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Stymied By Secrecy

For thirteen months the University remained silent on the issue of a living wage, spurring the Progressive Student Labor Movement to action. Now administrators have announced their plans to aid workers. But students say it's not enough.

Price says she spent about 10 to 15 hours per week fulfilling her duties for the committee, in addition to "a lot of weekends."

"It's what we were expected to do," she says.

She says she believes the system of staffing works well and maximizes the productivity of the faculty.

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"What it means in terms of people staffing is that you get the best work out of the faculty--they are able to come to the table and come up with their best thoughts, without having to say, 'Oh my God, I have to write this,'" Price says.

Credit Where Credit is Due

Committee members credit students with turning the attention of the University to the contingent workforce and issues of employment practices.

"Without students highlighting these problems, I don't think we would have done this," Zeckhauser says.

Former Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III says the committee's recommendations represent one of the most significant victories for student activism in recent memory. He compares PSLM's campaign with the anti-Vietnam War movement of the 1970s and the anti-apartheid divestment struggle of the 1980s.

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