The Student Government Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would do away with salaries paid to SG officials if approved by the student body. While it is a positive sign that SG wants to cut back on its expenses, this is not the way to go about it. Sen. Hayes Barber, College of Engineering, who authored the bill, said at this past Wednesday’s Senate meeting he wants to ensure the student body has a say on how their fees are used. “I think that the members of SG work very hard, but that’s not the issue. I just want to give the students a chance to choose how the money is spent,” he said. Barber’s logic is on shaky ground. SG’s role is to act as an intermediary between students and the administration, but they are also given the responsibility of spending fees charged to the students of this University. If he is truly interested in making sure that SG’s spending decisions have the approval of the student body, then why hasn’t he written legislation to do away with other fiscally irresponsible programs such as the bus trip? Why is his No. 1 concern to cut salaries from his fellow students? Only a small number of SG members receive salaries, including the president, vice president, Senate speaker and various executive branch directors. Senators are not paid, but they should be. These officials should be paid for several reasons. They hold campus jobs just like many other students. With the time they have to devote to their SG positions, they would be limited in their abilities to keep another job to cover the high costs of being a student. But most importantly, without salaries only the wealthiest of students who have few financial considerations would be able to speak on our behalf. Many students have to cover their own expenses, and there ought to be people in our government who can relate to the struggles of being a college student. Doing away with these salaries would close off a large portion of the student body from taking part in SG, and it would quickly become an ineffective and out-of-touch organization. These salaries are a way of holding our government accountable. SG is expected to answer to the student body, and paying them gives them an added sense of responsibility, a sense that they must keep up their end of the bargain. For the small amount of money we pay SG officials – ranging from $500 to $2,000 a year – we purchase a government that answers to the student body, their employer. It may be a good idea for the Senate to have more oversight in how our paid officials operate. But cutting these salaries would simply be a bad decision.
—–Send letters to the editor to [email protected]