When senior Stacey Donnell applied for one of the two Campus Student Ministry Coordinator (CSMC) position's last February, she knew that her stipend would not be fixed until spring quarter, when ASSP's Compensation Review Committee (CRC) scrutinizes the payroll.

What she did not know was that student senate has the final say.

On May 4, 2007, Donnell and the other CSMC senior Tyler Gorsline received an e-mail from their predecessor Eric Mill telling them they would receive $650.10 per month for their job of coordinating Student Ministry Coordinators. Mill had received this number in an e-mail from last year's ASSP executive vice president Adam Gregory.

Shortly afterwards, during a senate meeting on May 14, 2007, senate cut the pay of the two positions by 25 percent, which put the monthly compensation at $436.25 each.

Believing Mill's e-mail was confirmation of their finalized stipend, Donnell and Gorsline both received a surprise when they looked at their first paycheck in September and found that it was about $200 short of what they had expected.

"I had to pull a little from my savings," Donnell said in an interview, adding that she had expected her stipend to cover rent for living in an SPU theme house.

Six months and a 19-page paper trail later, the 2007-2008 student senate voted unanimously to pass a proposal written by Donnell and Gorsline to pay them the expected amount.

The proposal, sponsored by vice president of Campus Ministries Charlie Beck, delineated that each CSMC will receive $1,231.92--the difference between Mill's e-mail and the amount established by last year's senate.

Donnell and Gorsline will be paid for the past six months in a single block and then receive the additional money evenly for the remaining months of March, April and May, according to the proposal.

The proposal, as passed by senate on Monday, stated that the money should be transferred from the general contingency fund to the conference fund.

According to differing statements made by ASSP vice president of Finance Joel VanderHoek during senate and ASSP president Daniel Miller in a Tuesday interview, the money should actually go to either the payroll fund or the CSMC fund.

The mistake will be clarified during the next senate meeting, Miller said.

Donnell and Gorsline first notified VanderHoek of the stipend discrepancy in September. An investigation, which included a search through pages of last year's senate minutes and e-mail communications, prolonged the process until January, VanderHoek said.

The proposal was tabled two times by Finance Board due to time and a lack of documentation.

Part of the problem, as seen in the 19 pages of minutes, was that Gregory, who sent the original e-mail to Mill was ill on the day that last year's senate cut the CSMC pay.

"While there's no definitive proof that we didn't tell them, there is no definitive proof that we did either," Finance Board member Brice Budke said during Monday's senate.

Additionally, the yearly Voluntary Service Agreement, a document which clarifies student stipends, was not given or signed this year by students who receive ASSP payroll, VanderHoek said during senate. He explained that he had not been aware of the document at the beginning of the year and thus had not distributed them to students.

Emphasizing that the proposal was the correct thing to do because senate would be accepting "shared responsibility," VanderHoek specified that the problem was "a lack of communication and faulty communication."

During the period of debate, last year's Ashton Hall senator Molly MacGregor, who made the amendment for the 25 percent cut, stated that senate might not want to pay for the cost entirely.

"It's not like this income was a secret meeting that we had in the back room closet," she said. "It was senate. It was open. We told them we were doing this and while they may not have known about it, their program should have."

MacGregor added that the proceedings were printed in The Falcon Newspaper.

The Falcon reported the 25 percent cut and compensation as decided by senate in a compensation change article published May 23, 2007.

Miller responded by saying that, even though the final decision was made in senate, no one contacted Gorsline or Donnell directly.

Last year's senate decision to cut the compensation by 25 percent had to do with several reasons, MacGregor clarified in an interview.

In addition to wanting to keep the total payroll amount under 50 percent of ASSP's total budget, a constitutional requirement, the fact that the single position was split into two was also designed to decrease the amount of work, MacGregor said in the interview.

The amount of work cited in the proposal, however, is an overall increase from last year.

Several times, Science and Engineering senator KT Barnes raised the question of what "shared responsibility" meant and whether someone else besides senate was responsible for the lack of communication.

"How can we pay them without making it so we have to foot the bill completely?" she asked.

Beck responded by saying that senate represents ASSP as a whole.

"I think we are absolutely responsible for all of it," he said.

For a while, senate entertained the idea of an amendment to table the discussion to see if proof of communication could be found in last year's minutes or notes from Spring Super Senate.

Executive vice president Andrew Huskamp clarified that no official minutes from last year's Spring Super Senate exist.

Intercultural senator Kayla Bergquist said that she distinctly remembered calling her roommate, a senator last year, to discuss the compensation cut during that time.

Bergquist said that handwritten notes might have an effect on how senators vote and that more time should be taken to consider the proposal.

Office of Student Life liaison Dale Anderson also advocated careful thought as the proposal would mean that this year's senate is "ultimately overwriting the will of senate last year."

The amendment to table the discussion was ultimately voted down.

The additional pay is not a permanent change in compensation, as that would be unconstitutional, VanderHoek said in an interview. He also added that Finance Board is working on certain safeguards to avoid similar situations in the future.

While the 2007-2008 CRC will be examining the lower compensation passed by senate last year, Donnell said in interview that she would like to make the increase permanent for next year because of the amount of work involved.

In other business:

-The definition of Finance Board stipulations was put into question during the discussion of "Pack the Pavilion" proposal.

The proposal, written and sponsored by ASSP vice president of Campus Activities Kellie Hicks, asked for $747.50 to pay for 500 T-shirts, which are to be handed out during the March 1 Senior Night basketball games in Royal Brougham Pavilion. The proposal presented a partnership between the Athletic Department and ASSP, one of the platforms which Hicks ran on for the position she now holds.

Finance Board originally passed the proposal with two stipulations. One stipulation stated that the T-shirts should not have a specific date on them. The second stipulation stated that the T-shirt company should meet the conditions of no sweatshop labor.

The Athletic Department had already ordered and paid for the T-shirts by the time the proposal came to senate with the idea of receiving partial reimbursements, Hicks said.

The first stipulation was not met as Athletic Director Tom Box specifically requested that the date be put on the T-shirt, Hicks said.

The second stipulation was also not met. While Hicks and VanderHoek researched Fruit of the Loom, the T-shirt company, on Google.com and found that certain locations may use sweatshop labor, there was no way of telling for certain that the specific T-shirts had or had not been made in sweatshops, VanderHoek said.

Huskamp suggested a recess for Finance Board to meet and discuss the situation. The Falcon raised the question whether or not the Finance Board meeting would be open since it was happening at senate. Finance Board is usually closed. With members' consent, the meeting was open.

During the meeting, Finance Board members were split evenly, three against three, as to whether or not overturn the stipulations. VanderHoek broke the tie by voting to overturn the original stipulations.

Senate resumed and, following debate, several senators stated that there was no way of knowing whether sweat labor was used and that it is important to maintain the partnership with the Athletic Department.

"I believed that the problem we were addressing, mainly the sweatshop...was not going to be solved by not funding this proposal," Budke said, adding that it would be a better use of energy to create a committee, which would look into the situation for the future.

The proposal passed with some dissent.

This week, Finance Board will discuss the definition of stipulations, VanderHoek said.

-The Rugby Club came before senate on Monday to ask for funding to cover parts of the 2007-2008 season's cost. The club originally asked Finance Board for $1,100 on Feb. 7. Finance Board tabled the proposal due to lack of time. A week later, the representatives asked Finance Board for $960. This amount was amended to $660. Finance Board subtracted $300, believing that the club was asking to fund recurring fees.

Debate in senate lasted for about an hour, during which rugby representatives presented the club's growth and community service involvement. According to the ASSP Constitution and Bylaws, clubs receive a budget of $100 per year. The rugby team explained that it has paid for field costs, referee fees, equipment and uniforms out of pocket.

The $960 would cover the cost of hosting three of the remaining games at Interbay Stadium and referee costs for six games.

Senators debated the idea of whether or not the referee fees were recurring costs. Following an amendment to finance the full $960, senate voted with more than a two-thirds majority to pass the proposal.

- Senate gave $900 from the conference fund to send six or more students to the Governor's Prayer Breakfast, a meeting of students, business leaders, state and local politicians. The conference will take place Feb. 28 through March 1.

-Senate unanimously approved the 2007-2008 Election Task Force composed of five senators and the staff advisor.