Sep. 4 — 186 students, approximately 22% of the student body, signed a letter to President Wingenbach demanding transparency from administration, and the beginning of negotiations to address harm caused by the recent change limiting the hours student workers can work per week to 7.
The letter was delivered to President Wingenbach late on September 3rd.
It began circulating on the 15th of August, when the cuts were first being discussed on the Hampshire Hangout Discord server, and has been collecting signatures since, having been spread on Instagram, YikYak, via posters, and signature-gathering in the Dining Commons.
The letter is over five pages long, and touches on the disproportionate impacts the 7-hour-a-week limit will have on BIPOC, low-income, international, disabled, first-generation, and homeless students.
It also highlights the knock-on effects of the cut, and links the reduced hours of the Bridge, the hours of which have been cut by almost 60%, and the library, the hours of which have been cut more than 30%.
The letter takes aim at the inconsistent application of the rules, where reportedly some student workers in certain positions are allowed to work 9 hours, and other specific returning student workers have been given permission to work 15 hours: “Why would the ability to live off the money they make be permitted for some students and not others?”
The letter also highlights the school’s budget over-expenditure of $1.4 million dollars last fiscal year, which has not been officially publicly explained by administration.
The letter ends by reasserting the love that the students have for the school and the ideals it stands for: “The overwhelming majority of students have a deep and abiding concern for the health and thriving of the college, and the values, ideals, and vision of higher education for which it stands.”
Demands include official announcement of the changes to student employment, advance notice of budgetary decisions and explanations of them, the release of detailed FY2023 and FY2024 budgets, an announcement of the specific lay-offs, and a list of the people in involved in the decision to cut student employment.
The biggest demand, though, is for administration to enter into negotiations with a student committee to address the harm caused by the student employment cuts.
Finally, the student body “reserves [its] right to peaceful protest,” and specifically threatens a sit-in.
DISCLOSURE: The author of this article is one of the writers of the letter.
