1. OUR VOICE AS UNDERGRADS MATTERS
As tuition rises, our demands become more critical than ever. We have the right to demand that the tens of thousands of dollars we pay in tuition go towards a living wage,childcare, and healthcare for all workers of this university. As a school that prides itself on the attention it gives to its undergraduate students, we must make it clear to WashU that better working conditions are critical to improving out experience here. Given that WashU is highly conscious of the image it puts forth to attract future undergrad students, it is our duty as undergraduates to sway administrative action by exposing the inequitable wages and scant benefits for the workers we value. Past activism on campus has showed that administrators respond when there is an overwhelming number of people in support of an issue. Therefore, the support of 5,000 undergraduate students is crucial to the success of this movement.
2. OUR EXPERIENCE ON CAMPUS IS SUSTAINED BY UNDERPAID WORKERS
Our time here has been made more fulfilling thanks to the service workers who remember our orders, the crossing guards who say hi every day, the graduate workers who teach the classes we love and remember our names in the classes we share. The workers who enrich our time at WashU and go above and beyond to support our student experience deserve a living wage.
3. WE OWE FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO STL COMMUNITY MEMBERS
The vast majority of those who work on our campus commute from other areas in the St. Louis region to Clayton to work. The “WashU Bubble” that keeps us isolated therefore depends on the labor of our fellow St. Louis community members. The service workforce that sustains this primarily white institution is made up of a majority of people of color, and the fact that WUSTL systematically denies just wages and benefits to its workers further entrenches racist divides in St. Louis. The first step to counteracting decades of de facto discrimination and segregation in this region is to ensure the basic necessities to those who not only work for this university but also share our city.
4. CONTINUED EXPLOITATION DEPENDS ON OUR IGNORANCE
The university can perpetuate unjust working conditions as long as we fail to make connections with workers, neglect our duty to understand their struggles, ignore the responsibility to stand with them in the fight for equitable wages. Use your presence to occupy space on our campus and demand recognition from the administration that continues to ignore our pleas. As Timothy Snyder writes, “Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them”.
5. THIS IS A CRITICAL MOMENT IN WUSTL HISTORY
We cannot wait years for the University to provide what is needed now: living wages. With a new chancellor about to take charge, and the East End construction soon to be completed, WUSTL is about to enter a new chapter that must include respect for campus workers. What is our vision for the future of this campus? Will it be a future of exclusivity and disrespect towards our workers or one where our campus leads the way for other employers in the St. Louis region?
6. SOLIDARITY IS AN ESSENTIAL EXTENSION OF WHAT WE LEARN IN THE CLASSROOM
The Fight for $15 is an opportunity to act on the values we espouse in the essays we turn in, in the discussions we lead on campus, in the posts we share. This is a space to directly enact the values we hold as students working for a more just future. The fight must be local, and our campus is where our struggle starts. As students, we must also think critically about the conversations that are denied space in the classroom or in the institution as a whole. We have the responsibility to use the skills, resources, and ability given to us through our placement at WashU to amplify the voices of workers. If you are asking yourself, “What can I do as a student to make a difference?” here is your answer.
7. NO ONE SHOULD LIVE IN PRECARITY
It is unacceptable that anyone who works for a university with an $8 billion endowment lives below the poverty line. It is unacceptable that student workers at WashU have to juggle 40 hour weeks with a full class load in order to barely scrape by. It is unacceptable that when workers ask for their demands for living wages to be heard, they are arrested. We cannot stand by while workers struggle to make mortgage payments or put food on the table. By underpaying its workers, WashU actively perpetuates instability within the St. Louis region, an area starkly divided along socioeconomic and racial lines. WashU is currently sending the message that precarity is justifiable when it supports the success of largely upper class students.
8. UNDERGRADS ARE WORKERS TOO
A $15 wage would play a huge role in changing the realities of undergraduate students who work to support themselves in college. Given the amount of hours and focus required by many jobs, an equitable wage would make the time worthwhile for students also juggling academics and extracurriculars on top of their outside work. Attending college without the added pressure of a job is not a privilege available to many students in our community, and increasing wages would be an immense help towards paying rent, buying school supplies, and supporting the overall well-being of undergraduate student workers.
9. IT'S TIME TO SET A PRECEDENT FOR PEER INSTITUTIONS
What would happen if instead of priding ourselves on having the nation’s “best dorms” or “best food”, we ranked above others in workers rights and wages? By paying $15 an hour, we would be joining the ranks of University of Washington, NYU, Columbia, Emory, and UVA. We would also be helping to set the standard for other universities in the country and employers in the St. Louis region. .
10. STUDENTS MUST DEMAND A BETTER FUTURE
It is not enough to be satisfied with the WashU of today. We cannot blindly accept the current reality of exploitation on campus, simply because it’s most basic functions continue. We must have higher standards for our school and hold the administration accountable when it fails to respond not only to the needs of its workers but also to its students of color, queer students, adjunct faculty, and other marginalized populations that continue to be disappointed by the administration time and time again.
As tuition rises, our demands become more critical than ever. We have the right to demand that the tens of thousands of dollars we pay in tuition go towards a living wage,childcare, and healthcare for all workers of this university. As a school that prides itself on the attention it gives to its undergraduate students, we must make it clear to WashU that better working conditions are critical to improving out experience here. Given that WashU is highly conscious of the image it puts forth to attract future undergrad students, it is our duty as undergraduates to sway administrative action by exposing the inequitable wages and scant benefits for the workers we value. Past activism on campus has showed that administrators respond when there is an overwhelming number of people in support of an issue. Therefore, the support of 5,000 undergraduate students is crucial to the success of this movement.
2. OUR EXPERIENCE ON CAMPUS IS SUSTAINED BY UNDERPAID WORKERS
Our time here has been made more fulfilling thanks to the service workers who remember our orders, the crossing guards who say hi every day, the graduate workers who teach the classes we love and remember our names in the classes we share. The workers who enrich our time at WashU and go above and beyond to support our student experience deserve a living wage.
3. WE OWE FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO STL COMMUNITY MEMBERS
The vast majority of those who work on our campus commute from other areas in the St. Louis region to Clayton to work. The “WashU Bubble” that keeps us isolated therefore depends on the labor of our fellow St. Louis community members. The service workforce that sustains this primarily white institution is made up of a majority of people of color, and the fact that WUSTL systematically denies just wages and benefits to its workers further entrenches racist divides in St. Louis. The first step to counteracting decades of de facto discrimination and segregation in this region is to ensure the basic necessities to those who not only work for this university but also share our city.
4. CONTINUED EXPLOITATION DEPENDS ON OUR IGNORANCE
The university can perpetuate unjust working conditions as long as we fail to make connections with workers, neglect our duty to understand their struggles, ignore the responsibility to stand with them in the fight for equitable wages. Use your presence to occupy space on our campus and demand recognition from the administration that continues to ignore our pleas. As Timothy Snyder writes, “Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them”.
5. THIS IS A CRITICAL MOMENT IN WUSTL HISTORY
We cannot wait years for the University to provide what is needed now: living wages. With a new chancellor about to take charge, and the East End construction soon to be completed, WUSTL is about to enter a new chapter that must include respect for campus workers. What is our vision for the future of this campus? Will it be a future of exclusivity and disrespect towards our workers or one where our campus leads the way for other employers in the St. Louis region?
6. SOLIDARITY IS AN ESSENTIAL EXTENSION OF WHAT WE LEARN IN THE CLASSROOM
The Fight for $15 is an opportunity to act on the values we espouse in the essays we turn in, in the discussions we lead on campus, in the posts we share. This is a space to directly enact the values we hold as students working for a more just future. The fight must be local, and our campus is where our struggle starts. As students, we must also think critically about the conversations that are denied space in the classroom or in the institution as a whole. We have the responsibility to use the skills, resources, and ability given to us through our placement at WashU to amplify the voices of workers. If you are asking yourself, “What can I do as a student to make a difference?” here is your answer.
7. NO ONE SHOULD LIVE IN PRECARITY
It is unacceptable that anyone who works for a university with an $8 billion endowment lives below the poverty line. It is unacceptable that student workers at WashU have to juggle 40 hour weeks with a full class load in order to barely scrape by. It is unacceptable that when workers ask for their demands for living wages to be heard, they are arrested. We cannot stand by while workers struggle to make mortgage payments or put food on the table. By underpaying its workers, WashU actively perpetuates instability within the St. Louis region, an area starkly divided along socioeconomic and racial lines. WashU is currently sending the message that precarity is justifiable when it supports the success of largely upper class students.
8. UNDERGRADS ARE WORKERS TOO
A $15 wage would play a huge role in changing the realities of undergraduate students who work to support themselves in college. Given the amount of hours and focus required by many jobs, an equitable wage would make the time worthwhile for students also juggling academics and extracurriculars on top of their outside work. Attending college without the added pressure of a job is not a privilege available to many students in our community, and increasing wages would be an immense help towards paying rent, buying school supplies, and supporting the overall well-being of undergraduate student workers.
9. IT'S TIME TO SET A PRECEDENT FOR PEER INSTITUTIONS
What would happen if instead of priding ourselves on having the nation’s “best dorms” or “best food”, we ranked above others in workers rights and wages? By paying $15 an hour, we would be joining the ranks of University of Washington, NYU, Columbia, Emory, and UVA. We would also be helping to set the standard for other universities in the country and employers in the St. Louis region. .
10. STUDENTS MUST DEMAND A BETTER FUTURE
It is not enough to be satisfied with the WashU of today. We cannot blindly accept the current reality of exploitation on campus, simply because it’s most basic functions continue. We must have higher standards for our school and hold the administration accountable when it fails to respond not only to the needs of its workers but also to its students of color, queer students, adjunct faculty, and other marginalized populations that continue to be disappointed by the administration time and time again.