Clay Pencek is working a full-time AU job in addition to being a full-time student.
As director of the Student Union Board, Pencek is always on call for bookings and concert arrangements as he goes about his day at school.
“Constant are the e-mails from agents, middle agents, managers, student groups, advisors and artists,” Pencek said. “On days that we have shows, I could be working for nearly 16 hours in a single day.”
Pencek’s workload is not unusual for most Student Government executives. Some of SG’s most prominent members are working around the clock on SG matters — and most are making salaries for their efforts.
SG’s highest-ranking members, including the president, vice president, secretary and comptroller, make $3,500 per academic year and $5,000 over the summer, according to the SG’s bylaws. SG executives must work 18 hours a week during the school year and 20 hours a week during the summer, except for three weeks of vacation.
The directors of SG’s various departments including the Kennedy Political Union, Student Union Board and Women’s Initiative make $2,500 per academic year and $3,500 over the summer. These SG directors are required to work 15 hours a week for both the school year and the summer. They are given three weeks of vacation as well.
SG President Andy MacCracken said that compensation for SG executives is essential because the executives treat their work very seriously.
“The Student Government executives are paid because the positions they hold need to be treated like real jobs,” MacCracken said. “It would be impossible for me to do this and another job. And that simply wouldn’t be fair to the students.”
MacCracken and other executives typically earn more than their counterparts in other D.C. schools.
Calen Angert, the president of Georgetown University’s Student Association, makes $1,000 per academic year. While he does not get paid for the summer, he is guaranteed free housing if he chooses to stay at Georgetown over the summer to work on student association initiatives.
Chris Pierno, the speaker of Catholic University’s Student Association General Assembly, said that he and the other members of the Student Association do not receive a salary. There are no measures pending for the near future to try to give Student Association members any kind of salary, he said.
Despite this pay gap between MacCracken’s salary and the salaries of his peers in other D.C schools, MacCracken and his fellow SG members are earning less than their predecessors.
In 1999, executive members of the Student Confederation were guaranteed summer housing and received tuition reimbursements of 7-15 percent based on their position, according to a copy of the SC’s bylaws provided by MacCracken.
An SC member during the 1998-1999 school year would have received a $2,876 tuition remission, and an SC member during the 2000-2001 school year would have received a remission of $3,171.
Tuition reimbursements were done away with when the federal government changed the way it allowed universities to give reimbursements, according to the Director of Student Activities Karen Gerlach. Under current federal guidelines, tuition reimbursements can only be given if a student’s work is directly related to their academic programs. Student government positions do not fall into this category, Gerlach said.
SG executive salaries were further cut during the 2008-2009 school year when the second undergraduate senate voted to cut academic year salaries for upper-level SG executives from $5,000 to $3,500. This cut was made to put more money into SG’s budget.
The directors of SG’s departments had varied opinions about the financial worth of their jobs.
Will Hubbard, the director of KPU, said he enjoys his job regardless of the pay.
“Quite honestly, I’d serve as director of KPU whether it was a paid position or not,” he said. “I take a lot of value and pride in the success of the institution.”
However, Hubbard also said that he is slightly concerned about the salary differences between SG’s executives and its department directors.
“The discrepancy between executive salaries and other departments is debatable,” Hubbard said. “While the executives have their purpose, it’s my personal estimation that the opinion of students is that [Women’s Initiative, the Student Advocacy Center, KPU and the SUB] hold some of the most valuable programming that the SG can claim credit for.”
But for Pencek, that salary was one of his driving motivations to become director of SUB, he said. The long working hours and multifaceted nature of his job were a few of the reasons why he deserves a salary, he said.
“Being paid gives a higher sense of duty to our jobs, he said. “Since we have to spend as much time as we do in the office, we don’t really have time for another job.”
Pencek said he would like a higher salary given the amount of time and effort he puts into his job.
“As far as SUB goes, being the director is a 24/7 job,” Pencek said. “When I get home at 2 a.m. on a Saturday or Sunday morning, it seems to me that there needs to be a bit of a higher pay. Overall I’m content with the amount I was paid this year, though with rising AU tuition prices along with everything else in the world I would hope that there is a matching pay raise.”
AU students varied in their opinions on SG executives’ salaries.
Anabel Lee Genevitz, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she felt that SG executives should be working for the personal rewards of their jobs rather than the financial rewards.
“To be honest, I haven’t seen a huge effort on their part,” Genevitz said. “They should be working as a service to their fellow students, not working and getting paid.”
Sandra Shinberg, a senior in CAS, said SG executives are worth every dollar of their paychecks.
“I’d say that they deserve a salary, considering all the work they put in and all the things they do for the students and the school,” Shinberg said. “They have tough jobs. As long as their salaries are being distributed fairly, they definitely deserve to get paid.”
MacCracken said he knows that many students are surprised or even concerned with the fact that the SG pays some of its members. Salaries are an incentive for SG executives to keep their jobs and to keep on working tirelessly for AU students, he said.
“In the best of all worlds, we’d be able to do this out of the spirit of service,” MacCracken said. “Unfortunately, many students at AU feel the strain of financing the high cost of living and studying at AU, especially given the economic climate. I know for me, I wouldn’t be able to do this job, or at least give it the attention and time it deserves, unless I received a stipend, as limited as it is.”
You can reach this staff writer at jryan@theeagleonline.com.
