The atmosphere is tense in Boren Lounge as Yahya wipes the sweat off his face. Frustrated Quaker hands are in the air and the meeting has just been extended another 30 minutes. Fantastic.

This is the scene I envision at the next Senate meeting when the topic is brought up to potentially give payment to senate leaders. Not a pretty picture.

Even though Senate leaders currently receive a stipend of 500 dollars a semester for their service, this money goes towards their tuition payments, not their own pockets.

Paying Community Senate leaders would cause a slew of problems among the student body, starting with the other organizations on campus. Paying some community leaders and not others goes against the core value of equality at Guilford.

What makes Senate leaders more important than other student leaders, such as club leaders and CAB leaders? What exactly would the pay be? Who will keep Senate leaders accountable? What money would be used for the pay?

Equality goes out the window the second one organization is given preferential treatment over the multitude of other, equally significant groups on campus. Offering payment to one organization and not the others goes against a core value.

There would be a lot to figure out in terms of the payment, such as how many hours the Senate leaders would have to work and how much they would get paid for that work. Also there would need to be a way to make sure that the leaders are completing the necessary hours.

Presumably, the money would come out of the pocket of the students, which will cause more unnecessary controversy. Either the activities fees would have to be increased once again or less money would go to other venues such as clubs.

Service is a big part of what makes Guilford unique. Being a leader on campus means doing it on a volunteer basis. If Senate leaders suddenly receive money for their service, this will no longer be the case.

Plenty of leaders on campus put in a tremendous amount of time and work into their organizations, and they do not get paid either. It would not be fair for one organization on campus to have paid leadership positions and others not.

The other negative to paying Senate leaders would be the question of integrity. Some may simply run for Senate positions in order to get the money.

Currently, the people on Senate are there because they want to serve the Guilford community and student body, not because of any monetary incentives. It should stay that way in the future as well.

Being a part of Senate without the pay is a sure sign of complete commitment to the community. Involving money in the system would muddy the waters of true commitment to the school and its students.