Students left out of payment process
By Editorial
Students working for Charted Student Organizations returned to school this fall to face a nasty surprise: rather than being paid as employees, they had become "independent contractors."
This meant that those who were paid on a bi-monthly or monthly basis would now be paid once per quarter. Nearly all students that work for the eight CSOs -- Associated Students, Santa Clara Community Action Program, the Multicultural Center, Activities Programming Board, the Redwood, Santa Clara Review, KSCU and The Santa Clara -- have yet to be paid for their nine weeks of work.
Students will eventually be paid during finals week, but the committee appointed to investigate student employment failed to ask students in these organizations whether they could afford to wait the whole quarter to be paid.
Though the policy directly impacts students, no students served on the committee that made the changes.
It's not the first time the university has made decisions without student input, either.
Last fall, AS complained that students weren't involved with the university's new alcohol policy, which created more stringent punishments for violations. The policy was first introduced in the spring at a Neighborhood University Relations Committee meeting, where neighbor's voiced their concerns with student drinking and noise.
When the university keeps students out of the process for drafting new guidelines, Santa Clara ends up with policies that don't reflect what's best for students -- only what's best for the university.
Even worse, the university's new student stipend policy is being implemented before the policy has even been finalized.
The university decided to go ahead with their new stipend payments without finishing the manual. This means that Jon Gray, director of Center for Student Leadership, won't have a guiding document when his office has to process students' payments during dead week.
Changing 150 students' employment status is no small task, and there is good reason for the university to set up a committee to wade through the labor and tax laws to ensure students are paid correctly.
But by hurrying through the process, the university has left itself open for errors and complications with a new pay system that has yet to be finalized.
While the university has been trying to figure out what's best for students, the students ultimately lose when they don't have a say
Last spring, when most CSO employees took their jobs, they were under the impression they would be paid as employees.
Some were under the impression they would receive pay checks as often as every two weeks, and may have even passed on other job opportunities with the expectation of regular wages.
Granted, none of the CSO jobs are full-time salaried positions, but the money students receive can still make a difference. College students have bills too, and collectors don't let students wait to pay until the end of the quarter.
The university actively works to involve students at Santa Clara, but that shouldn't stop with policy decisions. Students should have a voice at the table when policy is made, instead of receiving leftovers from university administrators.
We hope that when the university makes future decisions that impact students at this campus, they have the opportunity to voice their opinion before the proposal becomes policy.