WSA Pay: A WSA Student Employment Chair’s Take

When an amendment to raise Senator and Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) Leadership compensation was proposed, I was instantly in opposition. A random raise from $850 per semester to $1,000? Absolutely corrupt. However, since the original proposition, I have been an active part of the editing process to the amendment, and I am now comfortable enough to support it. I’m not saying that you have to agree with me, but here’s how I arrived at that position:

In 2023, the WSA proposed Senator and Leadership pay to the student body, with a clause that the WSA would reconsider their pay after the pilot program comes to an end (after five years)—that time has almost arrived. If the WSA ignored this previous decision by the student body, it would be ignoring the legitimacy of WSA referendums and student voices. What is an assembly if it ignores its own referendum and legislation? The WSA has an obligation to follow its bylaws, which means, an obligation to decide whether or not the WSA should be compensated, and if so, how much.

On the question of how much, I think it is reasonable to stick to the amount that students voted for in 2023. This amount of compensation that students voted for was $850. However, $850 in 2023 is not equivalent to $850 in 2026. Due to inflation, it has significantly less value than students overwhelmingly voted for in 2023. To stick to what students actually wanted in that referendum, we should adjust the original $850 in order to accurately reflect the monetary value that students agreed to. Adjustment for inflation brings the total to just above $920, which is far below the original $1,000 proposal. I, along with some other senators, wrote feedback explaining why the originally-proposed compensation amount should be decreased, using our voting power as pressure for the compensation amount to be restricted to below, not greater than, inflation. This is an important check on the WSA’s power.

Some argue that due to low voter turnout for the 2023 referendum, it should be overturned. However, that’s not how referendums work in much of the world, nor on the WSA. In some countries, there are voter turnout thresholds for referendums to pass, however, I would argue that it shouldn’t be like that at Wesleyan because referendums at Wesleyan typically get low turnout due to apathy. Unlike the U.S., there are no barriers to voting at Wesleyan, no in-person voting, no voter ID laws, no voter intimidation at the polls, and we send multiple voting reminders to every student through their Wesleyan email, the most complete way to reach students on campus. However, I do recognize that the WSA needs to have more get-out-the-vote initiatives to do what we can to increase democratic participation.

A common misconception is that the WSA is just voting to pay itself, however clubs and organizations like Sound Co-op, The Argus, and the FGLI Advisory Board are allocated money from the Student Activities Fee (SAF) to pay certain students for their work (this excludes the fact that the Student Budget Committee allocates money to clubs for supplies, tournaments, transportation, events, resources, and much more). Even though many members of these organizations love their role, we don’t expect them to do labor for free. It would be bizarre to suggest that anyone on Sound Co-op or the FGLI Advisory Board should do their jobs unpaid just because they should love their job enough to do it for free. I believe that all labor should be paid. Additionally, many senators, myself included, put over 10 hours of work per week into the WSA. Broken down by hour, I’d be earning $7.70 per hour of work. If simply getting a paycheck were someone’s goal, they wouldn’t work as a WSA senator for $7.70 an hour, they’d work elsewhere on campus for at least $16.94 an hour. This is not to say that the WSA should be paid minimum wage—I completely disagree—but at the very least, labor should be compensated.

A proposal from other WSA senators and students posit that only FGLI students should be paid for WSA. However, as a QuestBridge FGLI student, it’s important to recognize that 1) all labor should be paid 2) there are middle-income students who are putting their earnings from the WSA towards grad school funds, loans, rent, etc. 3) compensation, even though significantly below minimum wage, allows for any senator, regardless of financial need, to justify spending 10–15 hours a week on WSA work.

WSA pay has also increased retention, which has in turn increased institutional knowledge and made the WSA more effective and efficient with experienced senators who build working relationships with administrators from every department to advocate for student needs, concerns, and wants. WSA pay has increased diversity as well, whether it be in terms of opinion, income, race and ethnicity, international students, religion, etc. which only serves to make the WSA a more representative body.

Along with this, the WSA is seeking to make attendance policies significantly stricter (at least twice as strict) by only allowing 3 excused and 3 unexcused absences between both General Assembly and Committee meetings before impeachment occurs. Senators need to be held accountable if they’re not doing their job, and this is a huge step towards that goal. I am proud to have provided significant feedback on our new attendance policy that made it into the final amendment.

This dilemma erupting to the level that it has is emblematic of a wider issue in the WSA: our communication. Despite weekly committee reports describing what every committee did that week, weekly emails, and a large social media presence, it is undeniable that students felt blindsided, disrespected, and unrepresented by this amendment and this assembly as a whole. This issue needs to be diagnosed so that the WSA can earn back student trust, and that’s a long and hard process that I look forward to being a part of.

As a result of student concerns, this amendment will be split into two separate amendments: one to continue pay and enact our new attendance policy, and another to increase pay according to inflation. Now is the time to make your voices heard, so come to the WSA General Assembly, it’s held every Sunday, 6–9 p.m., in Boger 114. Come yell at us because it is our responsibility to serve you, we want to listen, and we want you to make your voice heard. Tell us your opinion on these amendments, and tell us how we can improve communication to the student body. Let’s make this campus a better place for all. Thank you.

Zerek Laghari is a WSA senator and member of the class of 2029. Laghari can be reached at zlaghari@wesleyan.edu.

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