Rain, hail and several location changes did not stop the No Cuts rally Thursday afternoon in front of Kirkland Hall. The protest, sponsored by LIVE, sought to pressure the university to prevent the layoffs of Vanderbilt’s lowest paid employees.
“The goal is to reach out to the administration and give them an opportunity to make this a community-wide discussion on how to help the entire Vanderbilt community in these times of economic hardship,” said senior Braden Clark.
No Cuts, which is comprised of Living Income for Vanderbilt Employees and Vanderbilt Students of Nonviolence, has taken up the plight of the lowest-wage workers on campus in light of the economy’s impact on the university. The rally comes after the organization petitioned and met with students and faculty to examine the situation.
“This rally is a way to come together as a community to express our solidarity with Vanderbilt's lowest wage workers. We want the chancellor to guarantee the job security of those most vulnerable to this devastating economic climate,” said senior Eli Feghali, organizer of the organization.
“We are a university and we value our student’s input,” said Beth Fortune, vice chancellor for public affairs. “It was a completely appropriate, very civil rally. The chancellor will be meeting with several members of the group when his schedule permits as well.”
While the administration informed No Cuts that it is working to prevent any layoffs, they have made no guarantees. The campaign asked the administration to ensure that workers will not experience any layoffs, cutbacks, hourly reductions or loss of benefits in the next year as Vanderbilt experiences a budget reduction.
The group also requested that Chancellor Nick Zeppos take a pay cut if the university is faced to cut jobs. Fortune said the administrator voluntarily reduced his salary a few months ago, and it will go in affect next year. The administrator and his family also made a $1 million donation to the school at the end of last year, she said.
“We want to stress that this is not at all antagonistic. We’re proposing the salary cut only as an absolute last resort,” said Clark. “We’re confident that the administration can come up with other cost-saving measures.”
The request of Zeppos comes just three weeks after the Chronicle of Higher Education examined the salaries of some of the highest paid individuals in higher education. Fortune explained that the figures presented in the article were misleading as they represented benefit packages. Nonetheless, Vanderbilt employees made the list four times, more than any other university on the list.
“Vanderbilt is a large complex institution,” Fortune said. “We pride ourselves on leaders that are very knowledgeable and that are very skilled and — frankly — in demand in other places.” Fortune said she does not know of any other administrators that have taken pay cuts, but did not rule out the possibility.
In the last few weeks, over 800 students, faculty and staff have signed a petition asking the administration to ensure the job security of workers. The petition was handed to Zeppos on Thursday. “Our position is shared by the vast majority of the Vanderbilt community because it is congruent with the values that make this university so special. What we are calling for is a proactive expression of the Community Creed, a deeply felt concern for the well-being and dignity of others,” Feghali said.
Some Vanderbilt workers were also optimistic about the rally.
“I think it’s a good thing that they are doing,” said C.T. West employee Brian Stone. “Some workers are really struggling.”
Vanderbilt custodian Dewayne Arbogast agreed that the prospect of layoffs is one that demands attention.
“Any layoffs would be devastating because there are simply no more jobs in this community. People would be in a situation where they would lose everything,” Arbogast said.
The group was optimistic about the rally and for their cause.
“A community does not have expendable or replaceable parts. A community looks out for its own in times of hardship,” said sophomore Benjamin Eagles. “In this spirit, we wish to promote a message of shared sacrifice and solidarity with the workers.”
The rally took place in front of Kirkland Hall from 12:30 until 1:15 p.m. on Thursday.
For a complete podcast of the event click here.
ALSO BY CHELSEY FELDMAN
