(Image taken by Ben Hayes)
After SGA passed its resolution to support an increase of student wages on Tuesday, Oct. 1, Skidmore administration’s senior leadership team held its first Open Forum on Tuesday, Oct. 15 to discuss the issue and its possibilities.
The open forum included information from members of the administration regarding student employment, feedback and questions from the student body, and heated discussions regarding minimum wage, lasting for over an hour and a half.
In case you were not able to attend, The Skidmore News compiled a list of the top updates on what happened during the open forum.
1) Members of Skidmore Administration presented on the next steps:
The open forum included Dean of Students Cerri Banks, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Gail Cummings-Danson, VP for Finance and Administration Donna Ng, and Director of Financial Aid Beth-Ann Post. Each presented on Skidmore’s student employment program along with other financial information related to it.
Cummings-Danson presented on the different options and tentative consequences of increasing the student minimum wage. The options were mainly: increase wages and keep everything else as it is, which would increase the operating budget, or cut down on the maximum number of hours and jobs to ensure that the budget stays the same. The first option got the most claps from students, and others suggested that cutting down on the number of jobs or hours could be seen as contradictory to the purpose of increasing wages.
2) Multiple students voiced concerns regarding issues of poor treatment:
Another issue that prompted heated discussion along with minimum wage was the issue of mistreatment, especially towards students of underrepresented backgrounds, such as students of color, international students, and LGBTQI+.
A student mentioned that there is “a troubling culture of mistreatment and harassment” that is often not talked about. Specifically, some students feel that they have no protections as workers and are not provided with the key information about who to reach out in case of mistreatment during the orientation period of their jobs.
Banks said that the college tries to inform students about the process of reporting on job misconduct information at several times but acknowledged the issue might have to be handled in a different way. She added that currently there is no widespread reports that she knows of, therefore “the first thing to talk about is how to make students feel comfortable enough to come forward.”
Ng added that students can reach out to Human Resources, and that it’s a “place where students should go to” as it is also “where faculty and staff go when they have concerns or issues.”
In response, a student mentioned that there has not been enough emphasis on ensuring student workers are aware of this information, especially for first-years, as their on-campus employment tends to be their first one, and that saying there are no wide-spread reports regarding this issue could downplay and misrepresent power dynamics in the workplace.
Banks commented that “I am not misrepresenting, I’m telling you if we are not being told, we do not know.” She further commented that as for Human resources, members of administration have attempted to make that information available to students.
“Some of it is (sort of) about how colleges work and figuring out how do we get enough of that information for students so that they know the correct pathways--so that they understand what an appeal process look like (and) what their protections are,” she concluded her statement.
3) Students aired their grievances and personal anecdotes regarding their labor and work experience at the College:
A significant portion of the open forum included several students from a variety of backgrounds sharing vulnerable stories regarding their work experience as workers specifically, and financial hardships facing them generally. Shayna Federico ’22, for example, talked about her experience working several jobs on campus and and “the emotional labor that comes with it,” that is really not accounted for in the student wages.
4) The administration is uncertain why there has not been follow-up on the 2015 campaign:
When asked by both The Skidmore News and Nicollet Laframboise ’20 on why there was no follow-up on the similar 2015 campaign — which was supposed to tie the student minimum wage to the New York State minimum wage — Ann Post said she is unsure, but that the minimum wage of the state increased dramatically while Skidmore’s stayed in place at 9.75 $. Banks mentioned that they are looking at historical records to get a better sense of the reasoning behind the issue, but that students “Should be heartened that it [the 2015 campaign] came out of student activism.”
5) More details are promised for the next open forum:
The next open forum will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 7:00-8:30 p.m. Banks mentioned then, there will be more information regarding next steps, as the Budget Committee is planning on meeting on Oct. 25 and will be discussing the issue further.
The Skidmore News reached out to Banks for a follow-up statement, but she was unavailable to comment prior to the publication of this story.