea is generally the same: these kids work their asses off, sometimes at the expense of academics, so they should get reimbursed for their efforts.

Look, being President/vice-prez/exec/whatever of a major student organization isn't a hobby... it's a job. Trust me, I'm trying to run a major one right now. So, if Senate wants to pay its top execs... I'm all for it. Remember: Pres and VP don't vote on ballot measures, so the senators (that WE elected) decided on this. This isn't Antoine/Jim trying to stuff their own pockets. Frankly, if you all have problems with this new policy... then why don't you actually vote in the upcoming election? You wonder why Greek Life is so influential on campus and USG? It's because they are proactive enough to show up... where's the rest of the student body?

Believe me, I'm not the biggest fan of Senate, I've disagreed with many policies they've instated. But I admire the efforts, dedication, and ambitions of those that take their jobs seriously. They put their necks on the line to influence change... and we all can criticize them safely from anonymous web comments for doing so. Not many student I know have the courage to put themselves in that position. That's the price student leaders pay... so think about that and tell me you wouldn't want some compensation for being in their position?

Tucker P.

Wed Apr 14 2010 00:31

The argument that this initiative would incentivize students to run for upper office who would otherwise be prohibited from doing so due to a lack of financial means is rather far-fetched (if not downright dishonest). I do understand the argument—but it's a bad one. In fact, I think it completely misplaces the inequality that these senators are proposing exists in our student government.

First, who are the people ordinarily running for these three executive offices? Almost certainly they are our "career politicians"—the students who have run (perhaps been elected) before and are already heavily involved on campus. The students the supporters of this initiative hope to "assist" have already been selected out of participating at this level of student government much further before this "incentive" would even become useful or relevant for their participation.

Another way to think of it: a parallel initiative in our federal government might pay for the living costs and travel costs of senators/other upper-level officials (and who knows what else) under the justification that it would incentivize citizens with low income or with peripheral economic/social standing to run for that office. But is obvious that these same people are dissuaded from running for public office MUCH longer before the initiative would become relevant—even the capital and networks required to run for state office would be prohibitive for someone in such a situation. They don't run not because they can't afford to be senators, but because everything else in our civic and economic system dissuades them from doing so.

My point: this money will likely end up going, year after year, to students who wouldn't need the "scholarship" in the first place. Unless there is some mandate (which would, for other reasons, also be inexcusable) that the students elected to these positions must display enough financial need to qualify for such assistance, this is a unjustifiable use of student funds.

If we really hope to diversify the pool of candidates for our government's highest positions, I recommend our senators seriously and carefully consider the actual reasons these students are not running. Focusing further on how to engage diverse groups in voting and encouraging larger voting turnout in general would be one solution; at least this would remove the barrier of having a system that is disproportionately influenced by a Greek Community that is only 10-15% of the student body.

Anonymous

Tue Apr 13 2010 22:07

This does present an interesting debate. Does the staff of the Clarion deserve to be paid for writing articles? Or, is that also a function of being "in a student organization"?

Awful Incentive

Tue Apr 13 2010 20:51

It concerns me that the "remaining money, amounting to $754,000 is allotted to recurring extra curricular activities for all students – DU Programming Board, club sports, student government, Greek Life and the campus shuttle, among others" when half of the listed activities are not actually available for all students. Greek Life is known for its exclusiviity, student government is an election-based group, and most of the club sports require try-outs. Basically, we as students have been paying to be left-out of groups and now we are also buying books for the students who are lucky enough to hold leadership positions. I have enough trouble buying my own books, let alone paying for someone else's. Even though we do live in a capitalistic society where everyone's decisions revolve around money and accumulation of wealth, I would prefer if the "incentive" for my student leadership was unrelated to money and rather directly related to wanting to improve DU as a whole and actually benefit the entire student body.

did I du that?

Tue Apr 13 2010 18:47

Ooops it was a 15-3 vote~ Who really cares anyway, a bad law is no law!

Anonymous

Tue Apr 13 2010 18:43

Absolutley Astonished! Where in the world did these individuals decide that it was ok to internally vote? 14-3 are you serious, does the USG really think that they can dictate a majority rule with 14-3 out of a 5k person student body? Well I say that if this is how we make rules at DU why not take 20 members of the student body, elect them to be our bonafide tutition advisory board and then we can take a 17-3 vote on lowering tuition by 4500 (ahh hell why not 45,000) and pay everyone to go to school! When are the students going to stand up and fire these shmo's? What a bloody joke! This just goes to show how far down the sh*%%er this institutions student government has gone!

WHAT!

Tue Apr 13 2010 18:34

This is beyond ridiculous. Students should not be paid to be a part of student organizations.

Anonymous

Tue Apr 13 2010 18:12

Is this for real? My first thought was that this must be the Clarion's April Fools issue.

Anonymous

Tue Apr 13 2010 18:02

Seriously!?! Now I am an alumni but was the President of a very large student org during for 2 years and active in a number of other clubs throughout my four years of college.

From my experience back then the dedicated Club Presidents and the all of the people that help make the clubs successful put in a lot more Time, Money, Blood, Sweat, and Tears than anyone that served as an executive in the senate.

Can't believe that the top student leaders on DU's campus feel that they are so special that they deserved to be paid to be there. It really is a disgrace to the hundreds of students that selfishly dedicate their time, money, etc to helping other students, to have one of their peers be given an unnecessary privilege.

LB

Tue Apr 13 2010 16:48

So now my tuition dollars are going to pay for another student's "books and course materials"?

I respect the work of the USG and its executives, and understand the need for added motivation or incentive to ensure our executives are reaching their highest potential.

However, shouldn't my money be put toward initiatives that will DIRECTLY benefit me? Like Doyle noted, $4,500 could help fund a life-changing Alpine Club excursion, a series of guest speakers that might influence my career path or even help to revitalize the membership and programming initiatives of smaller, struggling student orgs on campus. Instead of a check-in from a USG representative once a quarter, those organizations could use DIRECT programming and monetary support.

But-- you know-- as long as my money is helping my student body president buy his books, I should be happy, right? It's not like I didn't work on campus for three years to be able to afford mine.

Pissed Off

Tue Apr 13 2010 11:27

Wow. That's a little ridiculous.

I wonder how many students knew about this proposal before the vote?

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