MSA and Catholic Community host community dinner with refugees Page 4
Letter to the Editor: Economics professor respond to colleague Page 10
Final Four is determined Page 11
Old Gold&Black Page 17
WAKE FOREST’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1916 T H U R S DAY, M A RC H 3 0 , 2 017
VOL. 101, NO. 11
wfuogb.com
“Cover s the campus like the magnolias”
Campus responds to 3.65 percent tuition increase Routine increases in tuition are necessary for maintaining quality, but becomes problematic as education becomes more expensive BY HEATHER HARTEL Social Media Chair harthf15@wfu.edu President of her sorority, staff leader at the fitness center and a business and enterprise management major with a history minor, junior Krissy McGrory has a full schedule. Yet, on top of her extracurricular commitments, McGrory, like some other Wake Forest students, takes out her own student loans to cover the cost of tuition. “Paying for college is an incredibly tedious and annoying process,” McGrory said. “Between FAFSA, IDOC, CSS and applying for private loans, I have to take hours that could be focused on my academics in order to lock in my Heather Hartel and Erin Stephens/Old Gold & Black financing for the years to follow. As a student who has to do Tuition steadily increases every few years, adjusted for inflation. Estimated total cost of attenthis all herself, it is extremely burdensome to jump through dance is higher as it includes tuition in addition to housing, meals, books and other fees. all the hoops necessary to be able to attend Wake Forest.” Wake Forest’s current tuition is on par with other elite, any increase adds additional stresses to attending an already cause I pay the interest on my student loans in college, an increase will force me to increase my work hours in order private institutions. For the 2015-2016 academic year, tu- expensive institution. “Not only does the increase just mean I have to pay 3.65 to cover these bills, which adds even more stress and obligaition and additional fees summed to $64,478. On March 17, the Board of Trustees announced a 3.65 percent in- percent more than the year before, by the time interest and tions to my day-to-day schedule.” Yet, tuition increases are not unusual for higher education crease from the 2016-2017 tuition for the 2017-2018 aca- the rest of my debt is factored in it adds a much larger demic year. With adjustments for room, board and other amount to my long-term debt,” McGrory said. “Emotion- institutions. Amanda Griffith is a professor in the economics fees, the total cost of attendance is estimated to be $69,192. ally, the stress of having an enormous amount of debt is For students such as McGrory who take out private loans, with me every day and hangs over my head. Further, be- See Tuition, Page
University to outsource more janitors to Budd Group Faculty and staff raise concerns about the implications of contracting out more janitors MCKENZIE MADDOX Editor-in-Chief maddml14@wfu.edu Starting on July 1st of this year, the day porter janitors will join the third shift janitors in being outsourced to the Budd Group — meaning they will no longer be direct employees of the school. Faculty and staff have raised concerns about outsourcing the janitorial service to a third party because it means the university will no longer be able to directly regulate the pay and benefits of these janitorial staff. According to John Shenette, the associate vice president of facilities and campus services, the university chose to expand their partnership with the Budd Group in order to “lower operational costs and ultimately minimize staff turnover, while capitalizing on the efficient service levels the Budd Group has provided.” This decision to outsource to a third
McKenzie Maddox/Old Gold & Black
Students and members of the Faculty Senate are concerned that outsourcing janitorial staff is contrary to the “Pro Humanitate” motto. party contractor comes after an agreement between the Faculty Senate and administration was reached that all employees of the university would earn a living wage. “Last year we received a promise from the university that all direct employees, that means people that are directly employed by the university and not con-
commitment on the part of the university to guarantee a living wage for both direct and contract employees.” Currently, Wake Forest’s custodial services are organized into four categories: residence life and housing, third shift cleaning team, day porters and floor crew. The third shift cleaning team works from the hours of 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. and clean academic and administrative buildings when they are unoccupied. Since July 2015, this category of janitors has been contracted to Budd Group, a third party contracting company that hires janitorial, maintenance, landscape and facilities workers for their clients, similar to how Aramark contracts employees in food and dining services. However, starting in July 2017, the day porters, who work during the hours when the buildings are occupied and complete the tasks such as trash removal, restocking soap and mopping spills, will also be contracted out to the Budd Group. “The porters have had opportunities to apply for openings within their current department for the past two years, while
tracted out, will gain a living wage,” said Simone Caron, professor of history and Faculty Senator. “We were very grateful for that and we commended the university for this. The problem is, most of our direct employees aren’t making minimum wage, it’s the contract employees. So what we’re trying to work towards now is a See
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