The student activities committee is considering reallocating the stipends given to student organizations.

Each stipend, an amount equal to one year of in-state tuition, is given to student leaders within registered organizations on campus to compensate them for work they do for the university.

Of the 11.5 stipends distributed to student groups, the only groups receiving stipends are Undergraduate Student Government (USG), Graduate Student Association (GSA), the four greek councils and the University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC).

Kevin Kerr, director of fraternity and sorority life, said each of the greek councils divide their one stipend among each executive board.

"Many [board members] don't have the abilities for part time jobs, [the stipends] give them compensation for making Penn State better," he said.

Stan Latta, director of union and student activities, said the delegation of stipends was first decided by a group of students over five years ago.

"You have to be accepted as one of the registered groups [to receive a stipend]," he said.

Latta said in an e-mail message that in the beginning of the fall 2004 semester the process to become a recognized student group at Penn State had changed.

Because of the change, there are no more "registered" student organizations.

The Office of Student Activities now recognizes student groups based on certain criteria that are provided by the office.

Since the registry process has been changed, the allocation of stipends has been under review for the past five or six months, Latta said.

"It would be premature to speculate how the stipends will be given out [in the future]," he said.

Currently, USG, GSA and UPAC each receive 2.5 stipends, while each of the greek councils receives one stipend, he said.

"The individual groups decide how they want to allocate the money [within the organization]," Latta said.

The university was originally responsible for deciding how the organizations would divide their stipends, he added.

"Students felt this was not fair as we did not understand the value of each of the positions in each of the different organizations," Latta said. "So they requested that we allow each organization to decide how the stipend should be allocated among the members."

Recently, Black Caucus released a list of 11 demands to improve the racial climate at Penn State, which included a request of six annual stipends from the university.

As of now, Latta said no one from the Black Caucus has contacted him about receiving stipends for their executive committee.

He added that it was too early to determine if stipends could be given to Black Caucus.

Galen Foulke, USG president, said the stipends given to USG are divided among members of the organization.

"The entire stipend is spread throughout seven people," he said.

Tom Truong, overall chair for UPAC, said the stipend given to his organization is divided among the chair and sub-chair of UPAC.

The division of the stipends has been allocated in the same way over the years in UPAC.

Truong said he would not object to the reallocation of stipends in the future.

"That is not my decision to make, and whatever happens is in the best interest of all the groups," he said.

Latta said the last group to be granted a stipend was the Multicultural Greek Council, created three years ago.