The Salary He Gave Away

The New York City shutdown began in March 2020. That spring Victor Kiani joined student government at CUNY Queensborough as a Senator at Large, and that November he ran for President Pro Tempore. The room had largely lined up behind people they were friends with. The speech landed, and he won by a vote or two.

The work

Within weeks he was also elected Executive Vice President for the following term, and the University Student Senate, CUNY's system-wide student government, brought him on as an advisor. Most of his hours went into the unglamorous part: helping students stay steady through a year that knocked a lot of them sideways.

The salary

The role paid a salary. A student representing students, many of them going hungry in a pandemic, he felt he could do more for the people he'd been elected to serve. So he donated every cent of it to the campus food pantry. It wasn't a gesture; it was the most direct thing the position could actually do.

What it showed

• A mandate is a responsibility, not a prize. The point of the seat is the people behind it.
• Do the most direct thing. Sometimes the highest-leverage move is the simplest one.
• Show up in the year that's hard. That's when representation actually means something.