The Student Government Undergraduate Senate passed a bill on March 23 to increase the senate speaker’s pay from $1,000 per year to $1,500.
This increase in salary, which will take effect starting with next year’s senate in September, actually brings the pay back up to what it was in previous years, which was decreased by previous speaker Alex Iannacio. Iannacio had decreased the salary to use the funds for other SG endeavors as he felt that he did not need the money, according to current speaker Kevin Levy.
However, Levy said the lower salary created a situation in which lower income students would not be able to hold the position because the stipend was not enough for the number of hours of work required.
The speaker will now also be required to complete10 office hours a week, instead of the currently required seven.
Chair of the Finance Committee and Senator for the Class of 2016 Alex Bradley said during the meeting that the increase was conceived to ensure that students of all income levels could feasibly hold the position, which he said often requires more than 10 hours of work a week.
“This is a job that often takes hours and hours per week, and any speaker is probably going to take a theoretical financial hit, because they could be spending that time having a different job,” Bradley said.
