Most Pomona students will wait on line for many hours to purchase tickets to the Ben Harper concert in Big Bridges on April 6. Members of ASPC Senate, however, will not be among those waiting. Senate voted 6-3 at their last meeting to reserve two tickets apiece for themselves. Though they will still have to pay for them, they will not have to stand on an endless line to obtain some of the best seats in the house. The rationale behind this is that since senators work very hard and receive no financial compensation (with the exception of the president), they deserve not to have to wait on line, perhaps all night, as the members of their constituencies will be forced to do should they want to attend the show. The Senate has had and will have nothing to do with the planning, funding, or execution of this concert; although the motion passed with just barely a quorum present, in approving this motion, Senate as a group has effectively communicated to the student body their unfounded sense of entitlement. Arguments in favor of this absurd abuse of power at Tuesday’s meeting included that of Commissioner of Community Affairs Leslie Mallman; since she devotes several hours a week to her duties as a senator, she feels that this is a reasonable perk. To her credit, Mallman reconsidered her position after the meeting; she related to me her change of heart early Thursday morning on the ticket line. It’s too bad that she was not allowed the time at the meeting to arrive at this conclusion and pursuade her colleagues to think fairly rather than selfishly.

Perhaps those senators who voted in favor of reserving tickets for themselves are somewhat naïve. Maybe they’re just not into the whole staying-up-all-night-to-get-tickets-at-the-crack-of-dawn thing (because God knows the rest of us are so into that), but if they stopped for a moment to think, instead of rushing to a vote on this in the last three minutes of the meeting, they might see the very deeply flawed nature of their reasoning. There are many students at Pomona who devote a great deal of time to activities that benefit the school, and they do so for no or trivial financial compensation. Should every sponsor, AAMP mentor, Ujima mentor, member of CCLA, chairs of the student judiciary, and student members of Orientation, Curriculum, Study Abroad, and all of the other committees get to reserve tickets for the concert in advance as well? Of course not; one does not take on these positions of responsibility, with their concomitant demands upon one’s time, because she wants to be compensated. If you are looking for compensation, you can work in the Coop Fountain; I hear they’re still hiring. Participating in any (or several, as is the case for many students) of these activities is its own reward. You do it because you enjoy it, it fulfills you, because you care. Or you do it to bolster your resume, whatever. Compensation is not a factor, and this is something everybody should know going in. Even the editors of The Student Life, who are compensated, are woefully underpaid for the hours that they put in–no one here is staying up all night once a week for $6.25 an hour. Sure, it seems thankless sometimes. But the intangible rewards are enormous.

The ad hoc nature of this decision is as inappropriate as the outcome. If Senate had any business granting perks to itself at all, it would have to be in the form of a policy stating exactly what kinds of special privileges are allowed and under which circumstances. If Senate had the foresight or sense of fair play that one would hope to see in our student leaders, perhaps they would draw up such a policy and let it take effect next year. This would address the issue of senators presuming (incorrectly) that they are owed something concrete for their trouble, without engaging in corrupt political practices that are so clearly and painfully self-serving. If that language seems strong, it is intended as such; say what you will about the less-than-awesome power wielded by the ASPC Senate, but this instance is illustrative of just how much influence Senate can have. If each of the sixteen senators has dibs on two tickets, then almost ten percent of the 400 seats designated for purchase by Pomona students are already spoken for. This may not seem like a big deal until you are the 184th person in line to buy tickets (because everyone can buy two, they’ll be going pretty quickly), and after waiting and waiting, possibly all night, you get the ticket window slammed closed in your face because the show is sold out. The fact that your Senate representatives work pretty hard in general and really feel that they deserved dibs on those tickets probably will not ease your agony.

You might think that I’m bitter, that I’m just angry because I would like dibs on a ticket and so I am lashing out at the Senate in a jealous rage. It is true that I am a huge Ben Harper fan, but this is not the case. One senator, who shall remain nameless, did offer me his or her extra ticket; I have declined on principle. I share this not to put myself on a moral high ground, but to evidence just how repugnant I consider Senate’s actions in this instance.

In their defense, Vice President Ellen Lin ’01 pointed out at Tuesday’s meeting that CMC’s senate body always reserves seats for itself at concerts and the like. I’ll resist the urge to bash CMC here, but suffice it to say that we rarely seek to emulate their practices, nor is now a good time to start doing so.

I do not deny for a moment that Senate members devote a good deal of time to their respective projects and duties as senators, and they do so without financial compensation. To say, however, that the responsibility is without benefits is untrue; I make this contention as a student who has served on Senate in addition to devoting countless hours to various activities in my nearly three years at Pomona. My checking account may be in sorry shape, but I have no regrets. Leadership experience, an opportunity to participate in the formulation of policy, always being in the know about campus issues–these intangible perks are far more compelling than a pair of concert tickets. To be 21 years old and have difficulty keeping my resume on one sheet of paper feels good. Serving on Senate is a privilege as well as a responsibility; if simply doing it is not its own reward, then why bother?