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EDITOR IN CHIEF
Rvan Frank
EDITORIAL EDITORS
Jonas Allen, Kameron Cole
s**4^
“There’s one re
gret I’ve had
throughout my life
—that I never be
came the heavy
weight boxing
champion of the
world, t would like
my friend Evander
Hotyfietdtoknow
that today. I feet
like the heavy
weight boxing
champion of the
worid."
— Nelson Man
dela, after receiv
ing the Congres
sional Goid Medal
Sept. 23.
“We are not in a
world today where
we can sit here in
suspended anima
tion as a country
for eight and nine
and10and12
months while we
pore over this day
after day after day
before we can
make a decision."
— Rep. Dick
Gephardt House
minority leader,
asking for a
speedy inquiry
into impeachment
procedures for
President Clinton.
“A lot of tfie best
lobbyists are like
paid assassins.”
—Jennifer
Shecterofthe
Center for Re
sponsive Politics
on the death of
anti-tobacco legis
lation.'
“Our first presi
dent was a man
who could not Self
a tie. Two hundred
years later we
have a president
who cannot tea
the truth."
—Ross Perot, as
the Reform Paty
national conven
tion Sept 26.
“The president
comes out ata
time when we
need cooperation
from him...andhe
takes a gratuitous
slap, sumps on a
plane and tuns off
tor three days of
toadhaisinQ.lshe
thefundraiser-m
cNeforishethe
commander-®
chlefr
—Senate Majori
ty Leader Trent
Lott
A Wealth
of problems
Moving from stipends to
minimum wage could create
major headaches for ASUO,
students
University students get involved in stu
dent programs for a lot of reasons, from
experience to personal fulfillment to
pure and simple altruism. What they
don’t do it for is the money.
The average stipend is indeed so small that
many recipients don’t consider it as getting paid
viewing the tiny monthly allotment as a means
to buying a couple extra CDs, maybe some gro
ceries.
Now it seems that the tiny stipends are creating a
big controversy. The legality of paying stipends to
non-elected student workers, such as those who
work for ASUO-funded programs like the
Women’s Center or the student unions, is part of a
complaint that the Designated Driver Shuttle has
leveled against the ASUO.
At issue is whether or not student workers
should actually be receiving minimum wage for
the work they do.
This is where it gets sticky.
Consider that as of January 1,1999 Oregon’s
minimum wage will climb to $6.50 an hour,
the highest in the country. If every student
employee who currently receives a stipend
were to be paid this wage, the results would
be disastrous.
One possible outcome could be that the
ASUO will be forced to seek outside funding
to pay students. This opens the door to all
sorts of trouble. A
Most of the job descriptions for /
stipend positions call for between 10 /
and 20 hours of work per week, /
though the actual number of J
hours put in is often much f
higher. /
ASUO would have to j
raise an incredible f
amount of cash just to /
pay what was mandat
ed by job descriptions,
never mind what student
workers actually deserve.
Two of the easiest methods of
doing this would be to hitting up
alumni for fat contributions or finding
some way to climb into bed with yet an
other corporate sponsor. Either course of action
would divert energy that should be used for stu
dents and threaten the autonomy of the student
government.
Even more disturbing is the idea that the ASUO
might head for the old standby — the incidental
Stipends are currently paid from the incidental
fee each University student is assessed per term.
Some estimate that, if ASUO started paying min
imum wage, fees could go from the current per stu
dent amount of $157.96 each term to as high as
$450.
To suggest adding so much extra weight to the
student burden is enough to gamer a hearty belly
laugh from most of the campus population. To ac
Chris Hutcbinson/'Emerald
tualiy enact it would meet with decidedly less
mirth.
So the final, most plausible option for the
ASUO would be to eliminate all stipend positions
and hope volunteers will take on the task of run
ning student programs.
There are actually some people who favor elimi
nating stipends, arguing that the several hundred
dollars in incidental fees could be better used to
improve student services, and that no one who
works for a student government program should be
paid.
Sure, it’s possible that students would do the ar
duous work of running the student unions and oth
er programs in a volunteer capacity. But like a
snowstorm in August, it’s not very likely.
Let s face it: few students take a stipend posi
tion thinking that it’s going to pay the rent.
Anyone who did probably lost that illusion
long ago.
Yes. the current stipends are paltry an inade
quate. Yes, students do deserve much more money
than thoy get. But they knew that when they took
their jobs.
No one involved will ever be completely satis
fied with the ASUO’s stipend policies. There will
always be something to complain about. Neverthe
less. this is one of those rare situations where the
best thing to do is nothing.
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald ed
itorial board Responses may be sent to
odeQonegon uoregon edu