ASUW senators passed senate resolution no. 2461 that compensates ASUW senators on a trial basis during Tuesday night’s meeting.
Josh Messer, the senator representing the College of Agriculture said many senators left ASUW because they are not getting anything in return of their work.
“The topic of senatorial compensation is a topic that has been around for number of years and for long I was opposed to it, but as I spend more in ASUW I see more good people leave because they needed something for their time and their word,” Messer said.
One purpose of the senate resolution is to diversify the representation of ASUW.
“I hope that in the end this opens up the senate to a wider variety of demographics on campus and really improves representation,” Messer said.
Messer said he believes senate performance would improve if senators were being compensated.
“Everyone will feel higher duty to their constituents if they are being paid,” Messer said.
The disciplinary committee will decide how much each senator will be paid.
“The average senator will be paid $300 for the year and $150 each semester and the other senators will be paid $75 a semester, that’s at the discretion of the disciplinary committee,” Messer said.
This year the senators will be compensated from ASUW reserves, however if the program continues it could be financed from the students fees.
“If senators do not meet the standards of their jobs, it is also important to note as it stands right now none of this money is coming from student fees, they are coming from our reserves, if the trial program continues on in the future, it might come from students fees,” Messer said.
Flynn Shelton, a senior studying English, said he thinks ASUW should spend the money on something else.
“The positions on ASUW seem to me to be voluntary, the students know this when they sign up to volunteer for them,” Shelton said. “It doesn’t really seem necessary to me for them to be paid with ASUW reserves that could be further put to campus-wide use.”
