The McMaster Association of Part-Time Students (MAPS) announced Jan. 18 that it fired executive director Sam Minniti and will terminate the contracts of its entire board following a recent controversy surrounding Minniti’s 2011 salary, according to the CBC.
MAPS reportedly paid Minniti $101,116 retroactively for 2011, the same year he already received a salary of $126,151, according to financial documents obtained by the Hamilton Spectator.
Minniti’s original salary earned him a spot on Ontario’s “Sunshine List” for 2011, a list of all public sector workers who earned more than $100,000 that year. His six-figure salary put him among the highest paid student union executives in Ontario, according to the Spectator.
This prompted MAPS, where Minniti had served as its head since 2005, to investigate its finances, according to a press release by the association. The inquiry revealed Minniti’s retroactive payment from MAPS, which was originally made out in July 2011.
The university said it did not process the cheque to Minniti, which was issued directly from MAPS, according to the Spectator. McMaster is currently reviewing MAPS’ finances due to unspecified “significant concerns.”
The starting salary for Minniti’s former position at the start of his tenure was approximately $60,000, but it is unclear how his salary fluctuated over the years, the Spectator reported.
MAPS announced it will meet Feb. 5 for its annual general meeting and any of the 4,000 part-time students represented by the association will be able to attend and ask questions.
“Recent events have overshadowed the good that MAPS has done,” the association said in a statement. “We hope that a new board will learn from our mistakes and work together with the university to create a better and more transparent MAPS.”
