Originally Posted by Eric_G

That's what I'm wondering.

The answer is keeping hushhush about it.

Beyond that? Nothing.

They've kept quiet about it for so long, I assume, so as to keep it. They literally profit off your lack of engagement, and that's why I'm really hoping I'm able to win a seat this election. I would honestly love nothing more than to face the president and say "My mandate is clear-- people do not feel you should be getting paid that much. What do you plan on doing about it?"

okay, thanks for sharing that information with us
i'm lost here so when is this election and who can vote ?

We should all UMention this on facebook

Originally Posted by rpg51

We should all UMention this on facebook

the other candidates will probably get so upset >.< haha

Originally Posted by Ponyo

okay, thanks for sharing that information with us
i'm lost here so when is this election and who can vote ?

Well it's the SRA Elections, but they're dependent on your faculty. I'm in Social Sciences, so although the SRA represents the entire school's population, only Social Science students can vote for me. (I take issue with this too, to a degree-- but I can't make too big of a platform given that I only get elected for one year. If I run again, this will likely be part of it)

You'll get an email to your McMaster email on March 12th at 9:00AM. You're then able to vote at anytime online from then until Thursday at 5:00PM. If you're not in Social Sciences, you can still help me out by spreading the word to anyone you know that is and let them know about my campaign.

Originally Posted by Eric_G

Well it's the SRA Elections, but they're dependent on your faculty. I'm in Social Sciences, so although the SRA represents the entire school's population, only Social Science students can vote for me. (I take issue with this too, to a degree-- but I can't make too big of a platform given that I only get elected for one year. If I run again, this will likely be part of it)

You'll get an email to your McMaster email on March 12th at 9:00AM. You're then able to vote at anytime online from then until Thursday at 5:00PM. If you're not in Social Sciences, you can still help me out by spreading the word to anyone you know that is and let them know about my campaign.

too bad its only social sci i would have voted for you, but no worries i'm telling my friends in social sci to vote for you !
best of luck

I'd like to respectfully disagree - I'm not sure what all of the responsibilities of the MSU President are, but I do know that 1) it is essentially a full time job managing a million dollar organization and 2) $40000/year isn't a huge pay day - I was making that working in a call center.

When I first heard about the pay, I was definitely shocked - but I don't think it is necessarily unwarranted.

Originally Posted by Eric_G

If you're not in Social Sciences, you can still help me out by spreading the word to anyone you know that is and let them know about my campaign.

Funny, how after all those years at Mac, i never knew that you can only vote for people from your own faculty. I guess it's cuz i never bothered with all this voting stuff.
However, i'll make sure to spread the word on facebook. I got soc sci friends I'll tell them to vote for you!

they def dont need to get paid that much, if at all. lots of science/health sci(prob most other ppl too, i wouldnt doubt it) ppl who mostly run do it to put on a resume or something too.

Originally Posted by ashleighp

I'd like to respectfully disagree - I'm not sure what all of the responsibilities of the MSU President are, but I do know that 1) it is essentially a full time job managing a million dollar organization and 2) $40000/year isn't a huge pay day - I was making that working in a call center.

When I first heard about the pay, I was definitely shocked - but I don't think it is necessarily unwarranted.

While I understand your perspective, I have to take issue with your example.

If you divide their salary by the amount of hours (we're going to assume 40 per week-- which I believe is being rather generous of me)-- and we're also not going to take into account they they actually only work 11 months of the year-- (being that their term is only actually 11 months) you end up with them making 19.23/ hour.

That's really not okay. In addition, the SRA also has a great deal of responsibility in managing the MSU, and I see no reason why some presidential duties could not be reassigned to unpaid SRA members if it were an issue for the president in relation to their pay.

Originally Posted by Eric_G

While I understand your perspective, I have to take issue with your example.

If you divide their salary by the amount of hours (we're going to assume 40 per week-- which I believe is being rather generous of me)-- and we're also not going to take into account they they actually only work 11 months of the year-- (being that their term is only actually 11 months) you end up with them making 19.23/ hour.

That's really not okay. In addition, the SRA also has a great deal of responsibility in managing the MSU, and I see no reason why some presidential duties could not be reassigned to unpaid SRA members if it were an issue for the president in relation to their pay.

The MSU Remuneration document clearly states that the rate of pay is based on a 40 hour week. Most of the students elected to these positions don't take full course loads in order to accommodate this.

The MSU Constitution lists the terms for the President and the VPs as 12 calendar months.

As far as elected officials and transparency in salary goes - I'm honestly more concerned that the mayor of this fine city makes more than $10000/year. You want to talk about qualifiations? He has no background in urban planning, any post-secondary education, and is often AWOL from council meetings (yet didn't miss a broadcast for over 500 TiCat games in his previous career as a radio broadcaster). The problem with politics is (and I totally agree with you here Eric), the vast majority of the electorate are uninformed and disengaged. So they vote for the face they recognize - the number of times I heard people say that they were voting for David Campbell because he showed up at the front of their class more than any other nominee made me want to put my fist through the wall.

I really shouldn't be on here when I'm this tired, and I'm not sure that most of that last paragraph made sense, so TL;DR - This is a problem that is endemic to any political system with disengaged voters, I'm more interested in how we can get more qualified candidates elected than removing the salary associated with the positions.

You know...
People who run for MSU president and such...I honestly thought it was because they were interested in law and politics and such and were doing it for the experience...
I'm trying to get into med school, but they don't pay be 40K to do any extracurriculars. Actually, they don't pay me at all....

Originally Posted by Chris23

a responsibility that they willingly signed up for. even so, 40,000 is way too much to be paying to student government. its ridiculous. i would even say 10,000 a year would be steep for my liking

Any job is a 'responsibility they willingly signed up for'. Being salaried (i.e. it being a job) also adds the extra incentive, need for oversight, and need to actually do something. Would you work harder or less hard being paid vs not?

I don't particularly understand the need for wages in excess of $32k but I'm not going to jump all over the issue and say its undeserved. If anything, regular SRA members are more likely to be flaky and be 'using it for their resume', since there is 'less' time-commitment and 'responsibility', I would say. There are certainly other members of the MSU who deserve some compensation, but work for free.

Originally Posted by Zebedee

...I'm trying to get into med school, but they don't pay be 40K to do any extracurriculars. Actually, they don't pay me at all....

Is vice and presidential work really an 'extra-curricular'?

Originally Posted by RyanC

Is vice and presidential work really an 'extra-curricular'?

It was in high school...I should assume university student president is the same, albeit on a higher level. You're still a student after all, right? All the experience you receive from this...I've worked in reception areas, nursing homes, ER's, all sorts of places to try to gain experience...never payed. Shouldn't they make this more like an internship?

Originally Posted by RyanC

Any job is a 'responsibility they willingly signed up for'. Being salaried (i.e. it being a job) also adds the extra incentive, need for oversight, and need to actually do something. Would you work harder or less hard being paid vs not?

I don't particularly understand the need for wages in excess of $32k but I'm not going to jump all over the issue and say its undeserved. If anything, regular SRA members are more likely to be flaky and be 'using it for their resume', since there is 'less' time-commitment and 'responsibility', I would say. There are certainly other members of the MSU who deserve some compensation, but work for free.



Is vice and presidential work really an 'extra-curricular'?

I think the biggest problem is that people didn't know they were making that much-- what does it say about the group that's supposed to be representing us as students, if we don't know things like this? I think a lot of people assumed it was a volunteer position and that's problematic when there's a large salary attached to the position-- a salary that's coming out of our own pockets. I also it highlights a bigger issue when the Vice Presidents are making a similar salary yet we have absolutely zero say on who it is our VPs are.

Originally Posted by Eric_G

I think the biggest problem is that people didn't know they were making that much-- what does it say about the group that's supposed to be representing us as students, if we don't know things like this? I think a lot of people assumed it was a volunteer position and that's problematic when there's a large salary attached to the position-- a salary that's coming out of our own pockets. I also it highlights a bigger issue when the Vice Presidents are making a similar salary yet we have absolutely zero say on who it is our VPs are.

I don't agree with the situation involving vice presidentship, but then again, I don't really understand it either.

Are you saying people would put more thought into the ballot if they knew the people they were electing were getting paid? Does that happen with provincial/federal elections? (no)

Most people don't give a crap what happens before during or after the election.. most students are apathetic and don't get involved in either case, does pay really factor into it? It's not so much a 'salary coming from our own pockets', as it is a fixed stipend from the operating budget. What sort of student engagement would come from making the position unpaid? What sort of characters would be running if the decent ones that would have run consider doing other things (school work, university life)..?