To the Editor:

On March 1, The Hustler reported the university's newly signed contract agreement with Laborer's International Union of North America, the union representing 600 Vanderbilt employees, would eventually raise the university's base wage to $10 per hour over the next two years. While $10 will not be a living wage in 2008, this contract represents an enormous step forward for our university. Five years ago, Vanderbilt was proposing tiny increases barely keeping up with the cost of living; today, our university seems keenly aware that its employees deserve much better. We all should celebrate this fact.

But the article also contains a startling assertion casting a pall over the contract signing: "In order to make the final offer available, Vanderbilt shifted $1 million from academic programs and financial aid." The article quotes Mike Schoenfeld, who assures us the shift of funds "will not and should not affect our forward momentum." He continues: "Nevertheless, a million less dollars spent on those programs . . ."

Schoenfeld's quotes are stunning. In my three years of involvement with the living wage campaign, this is the first time the university has given the press a single detail about the movement of money inside its operating budget. This is the first time they have breathed a word about how they pay their laborers — despite LIVE asking the university to do a transparent cost analysis of a living wage for years. They have repeatedly refused to discuss their budget, citing concerns of business and privacy. And now, at the moment they raise wages to unprecedented levels, they poke a tiny hole in the curtain of secrecy: "We took a million dollars away from financial aid. How do you like your living wage now?"

I cannot help but see this as a calculated public relations move designed to discourage future advocacy of workers' rights on Vanderbilt's campus. Concerned students who read about a $1 million reallocation have absolutely no context in which to place this decision. I have a lot of questions: What is the total academic budget, and does $1 million represent a significant portion of it? Does Vanderbilt usually make a habit of paying its workers out of the financial aid budget? Who made this decision, and why? Perhaps most importantly: Can I trust my administrators, so selective in the details they choose to reveal, to tell me the truth?

The Hustler is the primary news source on this campus. As such, it has a responsibility to delve deeper into these budgetary claims. The administration has closed its doors repeatedly to LIVE's requests for budget information. I urge The Hustler to use its mandate as our campus newspaper to push administrators for more information. We cannot accept terse, unsubstantiated claims from Vanderbilt public relations as sufficient information about workers' wages in Vanderbilt's budget. A little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and in this case, I believe it may amount to deception. We deserve better.

Ellen McSweeney
Senior, Blair