ETSU’s chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America teamed up with the United Campus Workers for a protest on the pedestrian bridge Monday advocating for campus workers.
Claire Alfonso, a member of the YSDA, said transparency from ETSU’s administration about what steps the university is taking to protect students and campus workers was a major point of the protest.
“Transparency from the administration to the students, from the administration to the other staff, between departments – just everyone needs to be in the conversation and know what’s going on and for there to be more clarity about it,” said Alfonso.
Zara Taylor, another member of ETSU’s YDSA chapter, echoed Alfonso’s call for transparency.
“I think, too, also just like, oversight on what exactly is happening with administration and the allocation of funds,” said Taylor. “Is that going to compensating adjuncts fairly? Are adjuncts being laid off? It’s information about this that I think even adjunct staff themselves do not have information to until they are about to be unemployed or until they are getting their hours cut.”
Hazard pay for employees working on campus, such as custodial workers, was also a major point of the protest. Alfonso says that it is important for students and campus workers to have their voices heard.
“We’re not saying ‘Oh, ETSU having 20% on-ground classes is putting the entire student body at risk of getting COVID,'” Alfonso said “Like, that’s not what we’re saying at all, and I think anyone who reads the articles in the press or listens to what we’re saying knows that that’s not what we’re saying. We’re just saying there needs to be enough consideration and enough conversation regarding every part of this. The people who are impacted by the choices that the administration makes need to be involved in that conversation that the administration has when they decide what funds to cut or what resources are going to be open.”
Carson Morgan, a YDSA member, said the protest was put together quickly after watching the university’s reaction to the situation over the summer.
“We decided to do this after watching the uncertainty of what was going on during the summer,” said Morgan. “It really wasn’t clear what classes and everything were going to look like until the last minute, so we just kind of got everything together in a shorter amount of time.”
The protestors held signs with phrases on them such as “Protect Campus Jobs” and “Chop from the Top”.
Taylor explained the concept of “Chop from the Top” as allocating funds from administrative pay instead of from the pay of hourly employees or those employees with smaller salaries.
“The idea behind it is if there is a need for more expenditures, that the funding would come from administrative pay instead of hourly worker or adjunct pay,” said Taylor.
ETSU spokesman Joe Smith gave a statement Thursday saying that ETSU has been made aware of the protestors’ concerns.
“The concerns raised by groups hosting the event have been shared with the university,” said Smith.
Morgan said the protest was held safely with less than 15 people in attendance, as per ETSU’s guidelines on in-person meetings.
Despite the limited number of protestors, their message was loud and clear.
“Nobody really knows what is going on right now,” said Morgan. “Nobody knows what is going to happen. A lot of things are really uncertain with the future for the stability of jobs for campus workers, and we really just want to make sure that workers are a priority.”
