As reported in Amanda Schallert’s article “USAC stipends to increase by about 90 percent in September,” members of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, in an effort to give themselves the time and ability to do their jobs effectively, recently voted to increase their quarterly stipends. The student body reacted negatively, partially because of the lack of student input to the decision.
While USAC has said it plans to better inform students about the stipend increase, the council has not proposed any systematic changes to better include students in the decision making process for the future. While the new Resolution Reform feature, which gives students the opportunity to give input on USAC resolutions, is a step in the right direction, it will be ineffective without efforts to publicize other decisions that come before council.
Whether or not the stipend increase is justified, the real issue is USAC’s lack of engagement with the student body. If the council had sought student opinion before the vote, perhaps the stipend increase would not have been subject to such backlash. Students could have offered ideas about how to improve the stipend system that the council could not think of on its own.
Most importantly, USAC is supposed to represent the students. Unless council members actively seek student opinions before making decisions, how can they claim to be doing their jobs effectively?
I encourage council to raise an issue and then spend a week publicizing it and gathering student opinions before voting. USAC’s process for seeking student input needs to be better implemented.
I’m glad to see that council is reacting constructively to student opinion, but for the rest of the year I’d like to see them be less reactive and more proactive in engaging with students.
Brian Hertz
Second-year human biology and society student
Most importantly, USAC is supposed to represent the students. Unless council members actively seek student opinions before making decisions, how can they claim to be doing their jobs effectively?
Students elect council members. So they do get a chance to have their voice heard and they are the ones who chose the representatives in the first place. This is the way any democracy would work. If you think this system is flawed (which it may or may not be) then you need to get the USAC constitution changed
Elections = student input.
And if you were in their position, putting in 20+ hours a week for less than minimum wage in a very demanding environment, and didn’t have someone to pick up the bill, you would take the stipend increase too. It will help them serve the student body better in the long run, and the money that they are paid is nothing compared to the money that they handle.
In response to the idea that its not much money, it is still $50,000 that is no longer going to student groups annually. I don’t think people are so angry at the increase though, its the process the increase was done in.
I agree that elections are a part of student input, but what I’m suggesting is that being a good leader requires more than just getting the votes. It means actively seeking the opinions of the students on each issue. Council members see issues from a different perspective than the students who are not on council. I think they should seek many different perspectives in order to gain a deeper, fuller understanding of each issue.
Also, I’d like to point out that you started your second paragraph with the phrase “And if you were put in their position.” This is exactly the point that I’m trying to make. Most underpaid people who work hard believe that they deserve more money (and they usually do), but what if everyone had the option to give themselves a raise?
I am in no way arguing against the stipend increase. I just wanted to publicly say that the student backlash could have been avoided if the Council had been more proactive in letting the students know what was going on and considering the validity of the students’ possible reactions.
While this was not the topic of my article, I personally believe that council members do deserve a stipend increase to make it possible for students on a budget to run and for each council member to be able to devote as much of their time as possible to the student body. I just think that it is a conflict of interest for council to be raising their own stipends, and that the raise should not have taken effect until next year. This is the same rule by which members of Congress increase or decrease their salaries, as outlined by the 27th Amendment to the Constitution.