By Holden Davitian, Staff Editor
The thousands of school closures across the United States due to COVID-19, including Haverford (HC) and Bryn Mawr Colleges (BMC), have prompted many concerns about grading scales, refunds on room and board, and especially future plans for the student workers on campus. Due to the pandemic, student workers in different roles around campus have voiced their concerns regarding the status of their jobs and earnings.
Marit Eiler ‘20, a senior at BMC, is the Russian department assistant and a costume-making assistant for the Bi-Co Theater Program main-stage productions. In addition to sharing her individual concerns, Eiler emphasizes how many student workers have a variety of reasons for working. Some students are on a work-study plan to pay off their tuition, while others work to support themselves while living away from home. “I was counting on that money long-term to be able to support myself in the future and pay off student loans. … I’m not sure if I will even be able to get a job this summer,” explains Eiler.
Many students have voiced their worries by engaging in dialogues across multiple BMC Facebook groups. These groups have acted as outlets for students to express their thoughts on the current issues surrounding the pandemic, including how different institutions are responding to the difficulties for student workers. Saskia Holman ‘20, a current BMC senior and tour guide in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, illustrates in a detailed Facebook post how many people “rely on work-study funds … as a way to sustain themselves and their families, and to afford tuition for the next semester.”
Around mid-March, in response to the multitude of comments expressing support of her stance, Holman created a petition on Change.org for “BMC to pay students work study expected earnings for the rest of the semester.” Holman also outlined that without receiving any expected income, students could be forced to look for jobs elsewhere, describing this as a “completely unfair, not to mention unethical, burden to place on students right now.”
Not only are student workers dealing with “increas[ed] financial and emotional distress” caused by lack of expected income and the loss of a structured schedule, but Bryn Mawr has not released any detailed plan that can accommodate every student worker. Heather Burkhardt ‘23, a current freshman who works at New Dorm Dining Hall (NDDH), believes a petition “could help spread awareness to the issues that Bryn Mawr workers face amid this situation,” while Eiler worries that a petition could prompt a negative response from the college. However, another anonymous student worker at NDDH states that “Bryn Mawr puts a lot of emphasis on student involvement and self-governance,” and that it would be “very disappointing if the college didn’t respond to a student petition.”
On March 31st, an email from Bryn Mawr’s chief financial officer & chief administrative officer was sent to all students (note: there has been no evidence if this petition had any influence over the financial officers’ decision). The message states that all student workers who planned on working during the spring semester will receive a lump sum of $300.
The anonymous worker at NDDH “appreciate[s] the college’s outreach,” yet believes that this solution does not accommodate all student workers as it “does not reflect the hours a lot of student workers would have worked, especially those on work-study.”
Holman has since updated her petition, closing it for donations while thanking those who have already contributed. She also recognizes and appreciates BMC’s responsiveness to the issue, yet still encourages students to “reach out to [their deans] about the emergency fund” and to “take advantage of any resources offered by the college and by alums.”
Some further suggestions of possible solutions and responses have been shared in both the Facebook groups and in response to Holman’s petition. Many of these proposed solutions echo what other institutions have implemented regarding the difficult circumstances for student workers. For example, Swarthmore College has pledged that “all work-aided students will receive a base pay,” and New York University will continue to pay students what they would have made for the rest of the 2020 spring semester.
An email sent from Haverford College to their students outlines that if students are unable to work from a remote location, the college will be “providing an allowance in lieu of foregone earnings for the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester.” This payment is described as a “stipend” that will match exactly what the workers made in the first half of the semester before students began to leave campus.
There have even been some suggestions for students to work “virtually,” provided that the nature of the job would allow this. Holman, however, objects that “not only is this plan not applicable to all jobs, this places an unfair burden on the students who rely on these funds to continue working despite the stress (emotional, financial, etc.) of living through this pandemic.”
Like everyone else, student workers are dealing with the challenges of transitioning to online learning, living at home, and managing stress and anxiety associated with the pandemic. Holman states that “students’ priorities should be keeping healthy,” instead of having to worry about how to compensate for lost income.
The anonymous worker from NDDH explains that working is “one of the things I miss most while at home. … I love everyone there and working was a great stress reliever.”
Moving forward, it is clear that the Bi-Co plans to compensate its student workers. However, these workers continue to have anxieties regarding not only the absence of a positive work environment, but also about their lost income on account of the pandemic.
Image credit: David Swanson, The Philadelphia Inquirer
