Hail to the chief's perks

IU Student Association president Bill Gray was golfing with his grandma in Chicago this summer when the phone rang. \nIt was then-IU President Myles Brand, and he was not happy.\n"These bastards named us the No. 1 party school," Gray recalls Brand saying, as he embarked on an angry explanation of the Princeton Review finding.\nBrand thought the ranking was bunk, and Gray told him he agreed, so they discussed how to convince others that IU is about more than parties.\nAs IUSA president, Gray has the ear of the IU president.\nBut that's not the only perk of being the leader of the student body.\nThere are parking privileges and a private office, golf games with IU's honchos and the chance to buy tickets to the Final Four.\nAnd of course there's the thrill of representing 36,000 students.\nBut what is the real reason to run for IUSA president?\nGray says it's the experience.\nAfter running an election, speaking in front of 10,000 people and dealing with criticism that comes from students and pesky IDS editorials, he said law school or work shouldn't be much of a problem.\nIt's also an opportunity to network with deans, administrators, other student leaders and even state officials.\nAnd that means golf games and free meals -- everything from dinner at the Tudor Room to "business" lunches at Nick's.\nThere's also the stipend, about $4,500 for the year. But don't do it for the money, Gray says, since it amounts to less than $1 an hour.\nFormer IUSA president Jake Oakman said he got to meet a lot of interesting people during his tenure.\nHe also got tickets to the Duke game and the Final Four last year, since he had appointed himself to the athletics committee. At football games, the IUSA president sits in the IU President's box.\nAnd Oakman almost forgot to mention all the girls.\n"That IUSA office is like a revolving door of chicks," joked Oakman, who also enjoyed the office because it has a decent printer and is a great place to throw frisbees.\nBeing IUSA president looks great on the resume and draws media exposure; Gray was featured on a segment of "The O'Reilly Factor."\nBut the real perk is the parking.\nThe IUSA president gets a departmental parking permit, which allows them to park in any marked spot on campus.\nDuring his tenure, Oakman was known to park at Bryan House.\nGray, on the other hand, made a point of parking in Brand's old spot at Bryan Hall.\nOn one occasion, one of Brand's secretaries called Parking Operations and had his car ticketed.\n"Fortunately I was able to get that taken care of," Gray says.\nOne more perk of the IUSA president.