We were ecstatic to learn a member of Student Services Finance Committee had the gumption to propose a salary cap for student organization leaders. Our elation quickly subsided, however, in realizing the inevitability of the proposal's dismissal. As anticipated, SSFC misrepresented the UW-Madison student body and disregarded the spirit of leadership by defeating the resolution Monday.
Introduced by committee member Brad Vogel, the resolution would have limited student organizations from requesting more than $1,000 in student segregated fees for officer stipends or wages. Although we characteristically fail to see eye-to-eye with Vogel, in this case we not only agree with his intentions, but also share his disappointment.
As The Daily Cardinal reported in February, student segregated fees pay the wages for scores of student leaders every year. Some organization heads collect thousands of student dollars over the course of an academic year in order to compensate their leadership on campus. As the cost of tuition continues to rise, it is bothersome to find our segregated fees-the only university-assessed levy that students control-increasing in addition to tuition in order to compensate other students for their leadership.
What is most ironic is that some students are paid in segregated fees in order to fight increasing tuition. Figure that one out.
Leadership is an attribute of those cut from the greatest moral fiber. Involvement in a student organization certainly requires commitment and, in order for the goals of a leader to be achieved on campus, such a commitment must include self-sacrifice. In the status quo, budding leaders all too easily become victims of aggrandizement, motivated by dollar signs rather than personal passion when seeking higher office. This is no way to lead.
Student organizations are an integral part of the university community and accomplish innumerable objectives every year to the benefit of all. In order to further their goals, student leadership salaries ought to be invested in the actions of the groups-at-large, not a particular individual.
One SSFC member who voted against the resolution did so claiming that a compensation cap would \penalize"" a handful of so-called student leaders, opting instead to punish the rest of us.
