MSA considers compensation for chairpersons
The bill could add incentive to chairpersons and increase retention.
Published Dec. 1, 2009
Missouri Students Association Senate committee chairpersons could earn a per-semester stipend as compensation for their work in MSA if bill 49-29 passes.
The stipend would be released on a biweekly basis and calculated based on the assumption chairpersons work six hours a week. According to the bill, the total stipend for each chairperson amounts to $650 for each fall and winter semesters.
"It's something that senators and MSA as a whole have been talking about for awhile," Budget Committee Chairman Matt Sheppard said, who co-authored the bill.
Sheppard said by providing a stipend, the turnover rate of chairpersons will improve. By the end of the Senate session, only two of the original six committee chairpersons will have not resigned.
"For all of the work and responsibility and pressure that comes with the position it leads to a lot of turnover," Sheppard said. "By adding a stipend, it will give incentive, by putting in a stipend funded by student fees it puts in a lot more accountability by being able to make sure committee chairs are doing their job to the best of their ability. It should also provide a better quality of work from committee chairs and better, higher quality projects."
MSA President-elect Tim Noce said he is unsure whether the stipend will be very effective in decreasing the amount of turnover.
"When everything's said and done, school is your first priority and that is the main reason why committee chairs have turned over recently," Noce said. "The other reason is they leave for paid positions, so this could help, but I don't know if it would solve the problem altogether."
But Noce said he agrees committee chairpersons are an important part of MSA and should be compensated for their work.
"I think committee chairs are extremely important to MSA Senate, there are other paid positions in Senate right now, such as the two clerks, that from my experience do not require the same commitment but are still paid," Noce said.
Campus and Community Relations Chairwoman Emily Gardner also serves as one of the two clerks of MSA. She said between her two positions, she spends more time on work as a committee chairwoman.
"The clerk is more office-type work," Gardner said. "We do a lot of behind the scenes work for the speaker and the committees need the clerks. I don't think that anyone would do the clerk job without being paid, but I think that committee chairs do more work than clerks."
The original version of the bill stated the position would be compensated monetarily, but the amended version of the bill that ultimately passed alludes to future compensation in the form of academic credit.
Operations Committee Chairman Evan Wood, who co-authored the stipend and the OIG bill, said compensation would ideally come in the form of academic credit through the business school. Wood said he still finds the OIG position necessary in regard to the potential passing of the stipend bill.
"I would have to say that with committee chairs becoming paid, I see even more need for this position," Wood said. "The position is more than a financial auditing position, but a performance auditing position as well. It will be good to have someone besides the speaker checking in and making sure that they're doing the things they're supposed to do."