IUSA salaries must be reexamined

One of the huge debates that raged throughout the 2013 IUSA Election was about executive salaries.

Students overwhelmingly chose the ticket that proposed keeping the time-old tradition of executive salaries.

But as anecdotes of wasteful spending trickle from Washington, D.C. and Indianapolis, and as memories of past tickets failing to deliver on promises to clean up IUSA continue to build, much of the student body is ready to reexamine the issue of IUSA executive salaries.

In their 2013-14 IUSA budget proposal to Congress, the IUSA executives have proposed paying themselves stipends of roughly $3,000 each.

This equals about $18,000, or 18 percent of the budget. Consider the good that another $18,000 could do for the student body at IU.

We, the undersigned, and likely many more in Congress, believe that every single dollar of the 2013-14 budget must not only be accounted for, but spent in a responsible manner that puts the interests of the IU student body first.

While the proposed budget has made some strides in reducing the excesses of the 2012-13 budget, why is so much of its current proposal being taken up for salaries that the administration simply earns for showing up?

As congressmen and women, we will ultimately decide what the budget looks like before it is passed to the President for signing.

It is our responsibility to make sure you get what you pay for, and we take that responsibility seriously.

We want to design an IUSA budget that is accountable, transparent and well-spent.

That’s why we’re looking hard at executive salaries, and we want to hear from you, the students, on this issue as well.

Michael Su
Christian McMahon
Ty Nocita
Alex Young
Nishat Mehta
Adam Prasch
Cassaday Palmer
Gracie Olivia Lidnsky-Smith
Maria Atkinson
Craig Douglas
Drew Roley­