to end COVID-19 protocols like isolation housing, campus testing

Northwestern will incorporate its remaining COVID-19 protocols into broader health operations beginning June 13, according to a University news release.

Starting this summer, the University will discontinue isolation housing in 1835 Hinman, oncampus testing in the Jacobs Center and the current COVID-19 vaccine requirement for most students.

The changes follow the Biden administration’s decision to end the COVID-19 national emergency this month, with plans to end the national public health emergency in May. Other universities nationwide are adopting similar changes, the release said.

“We deeply appreciate the Northwestern community’s commitment to the mission of the University while adapting to abrupt shifts and changes in the trajectory of COVID-19 that presented significant challenges at work and at home,” Vice President for Operations Luke Figora said in the release.

While the “overwhelming majority” of the campus community is vaccinated, according to the release, the University will cease to require all students to get the COVID-19 vaccination and booster shots. This excludes students in clinical programs who need to comply with site requirements.

Students who want to be tested can contact the Northwestern Medicine Student Health Service, but NU encourages faculty to make their own testing arrangements. When students do test positive, they will not be required to report it to the University, a requirement which NU lifted for faculty in January.

The University recommends students defer to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding booster vaccines and isolation protocols. With the discontinuation of isolation housing except for a few emergency spaces, the University will ask students who test positive to isolate in their own dorms going forward.

“We thank our students, faculty and staff for their sacrifices and understanding throughout our response to COVID-19,” Figora said in the release. “We will remain vigilant in monitoring COVID-19 and other threats to public health as we continue to safeguard our community in the years to come.”

Samantha Powers

Fair Housing

From page 1 with that strategy because “shame causes paralysis.” She said change needs to come from interpersonal action, not policy reforms.

“We can’t just keep saying ‘let’s fix the system,’” she said. “The system is doing what it’s meant to do the whole time.” colereynolds2026@u.northwestern.edu

Mather

From page 1 assistant,” Jung said. “So (eMerge) is really a chance for The Mather to provide opportunities for students to come into an industry that they may never have thought about and try different roles.”

Jung said Mather is currently working with Evanston Township High School to place four students in dining services and culinary internships at Mather’s Evanston residency, with more positions planned for the future.

Nathan Norman, Evanston’s workforce development manager, said he began meeting with Mather in 2022 to collaborate on eMerge.

“We see efficacy and intergenerational connectivity,” Norman said. “You have elderly individuals who easily would trust and build relationships with young people, but also offer them things that would cultivate them in their lives far beyond just a normal employment experience.”

In turn, young people can provide company and assistance to The Mather’s residents, for example by helping them navigate technology, he added.

At the height of the pandemic, Norman said many employers couldn’t provide internships and jobs to youth and young adults. Now, he said the city made it a priority to create programs like eMerge that help introduce young people to various industries and employment opportunities.

Norman pointed to the ASPIRE-Evanston Community Healthcare Workforce Development Program as another example. ASPIRE partners with local healthcare organizations and schools to provide job shadowing, scholarships and internships in the healthcare industry. In February 2022, Evanston approved a grant of $200,000 in ARPA funds to the program.

“My hope is that (eMerge) would be continuous in that individuals who go through the program would eventually end up as employees of Mather, and we would be able to continue this program as a pipeline (and) as a model for future collaborative initiatives,” Norman said.

Jung said she hopes eMerge will create a “feeder of talent” into permanent positions at The Mather.

Over time, she said she wants the number of internships, fellowship positions and scholarships to grow.

“The real goal for us is to get students exposure to not only our industry but also positions within The Mather that are really sparking interest,” Jung said. caseyhe2026@u.northwestern.edu

Maintenance

From page 1 upper management would not provide any additional help.

Rojas, who is 66, worked on the maintenance team for about ten years before retiring in March 2022. As an older worker, she said she physically could not complete tasks like cleaning windows, but her supervisors told her she needed to provide medical documentation to prove it. By the time Rojas left NU, she felt “really tired and exhausted,” and said the work had become “too much” for her.

“(When I went to clean) in 630 Emerson, it was horrible,” Rojas said. “I needed help because I was older and carrying boxes to the third floor. When I cleaned the floors, (my supervisor) would tell me that it was ‘alright.’ But it was so clean, and they did not value my hard work.”

Like Rojas, some other current and former maintenance technicians at NU have reported being overworked, verbally abused and facing retaliation from supervisors for speaking up about concerns they had.

Technicians provide custodial services in residential halls on campus. They clean common spaces like bathrooms, lounges and kitchens, and replace lights. At the start of each academic year, Residential Services randomly assigns technicians to clean certain parts or floors of residence halls on campus.

University spokesperson Hilary Hurd Anyaso said Residential Services is exploring using factors like square footage, fixtures and the type of amenities in a space to distribute work evenly among technicians in the future.

Christina*, a current Maintenance Technician, said the current division of labor is not equitable. She said some spaces are easier to clean because they are less frequented than others. Other spaces might have more appliances, which makes them more frustrating to clean than an empty room of a similar size, she added.

Favoritism toward certain workers also affects work assignments, Christina said. She added that while at NU, the maintenance team has been “regularly” understaffed.

When some employees could not finish cleaning their assigned areas, workers who supervisors dislike often have additional work added on to their plates. She said this favoritism is applied arbitrarily.

Though all workers have eight-hour shifts, Christina said those who perform well are often asked to help colleagues or take on additional cleaning duties. As one of these workers, she said this increases her workload to a point where she can barely complete it. Additionally, supervisors punish workers by increasing their assignments, she said.

“Respect us as employees, or like equals,” the worker said. “At the end of the day, (our supervisors) are going by preference. For me, that’s discrimination.”

Anyaso said supervisors do not increase technicians’ workload unless another co-worker takes a

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vacation or calls off work. She added staff should report their concerns directly to their supervisors or through EthicsPoint, a confidential reporting tool.

“Student Affairs and Residential Services are committed to creating positive work environments for maintenance technicians, as their work is essential and incredibly valued across the University,” Anyaso said. “Northwestern policy strictly prohibits retaliation.”

But Christina and Rojas both said they have experienced retaliation from supervisors.

In instances where Christina has spoken to supervisors about her concerns with shouldering additional work, she said they have doubled her workload and refused to provide her additional help to complete extra assignments. Other times, she said supervisors have given “condescending” responses, telling her the work is “just eight hours.”

“If I see something they are doing wrong, they will take it bad,” the worker said. “They have retaliated against me various times. You can’t say anything because (the retaliation) is heavy and it (gets) worse.”

Rojas said her direct supervisors have embarrassed her multiple times during staff meetings. One of her fellow co-workers, who retired early, had to go to therapy because the high levels of stress she faced at work caused her to think she was “crazy.” Rojas added she has seen workers burst into tears in front of their supervisors.

Supervisors she worked under created a culture of fear, she said.

“(My supervisor) told us explicitly, ‘If you have evidence of accusations of me, tell me. If not, be quiet,’” Rojas said. “How can we go to a supervisor if they do nothing for us? Sometimes we do feel intimidated.”

When both workers would try reporting discrimination to the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance, formerly the Office of Equity, Christina said HR would just circle back to supervisors about worker complaints, which defeated the purpose of reporting.

Latine workers who are not fluent in English face additional racial and linguistic discrimination from their supervisors, according to Daisy*, also a current Maintenance Technician. She said language barriers cause lapses in communication between her and her supervisors, leading to misunderstandings about which spaces she needed to clean. At times, these misinterpretations have caused her to do “double the work,” she said.

Navigating language barriers has also caused high stress and anxiety, Daisy said. Managers think workers who don’t complete their assigned tasks are “incapable” when in reality, she said some just don’t understand what’s being asked of them.

“To the Hispanics who are most available for work, they give us more work,” she said. “Other people of other races can defend themselves. They speak English. But we’re the victims because we don’t speak English.”

Anyaso said supervisors conduct all staff meetings in English and Spanish. She said Residential

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The workers said the high-stress environment has already caused many workers to quit their positions, and the current workers said they felt overwhelmed by their work loads.

I can be in my home and I can be really happy and feel good,” Daisy said. “But as soon as I think about working, I just feel a knot in my stomach and I feel like I can no longer go through and work under those conditions.”

After failing to get their supervisors to listen to them, some maintenance staff turned to Students Organizing for Labor Rights, an NU student organization advocating for better treatment of campus workers.

SESP senior and SOLR member Neva Legallet said students have an “outsized voice” on campus and can help keep the University accountable. On March 10, the organization delivered a petition to the University, calling on NU administrators to take action and address demands from workers after hearing about what maintenance technicians are experiencing. The petition’s demands included addressing discrimination, excessive workloads and short staffing on the maintenance team.

“The day I came to SOLR I cried,” Christina said. “I was at the point of quitting my job.”

After SOLR sent the petition to the University, all maintenance technicians on campus received a dollar raise in their hourly salary, making their base pay $17.50. Christina said she felt the raise was given to “silence” her and her colleagues.

Weinberg sophomore and SOLR member Jennifer Salvador said the organization has reached out to the University three times in the last few weeks to try and arrange a meeting to discuss maintenance technicians’ concerns. SOLR has not heard back, Salvador said.

“(The University’s) response is very inadequate because this is very urgent and it seems they still do not care about what is going on,” Salvador said. “The raise is a very specific way to shut (maintenance technicians) up. They haven’t responded because they don’t want further questions from us.”

Anyaso said the University’s delay in communication with SOLR is unintentional, and Residential Services should reach out to the group soon to set up a meeting. She added the wage increase was not related to the petition. Residential Services began conducting annual market analyses on maintenance technician pay in 2022, she said, and the 2023 analysis resulted in a wage increase implemented in early April.

All three workers said they hope the University will start treating them with respect and dignity. This includes raising wages to about $22 an hour, standardizing salaries and wages, and eliminating favoritism.

“The reality is that it’s ugly. It’s horrible,” Daisy said. “We are suffering too much for what they are paying.” joannahou2025@u.northwestern.edu