Many students have heard about the issue of Students Activities Board (S.A.B.) executive board getting paid and no other clubs getting paid, so I am here to defend S.A.B. and tell the truth behind the story here.

First off, whoever sent the anonymous letter, did not do enough research as to what they were making statements about.

The main purpose of S.A.B. is to provide safe and fun activities for the students on and off campus.

Gathering up information about S.A.B. through Student Senate Multicultural and Diverse Coordinator for S.A.B., Eric Parsons, director of student activities and student center, Tiffany Dearstone, and S.A.B. Advisor, Sarah Gunion, I found out that S.A.B. is an extension of the college. They are labeled as a club, but really, they are working for the college in many aspects by setting up many events for the student’s multiple times a month. No other club has fulfilled as many activities for the college as S.A.B. has.

In the letter it specifically mentions this “We do not agree with the argument that if the S.A.B. executive members did not get paid, nothing would get done.” “Student senators have not been paid nor compensated in any fashion, yet still get many tasks completed throughout the year that benefit the body in many respects.”

If S.A.B. was no longer able to get paid, then they would not be able to pay for events on campus, prizes, etc. The money that goes towards Intramurals and Wildcat Wheels comes from the allocation budget, the same way S.A.B. gets their money every year.

Senate allocates the money and the money is from student fees. They have multiple fees that go towards campus activities, Wildcat Wheels, Intramurals, tutoring, and technology services. Students also have on and off campus fees that they are supposed to pay to help support the college and the students. The money that comes from allocations for S.A.B., most of it goes back to the students on campus, such as buying prizes, buying food, or to provide entertainment, such as comedians for all the students on and off campus.

I personally think that S.A.B. should continue to get paid because it is not ‘volunteer work’, it is working for the college and for them to satisfy the Student Life aspects for everyone.

“We need to get paid because there are seven of us here and we all work on average 8-10 hours a week, no other club is putting that many hours in a week for a club or activity they are doing,” Parsons said. “We put on events for the students, maybe once a week.”

“Only 8% of our budget goes to us [board members], the rest goes towards activities, shows, prizes, games, etc.”

It is fair for them to get paid to fund all the activities they do for campus.

At the Student Senate meetings, they discuss why S.A.B. should get paid and why they do get paid. Another issue that was brought up in the letter was why Parsons position gets paid on Student Senate.

That is because the Student Senate reached out to S.A.B. a few years ago and asked for them to bring a representative from S.A.B. to the student senate meetings, so Parsons is not a student senator, but is a representative.

Parsons only gets paid because he applied for a job for S.A.B. Part of his duty is to go to the [Student Senate meetings] and represent S.A.B. to inform them on what they are doing, what is going on, talk about the budget and if Student Senate has questions, they ask Parsons.

With that, Parsons is also supposed to bring back information from Senate to S.A.B. His job is to be at the meetings, which is an extension of his job for S.A.B., therefore, he well deserves the money he receives for his work.

For the people who were wondering, Parsons is not the only one who gets compensated for his work on Senate. Kody Wageman, President of Student Senate, Ashley VanMeeteren, Vice President get paid with scholarships and Morgan Sudbeck, the secretary gets paid as well. They get paid because it is a lot of work to be a president and vice president. They do more work than the other senators. The secretary gets paid because they must attend each meeting, listen intently, keep track of the information given, write up the minutes and send it back to Senate to use at a further date.

“Members of S.A.B. came to the conclusion that a senator maybe does eight hours of work, including the meetings, a month,” Parsons said. “Senators did not apply for a job, they wanted to be there on senate, hear about the complications, vote on the matters and help make Wayne State a better place; in that aspect, the other Student Senate members would not get paid for their positions.”

Nobody is complaining about the Intramurals or Wildcat Wheels getting paid, so why are people complaining about a club? Especially when most of the Wildcat wheels and Intramurals money goes towards paying the people that work for those organizations and not towards the students, unlike S.A.B., which for me, is much more relevant.

If the people who wrote the letter really wanted something to change, they should have come out and said something to Student Senate or S.A.B., rather than just making a statement.

The “situation of the letter” is not going to fix anything, unless that was all they wanted to do, just make a statement. Even with the statement, more investigation should have gone into place to get the true facts.

“S.A.B., executive board members get compensated for their work because they are doing a service for the college as a whole,” Gunion said. “If you would talk to any of my executive board members, they will tell you it is work; it is fun and enjoyable, but it is work.”