Is Money the Answer? On OMA Student Leader Compensation
I believe that the Student Council should pass motions to fund stipends for Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) clubs and events. However, I think that creating paid positions for OMA club leaders would not be productive. Monetary compensation does not sufficiently address the emotional labor that these leaders endure. In addition, monetary compensation can easily transform into monetary incentive, and I think that students would be drawn to OMA leadership positions for the money rather than the mission of the club itself.
First, we must acknowledge that the students leading OMA clubs are doing much more than the average teenager and perhaps even more than the average Exonian. Leaders of OMA clubs like La Alianza Latina (LAL), the Afro-Latino Exonian Society (ALES), Asian Advisory Board (AAB), International Student Alliance (ISA) and International Student Alliance Board (ISAB) are responsible for organizing meetings, reaching out to various administrative members to promote awareness of cultural issues on campus, and even handling issues of racial insensitivity and harassment. These students handle these responsibilities along with school work, sports, and other clubs.
The students in OMA clubs challenge the beliefs of their peers and faculty, foster discussion on campus, and inspire positive change. Remuneration would hinder both the quantity and the quality of the work they accomplish. While the OMA club leaders endure strenuous work and deserve to be compensated in some form, I strongly believe that paid positions would change the leader’s incentive without alleviating the emotional labor they experience. By offering paid positions, we will inevitably transform the pure motivation for leaders to create and inspire change on campus.
Instead, StuCo should focus on compensating OMA student leaders through events such as special off-campus reservations at a venue of their choosing, open mic events, and dances.
Additionally, StuCo could assist with the creation of more OMA club leader positions and meeting spaces. By expanding the OMA student leadership team, the emotional burden of OMA’s work will no longer fall upon such a small number of students. By opening up more spaces for OMA club meetings and collaboration, it may become easier for students to address sensitive issues with the support of a group.
Spaces where students of color can gather are so important. It gives those students the chance to voice their opinions and talk about their life experiences with individuals that often understand those experiences. A larger meeting place would give students the resources and materials they need to create constructive change on campus. On February 24, Principal Rawson sent an update on the Academy’s justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) work to the Exeter community. He wrote, “We have developed a vision for an expanded Office of Multicultural Affairs on the ground floor of Jeremiah Smith Hall… we will not be able to execute the project earlier than the summer of 2022.” Why must we wait until the summer of 2022? I believe that this initiative should be prioritized, as the physical space to discuss such important issues is essential for us to become an anti-racist intitution.
Ultimately, financial compensation is not a long-term solution to the emotional labor OMA student leaders must face. It does not change the critical discussion that must take place to make Exeter an anti-racist institution, and it runs the risk of creating an artificial monetary incentive to become a student cultural leader on campus. We should invest in expanding the OMA space and creating events for OMA club leaders to advance their dedication to the OMA mission. By doing so, we foster discussion and more effectively support our school’s efforts to become an anti-racist institution.