VP candidate's promise stirs stipend debate

Eric Clingan Arizona Daily Wildcat

Eric Clingan, political science junior, said it is a personal decision on his part not to accept the $3,500 allocated to the administrative vice president by the Associated Students of the University of Arizona's bylaws.

"The funding (of programs and services) is something that can be improved and the scope can be improved. I think we can offer more," he said.

Clingan said he is not yet sure which areas would benefit from the money, but he would survey the student body in order to market and tailor the programs and services to the students.

"I would like to bring a greater student awareness and greater student interest to ASUA's programs and services," he said.

Jim Drnek, ASUA's adviser, said that if Clingan is elected, he would have to convince the Senate in his budget proposal that the new allocation of the stipend was acceptable.

The Senate approves ASUA's budget in August as one of its first priorities, Drnek said.

"To my knowledge, this hasn't been done in the past," he said.

Mindy McCollum, ASUA vice president of programs and services, said she thinks the morale of the student in the position will be lowered if the student is not paid.

"It's not going to save any more money by taking $3,500 from the stipend money and putting it somewhere else," she said.

The way to save money is to streamline programs and services, McCullum said.

Two other candidates for administrative vice president, Jamie Kanter and Beau Cox, said the stipend is necessary because the time spent working in ASUA takes out of the time for other income sources.

"If you do the math, officers earn less than $2 per hour," Cox, a studio art junior, said.

This is based on the 20 hours per week that officers are required to spend on their position, he said.

Cox said he would like to streamline some of the programs and services to save more money in the ASUA budget.

Kanter, a junior majoring in Spanish and psychology, said the key is to look outside ASUA for funding so services are not totally reliant on ASUA.

Directors of the programs or services would have to try harder to get external funds, Kanter said.

"It's not a matter of having an extra $3,500. It's a matter of having money through the next year," Kanter said.

Tim Walker, director of ASUA Escort Services and a political science senior, said he received extra money this year from donations by Parking and Transportation Services and the Marshall Foundation. Escort Services' operations and budget are under the aut hority of the administrative vice president.

Walker said extra money from the stipend would help Escort Services but the service wouldn't exist if he hadn't saved money for the following academic years.

"I strongly feel that the different programs up here are only as good as the directors," he said.

The two other candidates for the administrative vice president, Tara Taylor, political science sophomore, and Marco Dominguez, a junior, could not be reached for comment.