Student Government, Inc. recently introduced a movement to amend the SGI constitution, introducing for the first time a stipulation that would grant stipends to executive board members.

“This is something we’ve been talking about for the last two months or so,” explained SGI treasurer Lawrence King.

“Something that we’re really lagging behind on is that we don’t have a program to entice some of our stronger student leaders into taking some of the larger leadership roles on campus.”

King said that most major universities in the country have some sort of significant financial incentive for student government executive board members, some going so far as to offer full scholarships for some positions.

“Right now the executive board of Student Government puts in an enormous amount of hours,” King said, explaining that many of the officers are unable to hold other positions on campus or outside jobs because of the amount of time they dedicate to SGI.

Although the motion was presented at a meeting on Monday, it will not be voted on until the next meeting, Feb. 12.

If the motion passes, the SGI constitution will be amended and the stipends will be effective immediately. The specific amounts would be decided in an annual meeting with administrators, specifically Associate Dean of students Darren Morton, Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Jose Rodriguez and Vice President of Student Affairs the Rev. James Maher, C.M.

The amounts would be determined annually rather than being written into the constitution so that they could easily be changed from year to year, King said. He added that the amounts would “probably be graded by position.”

The stipends would be paid out of the SGI budget, and individual stipends could be reduced, suspended or eliminated based on performance by a two-thirds vote of the executive board.