April 20, 2017
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SCRIPPS RAS ON STRIKE By Mel Gilcrest ‘19 Editor-in-Chief
O
n T h u r s d ay, A p r i l 1 3 t h , the Scripps student body received an email from the Scripps Residential Advisor team declaring the RAs’ intention to go on strike effective immediately. The initial email began by outlining sources of non-RA support for students, including Campus Safety, the maintenance department, Health Education Outreach, Scripps Advocates for Survivors of Sexual Assault, and other resources. The RAs asked that students “refrain from exploiting [their] absence by engaging in unsafe behavior given that RAs will not be on-call,” and urged for “Scripps students, faculty, and staff with the capacity to provide emotional support...to do so in solidarity with RAs.” The RAs released a detailed list of demands in conjunction with their initial email to the student body. The document was addressed to President Lara Tiedens, outlining the reasons for the strike, the demands being made, and the context and motivation for each demand. The reasons cited for the strike included administrative neglect, the undue demands placed on students (especially after the death of fellow RA Tatissa Zunguze in March 2017), lack of sufficient financial aid, and lack of mental health resources on campus. According to the document, “The purpose of the strike is: 1) to put pressure on Scripps to fulfill its obligation to students 2) to demonstrate the extent of the labor we perform on campus and 3) to break with our normal routine in recognition of the impact of Tatissa’s passing and illustrate our frustration with Scripps’ continued inaction.” The document lists five
Inside This Issue:
demands, requesting that “a timeline with actionable steps be presented...no later than April 20th.” The letter attests to the urgency and validity of each demand in turn. In the first demand, Dean of Students and Vice President of Student Affairs Charlotte Johnson is described as having “shown that she is incapable of acting in an appropriate manner during crisis,” citing instances both before and after Tatissa Zunguze’s death when Johnson failed to adequately support students and RAs; the letter describes how Johnson was not available to meet with RAs after the tragedy, and “expected Residential Life staff to promptly return to work two weeks or sooner after the death of their co-worker and friend, without checking to see if the staff was ready to return to
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RA staff of 2016-2017. Photo courtesy of Scripps College.
their roles.” Without giving names or exact dates, the letter details other instances of Dean Johnson’s neglect of student affairs, citing one instance of an RA diagnosed with a gastrointestinal illness and unable to eat in the dining hall who waited three months for Johnson “to find a sustainable and accessible accommodation” and who was “unable to receive remuneration for their work due to a disability” as RAs are paid in room and board. On the second demand, the document declares that “Scripps College states that it will support the demonstrated financial needs of all students; however, several students have been forced to terminate their enrollment at this institution due to 1) financial aid that does not adjust to
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annual increases in tuition or to changes in a student’s family’s financial circumstances and 2) inadequate information about their financial aid packages prior to and during enrollment.” It goes on to discuss anonymous cases in which students who sought additional funding to support their tuition payments were met with a decrease in financial aid offered by Scripps. The third demand discusses a lack of coherent emergency plans in response to the various incidents that have left students feeling unsafe on campus. The letter cites “multiple cases where
students’ names, identity, location, emails, and other contact information have been leaked by the Claremont Independent and other media
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