Reporting by Olivia Barnes, ‘27
Edited by RAR, ‘27
Produced by Jimy Kuhn, ‘27
A Note (11/24): The transcript indicates that the entire executive branch is limited to 15 hours a week, while the president is limited to 12 hours a week, 10 hours for Executive Board members, and 6 hours for Cabinet members. The bill was passed by the Senate alone, which had an opportunity to vote against the bill but did not in a landslide vote. (19 for, 2 against, 1 abstained). The pay cuts go into effect in Spring 2025.
Full Transcript Below:
————————————-
OLIVIA BARNES: Hi, I’m Olivia Barnes.
A bill has passed in the Student Government Association’s General Assembly last Wednesday to reduce SGA Senators and committee chairs from being a paid position of fifteen dollars an hour, to being an unpaid position, and to reduce wages for the Executive Board and President. Cabinet members’ hourly wages have not been changed.
This comes after projections by Treasurer Charlie Schaefer-Canner, who predicted that on the previous spending model, the student government would have been bankrupt in less than two years.
CHARLIE SCHAFER-CANNER: Hi, my name is Charlie Schaefer-Canner. I’m a senior data science major and Spanish minor, and I’m the Treasurer of the Goucher SGA.
So the way that SGA gets all of its revenue is from, it’s called the student activity fee. That is a $250 fee that is part of every Goucher student’s bill that they pay when they’re paying their tuition, of that $250 student activity fee, a $100 of it goes to SGA. That funds all of our organizational expenses, such as salaries, paying for club expenses, the textbook assistance program, initiatives like that.
A little bit more information about the student activity fee is: that number is based off of the exact head count that determines exactly how many full-time undergraduate students are at Goucher College. And that number cannot be calculated until the add/drop period is over. So, that usually takes-we usually don’t actually receive the money until maybe late September or October.
So, upon receiving our student activity fee number for this year, we were looking at our finances again, and we were adding up our expenses, adding up our payroll, and adding up all the programs we do. And then upon doing it for one year, it looked alright. And then we projected it out for three years, and we saw that it keeps going down.
Upon seeing that, we determined that changes had to be made to ensure the long-term success of the organization.
OLIVIA: After the bill passed last night, the student government’s finances are still set to go below zero rather than a year ahead, but two years ahead. Are there currently any plans for any cuts or changes in the future to address that issue at-large?
CHARLIE: So, yeah, the wage cuts, that is the first step in writing the ship. It is a band-aid, not a cure. Doing the wage cuts is the necessary first step, but more cuts will have to be made. What those cuts specifically will be has not been determined yet, because it’s a big decision that has to be made, and we want input from all of us in the cabinet and all of the senators so we can come to a group decision about the long-term success of the organization.
The reason the wage cuts were the first priority is because, one, they’re such a substantial portion of what our budget makeup was, what our spending makeup was, and two, we just felt like it was the- We couldn’t justify cutting from services that we provide before we cut from our own wages first. We felt like it would be improper and against the mission of what SGA ought to be providing for the students.
OLIVIA: One of the plans that was proposed by senators at the meeting was cutting the wages of everyone, including the executive department(sic.). Are you considering this in any way? And if not, why?
CHARLIE: As far as considering it, for… At least for this academic year, that is not something that we are currently working towards. Like I mentioned earlier, I’m a senior, so I’ll be graduating after this year, so who knows what the future will hold.
In terms of cutting all of the wage bill, the entire wage bill of SGA, in my opinion, I feel like the end goal of SGA, what we’re really trying to do is to represent and provide services for the student body. And our main goal is not to have the highest amount of money available in our bank account to spend. That is absolutely an important goal, but we have to balance the wanting to save money, while also being able to provide services. If we cut all pay entirely, people in cabinet and E-Board, we would absolutely still show up to work and be passionate because this is a cause and a drive that we are all passionate about, That’s why we’re in these positions,but just the amount of effort that some of these programs take, it just wouldn’t get done to the same degree because the compensation is a way that we’re able to justify some of these long hours that we have to pull on some of these programs.
Myself, for the textbook assistance program this year, I moved in a week early and that week I was working like six, eight-hour days sometimes, prepping textbook assistance, going over meetings. We cataloged over 300 books that we received from our friends at the free store in CBL that they had received from students just donating them, which was a great thing that they were able to do.
But we had to go in and write down all the ISBNs of the book so we could have a list of them so we can compare it to the requests that we got. And all of this work, it’s a lot of work, and it’s absolutely something I’m passionate about. But if I’m being honest, I don’t know if I’m-If we don’t move in early to start working on that, then that’s one week that the program is set back, and that’s one more week that students have to wait for their books. And if you need your book to do homework, that week can really make a difference. So the effect that eliminating all E-Board wages would have, or all cabinet wages would have, would be, I think, greatly felt throughout the services that the organization provides.
OLIVIA: Do you anticipate that in the future there would be any cuts made that would affect the RSO budget, or that would affect how RSOs are able to receive money?
CHARLIE: Sure. So, in terms of the future, for this academic year, no, because we’ve already had RSOs, request, submit, allocation requests to get a budget from SGA, and those have been approved, and since those have been approved, we will not be going back on those and taking money back that we had already approved. That’s not something that is on the table for this academic year.
Going forward, I think that is something that will probably be considered. That will be, it, should it be considered, it will absolutely be done with RSO leadership input, and it will also probably be done without my individual input, as there will be a new person in my role next year, as treasurer, and they will be the person who will be managing all of that. I’m sure I will have-be able to have input and help the preparation of it, if we, if this is something we start to move forward on in the spring, but that is, that is not one of the immediate places we are looking to make cuts, simply because we cannot yet.
One revenue stream that we have discussed that I believe we are in the process of looking into, seeing how it would work, is reaching out to various alumni for donations. I know that we have-Goucher in general has a lot of notable alumni, and I believe there are quite a few notable Goucher SGA alumni that are still in the Baltimore area. Congressman-elect Johnny Olszewski and Baltimore City Council President-elect Zeke Cohen are two that come to mind off the top of the head.
The two of them, I believe, were both in the Goucher SGA when they were Goucher students. And I know we have a large alumni network, so I think that’s absolutely something we’re looking to work with the Advancement Office to see how that can help with SGA to set the organization up for long-term success in the future.
OLIVIA: In addition to reduced pay, the maximum hours the officers can be paid for has been reduced, with the entire executive branch limited to just 15 hours a week at $15 an hour. The biggest cut comes to the president’s office. The president previously was paid $19 an hour for up to 20 hours a week.
Emma Kistner was elected SGA president last spring after serving as vice president under former president Olivia Reichardt.
EMMA KISTNER: Yep, so my name is Emma Kistner. I am a senior. I am currently double majoring in history and literary studies, and I am the president.
OLIVIA: Your wage is being-was-your wage is based on if you’re being paid for, the new plan was 15 hours a week. Under the previous plan, it was under, I believe, 19 or 20 hours a week?
EMMA: Yes.
OLIVIA: Could you break down for me how those hours are usually divided?
EMMA: So typically, it depends upon the number of meetings that I have scheduled. We try to have a bi-weekly or monthly meeting with Dr. Camp. Originally, they were more bi-weekly when I first started as VP, but due to the nature of everyone being busy, I think it also did fall on Christian and I just having very different schedules. So trying to find a time led to monthly meetings, but we have those.
Then I have a one-on-one meeting with Christian and our advisor Dr. Carnell every week. We have our cabinet meetings.
Typically, an hour would go towards GA. However, since I have class during that time this year, that’s not one of them. Other than that, it’s being in the office hours, which is typically why we have them posted.
That is going to change a little bit next year just in ways that we rotate, but that is also more so so that we know we’re able to be there when we say that we are. And on top of that, it’s usually working with the other directors on kind of figuring out what they’ve been doing throughout the week. Each of them typically has a different project that they’re working on.
So, for example, this week, I was checking in with John Dixon, who is our Director of Student Affairs, and Lily L’Oiseau, who those two are working on doing the Aunt Flow programming. I was meeting with Olivia discussing-we’re working on setting up our Uber program now so that hopefully our transportation assistance program flows smoothly.
But then typically going through emails is a big thing. I have to check my inbox and the GSG one. And then when we’re not doing that, I’m usually working on updating our website, which has been difficult just ‘cause Wi-Fi.
So that’s what my most recent week looked like in terms of what I’m doing in those hours. But I will say it does depend on what the week is looking like. Recently, I know I’ve been putting in a little bit less because things have been running smoothly and there haven’t been back to back meetings that need to be happening.
Whereas, like, I know at the end of last semester, it was swamped with meetings between President Devereux, myself, along with Christian and other different administration members trying to connect with students over different things. So yeah.
OLIVIA: You mentioned not being able to attend the General Assembly meetings. How does the math of that, of the 20 hours, work out? Do you subtract the hours? Do those hours go somewhere else?
EMMA: Typically, it, again, it would depend on how much work I’m doing. I, for last week, I think I put in the full 20, but the week prior, since I know that we hadn’t really gotten a lot of, I guess, work that we had to do, or there was not a lot of conversations to be had regarding the implementation of different things. It was more towards 14, 15.
And that’s, you know, I wasn’t at the meeting. But typically, it would go towards office hours or other work that I’m doing. But if I’m not meeting at that hour that I would be at the meeting, I’m not going to put the time in, because there’s just no point.
OLIVIA: This semester, your semester, your year long wage has gone down from $5,700 to $2,700. How is this wage difference going to, do you anticipate that it’s going to affect your ability to govern or to fulfill SGA’s responsibilities?
EMMA: I think currently the way that it is, no. If I had to take a 100% pay cut, yes. And that is because I’m more or less a full self-supporting student.
I have family nearby that I can rely on, but their finances are not great right now due to, you know, family things that are happening. And I would love to say that I could, but on top of my classes and the other things that I’ve already committed myself to, that wouldn’t be possible without any pay completely. I can plan for a three-thousand-dollar loss, sure, that’s going to suck. Sure, I’ve got about two months to kind of figure out how to handle that. But I’m not in it for the money.
I’m in it for the work that I want to do. But I also have to be realistic that I cannot give myself 12, 20 hours a week to a company if I’m also not getting something in return. And I’m fine taking whatever it needs to be, But realistically, I just cannot work without pay at the moment in my life.
OLIVIA: SGA began paying its senators during Jeff Castro’s administration from 2022 to 2023, using accrued funds that had not been used for RSOs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, the SGA’s funding cuts will not change how much money is allotted to the RSOs.
AALIYAH DIOSES: Okay. I’m Aaliyah Dioses. I am a bio major.
I’m a senior and I am a senator.
OLIVIA: How is the pay cut going to affect your abilities to act as a senator with your responsibilities and such?
AALIYAH: To be honest, I feel like I will be less motivated, to be honest with you. However, I feel like I could do some work because I do care about the well-being and just about students in general. However, I feel like having these budget cuts on us specifically, and not necessarily the executive board, is kind of unfair.
It’s a double standard. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that they do a lot of work, but so do we. And I feel like if some of us were not going to get paid, then all of us shouldn’t get paid in order to be fair.
At first, I was just like, wow, where is this money going? Like how a lot of stuff is with Goucher, especially with increasing the tuition and budget cutting and other jobs as well. Yeah, that’s just mainly the main reaction for me is where is this money going?
OLIVIA: Thank you so much.
LUCA FORNO DI’ADAMO: My name is Luca Forno D’Addamo. I’m a sophomore. I’m a senator.I hope and am planning on declaring a creative writing major.
OLIVIA: Okay. How is this change in pay going to affect your abilities to act as a senator?
LUCA: In all honesty, I don’t think it will affect my abilities all that much. It’s just going to become something that I am passionate about, that is just going to be competing with other things that I’m passionate about versus what it is now, which is something I’m passionate about, and I’m getting paid for it. So like, if I want to take a Bill U’Ren screenwriting class, which is Wednesday at this time, I’m more incentivized to do that now, but it’s just two competing kinds of hobbies.
I do think that the way that the pay has been split currently is a bit self-serving in regards to who is being paid and who is not. I think that it’s kind of arbitrary that things have been declared that certain jobs need to be paid to produce high output work and reliable work, but other jobs don’t. And, I mean, the amount-there are 60 work hours that have just been turned into not-paid work hours.
And just because that’s been spread out across a number of people, I feel like the impact has not been given the thought it’s deserved. I mean, at the end of the day, I think it’s necessary that these cuts have been made. I just think that it hasn’t gone far enough, and I think that where we have stopped is arbitrary.
I mean, I wasn’t happy. It’s currently the only job I hold on campus. So, it’s not much, but I also don’t have that many life expenses, which is, I know, fortunate for me. It’s not a position that everyone can find themselves in.
So, I was a bit upset, but I mean, it was thirty dollars a week, which really isn’t all that much in the grand scheme of things. There’s other things I can do, and now in the future, I know that I can just look for another job.
It is a bit annoying that it’s happened part way through the first half of the semester, which means that it’s very hard to find a job right now within the campus, which is something I’d like to do. I don’t know how much I’d want to start looking in the wider Towson area for a job currently.
The Quindecim receives financial support from the Student Government Association’s RSO fund in addition to occasional advertisers. You can join the Quindecim if you want to contribute reporting, sundry or opinion to be published on our website at quinnews.com. Jimy is our producer and RAR is our editor.
You’re listening to Goucher College Radio from the Quindecim. I’m Olivia Barnes. If you liked this, Jimy wrote an opinion editorial on this that you can read on our website.
Thanks for listening.
