Correction, 2:13 p.m. March 29: An earlier version of this story included a graphic with incorrect totals. The graphic has been removed from the story. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
CHARLOTTE — The UNC-system Association of Student Governments pays its officers too much and doesn’t spend enough of the student fee dollars it receives on projects that directly affect students, several student body presidents said this weekend.
Discussion of the 2010-11 budget dominated this month’s ASG meeting, which was held at UNC-Charlotte.
UNC-Chapel Hill Student Body President Jasmin Jones, along with other student body presidents, led the opposition against current budget priorities.
About $82,000 is allotted for stipends and compensation for officers. About $5,819.13 is allotted for projects and programs on the campuses. The full ASG budget totals $206,750.
ASG’s budget comes from a $1 fee for every student in the system.
“I don’t want to continue moving forward this way without saying something,” Jones said.
ASG President Greg Doucette defended the priorities, saying that cutting officer stipends would hurt the future of the organization.
“If you end up cutting these stipends, over time you’re going to find a lower quality of officer,” he said.
But Jones said that while Doucette has worked hard in his position, future presidents might not have the same work ethic.
“We have to be realistic here. It’s students doing these jobs. We can trust you’ll work for $7,000 but whoever the follow-up is, will they do the same? We can’t get another 28-year-old,” Jones said.
The final budget that ASG passed included a $500 reduction in stipends for several of the top officers.
Stipends for each of the three vice presidents, the chief financial officer and the chief information officer went from $3,500 to $3,000. The money was instead allotted for projects led by several committees.
The secretary’s salary was also reduced from $1,500 to $1,000 and the resulting $500 was allotted to the travel budget.
“We wanted to put the money where it most affects the majority of the UNC population and not just the salaries of the officers,” said Mark Blackwell, student body president of UNC-Wilmington.
The other major costs for the ASG are travel and lodging — about $33,000 for 2010-11 — and office operations, which is about $35,500.
ASG meetings are held on a different UNC-system campus each month, so the student fee money mostly goes to gas and car rentals. Members are put up in hotels.
One example of success student body presidents pointed to is the annual emergency fund.
If the money — about $17,000 set aside each year — is not used by July of each academic year, it turns into further funding for projects on the campuses. This year, most of that extra money was used for innovation grants to student governments.
N.C. State University received a $1,000 innovation grant to help fund a program called WolfWheels, which provided rental bicycles.
“It’s great to put a stamp on this — that ASG helped fund this. We want this organization to have an impact on other campuses,” said Jim Ceresnak, NCSU student body president, who also called for more money for student projects.
UNC-CH received a $1,000 grant for installing NextBus on the P2P.
Compensation for top ASG officials:
President $7,000
Vice-president $5,500
Secretary $1,000 (lowered from $1,500)
Chief financial officer $3,000 (lowered from $3,500)
Chief information officer $3,000 (lowered from $3,500)
VP of Academic and Student Affairs $3,000
(lowered from $3,500)
VP of Legislative Affairs $3,000 (lowered from $3,500)
VP of Government Operations $3,000 (lowered from $3,500)
Non-student personnel $37,000
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
