The Missouri Students Association created three new paid positions after Wednesday’s Senate vote allowed it to fund the positions from several existing budgets.
The reallocation of funds will create a position for an MUTV and KCOU media adviser, a part-time legal adviser for Student Legal Services and a part-time technology assistant for MSA and the Graduate Professional Council.
Funds will be pulled from four budgets: $13,500 from contingency and reserve, $3,000 from STRIPES rental fees, $2,000 from KCOU supplies and $2,000 from MSA Senate operating.
Representatives from KCOU, Student Legal Services and MSA expressed the need for these positions.
Student Legal Services coordinator Steve Concannon said he is overwhelmed by students using the service. He said he has even had to turn students away.
He also said that as a lawyer, he could only legally take on so many cases at once.
“It’s a choice between turning students away or losing my license,” he said.
The part-time legal advisor would help to lighten Concannon’s case load and allow for more students to be helped.
Farouk Aregbe, KCOU adviser and student government coordinator, said he hopes the media adviser position would help KCOU and MUTV become more self-sustaining.
“While (KCOU and MUTV) have the ability to fundraise, unlike The Maneater, they don’t have history of doing so,” he said.
Aregbe’s current position puts him in charge of the business side of things at MUTV and KCOU. He does not have much experience with broadcast journalism, and the new media adviser could help fill that void.
The new position would also allow him to work on fundraising for the radio station.
“KCOU has quite an alumni base and I haven’t had the time to really sit down and do development for them,” he said.
The final position would supplement the work done by the MSA/GPC Technical Director Sarah Stone. Stone is working with interns to help her with her work on MSA-run shows and productions, as well as productions other organizations are putting on.
“She has stage crews (made up of students) but the problem that we’re running into is they can only work a certain number of hours,” MSA Senate Speaker Jacob Sloan said.
The new position would allow for an assistant to Stone to help with technology set-up at various event on campus, particularly smaller ones during the school week.
Sloan also said MSA provides technology services to other campus organizations that are often cheaper than other options.
“(By adding this position it could) help offset more costs for students, not only MSA events but other events on campus,” he said.