IUSA: Unopposed and paid

Participation and awareness are two of the major problems for the IU student body regarding the IU Student Association. 

Approximately 400 students voted in the election that named the current IUSA executive team when it ran unopposed last spring. In the previous election, the winning ticket alone received 4,811 votes.

The individuals now controlling IUSA faced no viable opposition in their campaign, a topic that more than once graced this very page. The hastily made student campaigns that attempted, at the last minute, to oppose them all floundered and ultimately dissolved.

Recently, IUSA released  its budget for the 2012-13 school year.

This year, that budget includes salaries for that same executive team.

Individuals elected without contest awarded themselves a $3,000 salary each.
Taken together, the $18,000 in salaries represents the largest expense for IUSA.

In contrast, they proposed $17,000 be spent on Hoosier info kiosks, a central point of the Movement for IUSA administration’s original campaign strategy and the next-largest expense in this year’s budget.

The Indiana Lifeline initiative, a major victory for the last administration which will be continued this year, recieves nothing when compared to the kiosks. Lifeline is an initiative to change state law to legally protect intoxicated 911 callers who seek medical attention for those around them.

The salaries represent approximately 19 percent of the budget for IUSA, which is funded by fees paid by enrolled students.

In their defense, the move is not entirely unprecedented. 

In the past, IUSA executives have drawn salaries, although the previous administration didn’t seem to find them necessary.

But IU students are now faced with a tough question. How comfortable are we with paying almost a fifth of the money set aside for our student association to individuals who faced no real competition in their campaign to receive it?

On one side is the argument that Movement for IUSA is not to blame for the fact that no one else was interested in running for their offices.

But one might also contend that individuals elected unopposed have a heightened responsibility to fully represent their constituents and avoid any semblance of corruption.

The situation certainly won’t create an outpouring of confidence in the current administration nor is it entirely immoral on its face.

In the future, a ticket for such an influential student group must never be elected unopposed.

It is time for the members of the IU community to drop their sense of apathy and take an interest in how almost $100,000 of their money is spent.

Look for our guide to assembling a ticket for the IUSA executive board later this fall.