The AS Board poses on Friday, Sept. 27. Joe Addison // AS Review
By Stella Harvey
Shred the Contract Resolution
During their meeting on May 20, the Associated Students Executive Board passed the Shred the Contract Resolution with a vote of seven in favor and zero opposed or abstaining. Shred the Contract [STC] is a student club on campus that advocates for ending Western’s relationship with Aramark Corporation. The resolution encourages Western’s administration to implement a self-operated dining system, and not to sign a contract with another large corporation.
AS Fiscal Year 2021 Budget
Business Director Nate Jo returned to discuss the AS Fiscal Year 2021 budget, answer questions and talk about possible recommendations to the Finance Council. Western asked the Finance Council to plan for a 5-10% decrease in enrollment in the fall, which would increase the AS deficit and result in more cuts to the budget.
The deficit could range from $41,376, with no change in enrollment, to $339,787, with 10% drop in enrollment. Western will not know how much enrollment has changed until registration is completed over the summer. In the case that enrollment decreases in the fall, Jo asked the board how they would feel about their budget-cut options.
One of the potential recommendations that Jo discussed with the board is temporarily freezing the AS wage policy in 2021. The AS wage policy determines how much of a raise student employee’s get every year, depending on the level of supervision and job difficulty. If the AS were to freeze the policy, the highest-paid AS employees would not receive a raise. Employees with minimum-wage salaries would still meet Washington State’s minimum wage requirement. No wages would be cut, but raises would be limited.
The board also discussed moving funding that was previously budgeted to individual offices for fall programming and events back to the AS to reduce the deficit. Jo said Western’s administration may cancel fall events, so offices may not need the funds they originally asked for. Jo said the board could also recommend allowing offices to keep the funds so they could reschedule events in the fall.
The board will vote on the AS Budget at their meeting on May 27.