Senate approves bill to raise VPFA stipend

The Student Association Senate passed a bill Tuesday to increase the Vice President for Financial Affairs’ pay.

The bill to increase the stipend for the VPFA, which SA President Omar Woodard sponsored, raised the stipend from $1,500 to $2,000. VPFA Stephanie Adleman, a member of Woodard’s cabinet, oversees the granting of allocations and compiles financial records.

Kyle Spector (ESIA-U) proposed a bill to raise the student SA fee, an expense included in each student’s tuition that provides funding for the SA and student organizations. The student fee is $15, or $1 per credit hour. The new bill proposes a 100 percent increase to $2 per credit hour.

Provisions in the bill would direct the extra funds directly to student organizations without increasing the SA’s budget. A referendum that proposed to increase the fee last year failed to win the support of the majority of students.

“The reason it was voted down last year is that there was not a good enough campaign to advertise the bill. A lot of people remembered SA scandals in the past,” said Spector, who is also The Hatchet’s assistant production manager. “But my best guess is that the student organizations will support the bill this year because they are unhappy with the amount of money they have received.”

The Rules and Finance committees will review the bill; if approved, the Senate will vote on the bill within two weeks to a month. If it passes the Senate, a measure to increase the SA fee will be put on the spring election ballot.

-Jenette Axelrod