Editor's note: The original headline on this story mistakenly said that the majority of ASG's budget went to salaries. It is the largest portion, not the majority. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
Only a small portion of a statewide student leader organization’s $260,000 budget ends up paying for projects that directly benefit students.
The majority of the $1 fee every UNC-system student pays to fund the budget goes to travel expenses and salaries.
But leaders of the Association of Student Governments defended the recently approved budget, saying it’s necessary to fulfill its charge of representing students to the system’s administration and the state legislature.
A lion’s share of the budget is spent on facilitating meetings among members, maintaining connections between campuses and paying ASG officers.
About $90,000 is used to pay the salaries of ASG officers and administrative workers.
About $45,000 is spent on travel expenses and accommodation costs incurred when ASG’s 80 members convene at their monthly meetings held throughout the state.
Meanwhile, only $33,000 goes to advocacy programs and service projects that directly affect the students who fund the budget.
Before the UNC-system Board of Governors approved the $1 student fee in 2002, ASG operated with about $2,500.
“The real purpose of the fee was so everyone had an equal voice in the association,” said former ASG President Andrew Payne, who served from 2000 to 2002 and received no salary.
This year, the ASG president receives $7,000, the vice president receives $6,000 and five executive officers receive $4,000 each.
“Those salaries are rather ridiculous,” Payne said. “I can understand compensating everyone for their time, but that wasn’t the intention of the fee.”
But former ASG presidents Jeff Nieman (1998-2000) and Jonathan Ducote (2002-04) said the position is salaried to ensure that any student is able to hold the position, despite any financial constraints.
“What we saw historically was that people who did ASG were people who could largely afford to do ASG,” said Ducote, who oversaw a budget of about $150,000. “I couldn’t have afforded it.”
Presidents often paid thousands of dollars out of their pocket for travel and supplies. Even with the fee and salary, current president Greg Doucette said he still often shells out his own money.
Doucette said the salaries are completely appropriate. When he came into office in spring 2007, he changed the budget to lower his position’s salary and benefits.
Predecessor Cole Jones, who resigned following assault charges that have since been dropped, wrote into the budget a $10,000 salary, along with perks like cell phones and laptops for officers.
The budget for travel expenses has also ballooned in the past 10 years.
Payne questioned whether ASG needs the full $45,000 allotted for travel expenses even though travel is crucial to its success.
“The meetings are important because they do bring everybody to the table,” he said. “I wish they were a little more creative.”
Doucette said that allotting that much money for meetings and travel is part of the association’s job.
“It’s not just spending money on campus for programs that students might go to, it’s representing students to the board,” he said.
For small schools and schools at the far ends of the state, the cost of travel could otherwise be a deterrent to attending meetings — which would pose an obstacle to their full participation and representation.
“I think it’s justified and think the proof is in ASG’s history. No one showed up when there was no money to spend on travel,” Doucette said.
“When the organization has no participation, the student vote on the BOG is useless.”
The 2009-10 budget is almost identical to the 2008-09 budget — something Doucette attributes to the success of last year.
But Payne said the budget needs closer scrutiny.
“I want the association to represent students. I want to hear their voice,” he said. “If the money isn’t being used for that, it’s being used for dilly dally reasons.”
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
