If you’re a student at The University of Alabama, you should be questioning the hire of Josiah “Jo” Bonner.

For those of you who haven’t been keeping abreast of the situation, here are the details: Jo Bonner, Alabama congressman and younger brother of President Judy Bonner, was recently hired by The University of Alabama System. His job, vice chancellor of government relations and economic development, did not exist until it was created for Jo Bonner.

This position also seems to have no job description. No one has released any kind of statement detailing what, exactly, Jo Bonner will be expected to do.

The salary for this job has not been established, which is interesting, since Jo Bonner gave up a successful political career to work at the University. He must feel confident that he will be well-compensated.

So to recap: The president’s brother was given a job that was created out of thin air. No details have been given as to why this position is now suddenly necessary, or why Jo Bonner was the person to fill it. The only thing known about Jo Bonner’s new salary is that it will be substantial. No one but Jo Bonner appears to have been given the chance to apply for the job.

To be blunt, it appears that this new position was tailor-made to give our president’s brother a job at the Capstone. That’s a longer way of saying this taxpayer-funded position was created not for the taxpayers, and not for the students, but for the Bonners.

I suppose UA administrators expect the student body to trust that nepotism was not a factor in Jo Bonner’s hiring. But frankly, my trust doesn’t extend quite this far.

So what should UA administrators do to prove their integrity? For starters, they should tell us what the vice chancellor of government relations and economics will do. I’m not talking about some meaningless piece of fluff, like “harnessing the diverse strengths of the three campuses for the economic betterment of the state and nation” (Jo Bonner’s official job description). Administrators should tell us what Jo Bonner’s day-to-day and week-to-week responsibilities will be.

Second, they should tell us why this job is being created now. We haven’t had a position like Bonner’s in the past. Has something changed? Have administrators come to some realization, some kind of paradigm change, that necessitates the creation of such a position? If so, they need to tell us what it was.

Finally, administrators need to tell us why Jo Bonner, specifically, got this job. There are a lot of congressmen in Alabama. Why do we need the one who’s related to our president?

This is important because Jo Bonner is going to draw his salary from your – and my – tuition costs. He’s going to have jurisdiction over your – and my – university.

We didn’t apply to the University, pay through the nose to go here and work to keep our grades up so that the Bonner family can keep its members in comfort. We do these things because we want the best education we can get, provided by the best individuals for the job.

This school owes us nothing less.

Nathan James is a junior majoring in public relations.