Last week, College Council, the governing student body for the Emory College of Arts and Sciences, unanimously passed a bill to provide a stipend for certain members of its executive branch. However, upon conferring with Emory University Human Resources, College Council learned that its legislation was nullified due to Emory’s changing federal work-study distribution system, according to College Council President Jannat Khan (25C). The bill proposed adding annual stipends totaling $7,000 for certain executive members, with $2,500 reserved for each the president and executive vice president and $1,000 for each the speaker of the legislature and vice president of finance. This payment model, which the Student Government Association (SGA) pioneered in 2023, aimed to make pursuing student government positions more equitable for low-income and work-study students. While stipends are necessary to improve equity in student government, SGA’s current system for funding and distributing the stipends needs rethinking.
Currently, the stipend model followed by SGA siphons away a collective $10,000 of the Student Activity Fee (SAF), which is a $118 fee that every student pays semesterly along with their tuition. When SGA implemented the stipend in 2o23, 25%-100% of the stipend came from the SAF depending on whether the recipient qualified for work-study aid, according to former SGA President Khegan Meyers (24B).
According to Khan, College Council’s stipend would also pull from the SAF if implemented. This is a misuse of SAF money; the SAF is reserved for funding club experiences and events, making it the only student-administered Emory fund to promote student fun, well-being and enrichment. The SAF is not the appropriate source for funding student leaders’ paychecks, as it diverts students’ own money away from the very experiences that make college worthwhile.
When the SGA stipend model first launched, former Student Programming Council President Ria Puri (23B) criticized the choice for the stipends to come from the SAF. She’s right — bestowing up to $2,500 to individuals goes against the spirit of the SAF itself, even if those individuals are dedicated student leaders. In SGA’s Finance Code, the SAF’s use is restricted to programs and events “open to all students,” and while SGA has a certain amount of funding for its own operational budget, forking over up a total of $17,000 — $10,000 for SGA leaders and $7,000 for College Council leaders — is steep.
This is not to argue against compensating student leaders — there is no denying that SGA and College Council leaders play a key role in maintaining a thriving campus ecosystem and deserve to be compensated for their work. From overseeing club budgets to chartering new organizations, SGA and College Council members devote significant time and effort to their responsibilities. The lack of financial support for low-income students also creates an uneven playing field in student government, where students who can afford to dedicate unpaid hours to governance are more likely to run for leadership roles. Stipends for student leadership can be an effective solution for ensuring that financial constraints do not prevent talented students from serving in student government.
Despite the necessity of compensating student leaders, the stipend model is inherently flawed in its implementation and conception — this includes a lack of transparency from student government leaders about the stipend. In 2023, a year after the SGA stipend program began, many student leaders, including those who started receiving the stipends, had little or incorrect information about the model. The transparency issue also plagued the recent College Council stipend bill, given that there was no communication to the student body regarding the council’s plan to offer stipends. Additionally, as noted in an investigation by The Emory Wheel in 2023, SGA and College Council often keep what are supposed to be public records, such as bills, in a private SharePoint workspace that only members can access. Additionally, there are ongoing issues with navigating the College Council website and locating relevant bills — the site is not regularly updated and does not make meeting minutes readily accessible to the student body. The Editorial Board was only able to obtain copies of College Council’s legislation for stipends through direct communication with College Council members. If student leaders are voting to fund their own voluntary work, then they should at least communicate those decisions to the student body.
Emory, in partnership with SGA, should establish a dedicated fund specifically for compensating student government leaders. This fund could be partially subsidized through University resources and supplemented by donations, such as those raised during Emory Day of Giving. Such an approach would ensure that student legislators are fairly compensated without diverting money from student life initiatives. For instance, Vanderbilt University’s (Tenn.) student government manages a need-based fund supported by multiple campus departments, including its Dean of Students office and Career Center. Rather than following a well-trodden but problematic path, College Council representatives should think outside of the box to allow for any student, regardless of financial standing, to act as a leader on their campus.
Another, more appropriate, funding source than the SAF could be the SILT office. SILT oversees student leadership development and provides financial support for certain student leaders, such as orientation leaders, Moonlight Crew members and Student Training, Education and Engagement Resource team members. Given that student government representatives dedicate time and effort to bettering our community, much like other student employees, they could be compensated through SILT’s budget. This shift would ensure that stipends come from a source intended to support student leadership rather than one meant to enhance campus life.
With SGA, College Council and Bachelor of Business Administration Council elections approaching next week, these stipends are more than just an issue of funding — they signify a fundamental misuse of the SAF. Potentially receiving a stipend influences who is able to run, and candidates’ perspectives on this issue may shape the outcome of the elections themselves.
Emory must take responsibility for student labor and provide dedicated financial support without draining the limited funds meant to better the student experience. If SGA and College Council truly want to support the student body, they should advocate for a more sustainable, fair and transparent funding model instead of resorting to quick-fix solutions that undermine the very students they represent.
The above editorial represents the majority opinion of The Emory Wheel’s Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is composed of Editor Marc Goedemans, Carly Aikens, Hunter Buchheit, Allie Guo, Ethan Jacobs, Carson Kindred, Mira Krichavsky, Justin Leach, Eliana Liporace, Niki Rajani, Josh Rosenblut, Ilka Tona and Crystal Zhang.
