By Mary Ann Georgantopoulos and Kate Augusto

Two years after full tuition scholarships were taken away from the Student Government Association (SGA) the organization’s executive board consists of students on co-op and younger and generally less experienced senators – both unprecedented factors.

In the past, the six SGA executive board members and the editor-in-chief of The News were awarded a year-long full tuition scholarship, but Ed Klotzbier, vice president for student affairs, and John Silveria, then-director of student leadership and engagement, refocused the program in 2006. The Leadership Scholars Program was created, which awards about 15 students, who are student leaders, a $5,000 per semester scholarship.

When Klotzbier and Silveria looked at the program, they thought they could make it available to more students.

“We were providing scholarships to six or seven student leaders, [but] we could do a program to get to 30 or 40 student leaders. That became the leadership scholars,” Klotzbier said.

To qualify, students must be on the executive board of a student organization, be enrolled in classes for the semester they receive it and be at least a middler, while meeting certain other requirements. After all the applications come in, a diverse committee composed of faculty, staff and students decides who will receive the scholarships, according to the program proposal.

Chris McGill, the current director of student leadership and engagement, said more students applied for the scholarship this semester than last and the applicants are from a wide range of student organizations.

In previous years, McGill said they went to certain student groups to tell them about the program. For the upcoming semester they didn’t target anyone in particular to help diversify the recipients.

Although the number of applicants was high this semester, SGA President Joey Fiore said many SGA e-board members decided to “protest” the scholarship and not submit applications.

The lack of financial boosts have brought some changes to the organization’s eboard.

For the first time in recent history, two SGA e-board members, Stephen Lavenberg, vice president for academic affairs, and Rob Ranley, executive vice president for financial affairs, hold full-time co-op jobs.

While both Lavenberg and Ranley said they have adjusted their co-op schedules to meet the needs of their positions, many said SGA vice presidents should not be on co-op.

“We haven’t been held back by the fact that we don’t have scholarships, but having to do our jobs essentially uncompensated is ridiculous,” Fiore said. “It’s unfortunate and I don’t think it’s right for executive board members to support themselves financially and do SGA at the same time.”

Ranley, who said he was initially concerned with balancing both his SGA position and his co-op job said, “co-op is an opportunity [students] can’t miss out on.”

Krystal Beaulieu, who held the position of vice president for administration and public relations last year, said it is “unimaginable” trying to balance both.

“You can ask [administrators] to stay longer, but they have lives too. They have families. To ask them to stay and work around your schedule is impracticable. It kind of hurts the whole system,” Beaulieu said. “Unless you’re extremely and unreasonably dedicated to the organization, without the financial incentive, it does not make sense to join office and not go on co-op.”

Another issue brought forth by the lack of full scholarships is that positions are being filled by younger, less experienced senators.

“I don’t think people used to run for the money. But I do think people would choose not to run for the money,” said MJ Paradiso, former vice president for academic affairs.

Beaulieu said last April’s direct elections for SGA president showed that the positions are now “less than appealing.” Fiore was a middler first-year senator and Bourne was a sophomore second-year senator.

“SGA tries to be as democratic as possible and democracy is all about choices,” Beaulieu said. “To limit the number of people who can run for office for financial reasons doesn’t follow democratic principles.”

Fiore said he believes a large number of people are being excluded from running for a position because older senators would choose a co-op job instead of a position in the organization.

“In the long run the loss of these scholarships is definitely going to hurt student life at Northeastern,” Fiore said.

Klotzbier, however, said he thinks the scholarship is not a reason why the SGA e-board is younger this year. He said these positions should be a stepping stone for real-world experiences, which students should take advantage of through co-op.

“The goal is the organization should be used as a platform to get yourself a job,” Klotzbier said.

Klotzbier also said he believes younger leaders are no different from older, more experienced ones.

“There are people I meet as sophomores and I think they’re graduate students. Students come here having done other things in the high school ranks and set themselves out,” Klotzbier said.

Other student leaders said they feel the decision to make the scholarship open to others was the right one.

“SGA and the leader of The News are very visible, but there’s a lot of other leaders in organizations who all make a big impact on the university,” said Mark Epstein, president of the Resident Student Association. “Now it’s offered to everyone as an incentive to make all student organizations grow.”

President of the Husky Energy Action Team Mandy O’Brien agreed.

“I think it’s a great way of both encouraging students to take part in groups and identifying those who stand out,” she said.