Michael Ceci started a new job in May. He's president and chief executive of a $14 million corporation with more than 500 employees. That's a lot of responsibility for a salary of only $20, 800 a year.

No, the recession hasn't finally hit corporate executive pay. Mr. Ceci, a drama student, is the elected head of Queen's University's Alma Mater Society (AMS), the oldest student association in Canada and one unlike any other.

Most universities have a students' union or similar organization. Like the AMS, these bodies advocate for students' interests, support extracurricular activities, publish campus newspapers and frequently run student services like campus pubs and shops. What sets the AMS apart is that its 65 full-time and 500 part-time student employees make up almost its entire staff. Unlike its counterparts at other universities that may have 60 to 100 non-student employees, AMS has only a handful of permanent employees propping up areas such as accounting and the student health insurance plan. The AMS also has only students in its senior management. Besides the paid employees, it relies on more than 1,000 student volunteers.

The operation is answerable to the AMS Council, a 60-person body with representatives from 10 student faculty societies. (Graduate, education, law and theology students belong to a separate group called the Society for Graduate and Professional Students.)

The AMS also oversees the AMS Judicial Committee, the other tradition that distinguishes this student organization from its North American peers. This committee is largely responsible for non-academic student discipline at Queen's. The unusual set-up dates back to 1898, when the university senate delegated student discipline to an AMS Court, an offshoot of the already 40-year-old AMS, which had been founded in 1858 as a student debating society.

Renamed the Judicial Committee in 1982, Mr. Ceci says the seven-to-nine-person Judicial Committee handles about 150 complaints per year, mostly involving noisy parties. Some of the complaints come from Kingston Police, which can choose to turn such issues over to the AMS. Incidents involving violence, sexual harassment or human rights are beyond the the society's jurisdiction and a matter for police.

The AMS Judicial Committee works on the principle of restorative justice, Mr. Ceci says, which means it prefers extracting apologies and compensation rather than issuing punishment. When it does impose fines, the money goes to support the society's Blue Light program, which offers free accompaniment to students walking at night.

Running this unique organization is a full-time job, but Mr. Ceci and all AMS student employees must take at least two courses per semester at Queen's while they work. Mr. Ceci says he'll keep to the minimum number of courses this year.But like most AMS employees he may get more education in his office than in the classroom, and his resumé will certainly not suffer. One of the top benefits of the society's unusual structure, he says, is "providing students with unparalleled job opportunities at this age."