But URSU, I Want A Raise!

Article: Paige Kreutwiser – Staff Writer

I never really understood the reason behind not openly talking about your salary. This is probably because I have never made a salary, let alone a wage that really would cause me to be conservative about releasing that information.

After hearing about the URSU Executive $5,000 per term raises, it hit me that when people know your salary, it is likely to get critiqued and picked at with a fine-toothed comb. But, then my indifference about salary secrecy comes out.

If you are fulfilling the duties required of you, should it not be a problem exposing this information?

The URSU executives – President and three Vice Presidents – are now making $29,000 each. In their annual terms, they each rake in more than I’m likely to make in my entire student career.

Now bless URSU’s heart, because I do appreciate having a student union over not having one at all, but when I read the executives claim to work anywhere from 50 to 70 hours per week I was shocked. Where do they find 50 hours a week in addition to being a student?

And what do the four of them do within these 50 plus hours a week? This is not to provoke the union, but rather a call for information and transparency in why they have to be working that many hours.

I can barely coordinate part time hours with my full time student hours. How is our URSU Executive reaching up to 70 hours a week in just union duties?

When I start publically questioning things like this about URSU, it creates a backlash of hesitation in my awareness and understanding of university affairs. But, as a student who is paying these executives’ wages, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for information like this from URSU to be easily accessible to their student body.

But that is another question again – is it too much to ask? Just like is it too pretentious to ask what one’s salary is, is it too much to ask to publically post examples of how 50 to 70 hours a week is obtained.

Instead of typical jargon that most organizations spit out on their homepage websites, could URSU not update their website, or even use the beloved Carillon to help the students of this school renounce their concerns.

One of these concerns is the issue of conflict of interest. If our tuition is already being increased and URSU is telling the student body “they didn’t have enough money to continue the functions they were providing,” as quoted in the Sept. 5 Carillon article URSU Executive gets a raise. then why is our student union giving themselves a raise?

Or, I may be the only one who has questions about this information, the only one who wants easily accessible answers, and the only one who worries if the juice is really worth the squeeze right now.

Therefore, I will only welcome the idea of this raise once they, themselves, expose the details of their position which shouldn’t be so exclusive, since we – the students – are having this come out of our pockets.