Getting paid hundreds of dollars to serve as a leader of a student organization might seem like a dream come true. But for a few Syracuse University student organizations, it is a reality. Student Association and the Residence Hall Association are two of the largest student organizations on campus, and both reward their leaders with stipends.

SA president and comptroller each receive $1,000 per semester and $2,000 during the summer. RHA’s constitution provides $500 to each of the nine executive board members – including the president – per semester.SA’s $2,000 summer stipend is supposed to provide for summer housing, according to the SA constitution. The additional $1,000 is given by the Cabinet’s majority vote at each semester’s end, based on job performance for that respective semester. Former SA president Wayne Horton said he used the money to pay for the first half of his apartment rent, and later on for various expenses – such as purchasing Christmas gifts for his family and friends.

‘When you look at it, the money isn’t really that much,’ he said. ‘You can make that or more by getting a part-time job.’Often the leaders end up putting far more than 20 hours into the job, said SA president Ryan Kelly. ‘It’s a 20 hour a week job – plus meetings and banquets and whatever else you are expected to be at,’ he said.

Similar to SA, RHA’s executive board members are given their $500 at the end of the semester – to ensure the stipend is earned, said RHA President Matt Correia.’We like to see that people who receive them do their work,’ he said.

Although RHA’s stipends were paid for by the Office of Residence Life in the past, Correia said students decided they did not feel comfortable just taking the money. A fundraiser selling linens to first-year students now serves as the main source of funding for the $9,000 paid out each year to the executive board.

‘If for any reason we don’t make the $9,000 goal, the rest of the money is taken from the budget,’ he said. Because of extensive hours – RHA executive board members and SA president and comptroller are required to put in 20 office hours per week – it would be nearly impossible to have a real job, Correia said. ‘It’s like getting paid by the university because we can’t hold down a job,’ he said.

Some students asked why leaders of other student organizations do not receive stipends as well. University Union President Clarence Cross III said he wants to work on getting stipends back into UU’s contract. The organization used to provide them during the ’80s and early ’90s, but for some reason they were removed.’It’d be great to get one,’ he said. ‘No one else does the capacity of the things we do. University Union is here for every student out there.’

UU’s contract requires Cross to hold 10 office hours per week, but he said it often stretches to 20 hours or more. Correia said he believes the reason RHA and SA are different from the other student organizations on campus is that they are required by the university – and effectively their constitutions – to serve the students.

‘If we screw up, we don’t just mess our organization up, we can hurt thousands of students,’ Correia said. One suggestion Horton said he had was for the university to provide student leaders with a gift to compensate for their hard work.

Sophomore public communications and Spanish major Giavona Williams said she disagrees with the provision of stipends for SA’s leaders. ‘I’m part of the Black Artists League, and I know my president puts in just as many hours as they do,’ she said. ‘I don’t see why they get paid that much when others do the same amount of work or more.’

Students need to understand what the organization does before they criticize it, Horton said. The job of the SA president is to make life for other students better, and the job of the comptroller is to help student groups get the funding they want.’It’s a heavy job,’ he added.

Other students – such as sophomore accounting major Katherine Mejia – said they believe the stipends are warranted.’They deserve it because with those types of jobs they can’t do anything else,’ she said. ‘They put in so much work.’As president of SA, Kelly said it would be hard for him to make any income during the school year without the stipend, which he hopes students understand.’I can’t have a job, so perhaps they should think of it that way,’ he said.

Published on January 24, 2007 at 12:00 pm