Volume 139, Issue 11 Wednesday, November 4, 2020
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UT custodians demand hazard pay from university amid COVID-19 SETH CHAPMAN Staff Writer
UT custodians and supporters gathered Friday in front of the Torchbearer at Circle Park to demand hazard pay from the university. Attendees held up signs in solidarity as students, custodians and one faculty member spoke out in support of providing hazard pay of $2.50 and raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Sam Goodman, a lecturer at UT, started the press conference. “Look, I don’t have to tell anyone that this is an extremely difficult time — in the world, in the country. Here in the state of Tennessee. Here in Knoxville,” Goodman said. “As a faculty member, I’ve been told over and over again by the university that UTK classrooms are the safest place in the county. I don’t know if that is true, but I do know that the classrooms that they’re talking about are not where my students attend my class. They attend my class from home. And for many of them, that home is their residence hall. And the responsibility and the work and risk of keeping those homes clean and safe has fallen on workers who are understaffed and
earning poverty wages. You cannot tell me that’s right.” As One of the organizers of the event, Eli Stanfield is a member of the United Campus Workers and shared their thoughts on the working conditions of custodians at UT. “Many of the workers start off making only $10 an hour. For many, and especially those with families, this is not a survivable wage. They (custodians) are on the front lines and are most exposed to the virus, yet they are the ones being paid the least,” Stanfield said. Stanfield also added that one of the custodians meant to speak at the gathering was absent due to being diagnosed with COVID-19. One of the speakers was Joyce Leeper, a custodian who has been working at the residence halls at UT campus for over 10 years. “If you just started and are working fulltime, you don’t have the sick days built up if you get infected. They are supposed to pay for the first two weeks if you get infected, whether you are part-time or full-time. Anything after that, it’s on you to pay, even if you get reinfected,” Leeper said. According to both Stanfield and Leeper, UT custodians are already working at half capac-
ity and being constantly shifted through the other dorm halls. While many classes have moved online, this has caused most students to have to attend online classes from their dorms. Custodians sanitize the dorms for the virus, but this also places them as the most at risk for infection. “Some of the students in our building are quarantined right now, but we still need houses paid,” Leeper said, “and I would like to continue on working, but as some say, no-
body can in the conditions we are in.” “Vol Means All” has been a rallying cry embraced by the administration, yet their commitment to that value is under question. One UT student, Danny Urquieta, also joined other voices as they gave their speech in support of the hazard pay. “I don’t know if UT is meeting our dialogues on ‘Vol Means All’ if they are not paying our custodians a fair wage,” Urquieta said.
Joyce Leeper, a custodian who spoke at the event. Seth Chapman / The Daily Beacon
Ewing Gallery wraps Asian art exhibition ‘Liberated from Storage’ RACHEL PARKISON Contributor
Photo courtesy of Rachel Parkison As the month comes to a close, the UT Ewing Gallery of Art + Architecture has just wrapped up its second exhibition of the fall semester. This showing, entitled “Liberated from Storage: Selections of Asian Art from the Ewing Collection,” consisted of both historical
and contemporary works of Asian art from the gallery’s permanent collection — pieces which rarely see the light of day. The Ewing Gallery’s fall lineup typically consists of three outside shows, meaning that they display works that are not created by students and are not readily available in Knoxville. Due to the challenges brought on by COVID-19, however, the gallery staff was forced to alter their schedule. “We had a couple of exhibits planned that were going to necessitate going to New York to pick up work,” Sam Yates, director and curator at the Ewing Gallery said. “Of course, we had to put all of that on hold, and so we decided that offers the possibility of maybe highlighting works from our permanent collection that most of the time (aren’t seen by the) university community because they’re in storage at our off-campus storage facility. ... We just took it as an opportunity to, as they say, make lemonade out of lemons, and so we have focused on works this fall from our permanent collection.”
The credit for this exhibition went in large part to Dr. Karen Hughes, a biology professor at UT, whose recent gift to the Ewing Gallery of Japanese woodblock prints made up a large portion of the display. These prints were accompanied by a number of other works, including sculptural and textiles pieces from China, India and Taiwan. “There are 113 (works) on exhibition right now,” Sarah McFalls, collections manager at the Ewing Gallery, said. “The majority of those pieces are Japanese woodblock prints from the mid-19th century, so they were all made in the 1830s to 1860s. They’re called ‘ukiyo-e’ prints, and they can depict landscapes, kabuki actors, scenes from plays, beautiful women that represent poems or virtues or flowers.” Several elements of this exhibition have been with the Ewing Gallery since the 1950s and 1960s, when the university was not yet actively acquiring art due to a lack of storage facilities. Since then, however, the Ewing Gallery’s collection efforts have increased significantly.
“The contemporary portion is work that the gallery has collected since the mid-1980s through now. A number of those works we purchased from an exhibition Sam (Yates) curated in 2012, which was called ‘Redefining the Multiple: 13 Japanese Printmakers,’” McFalls said. In recognition of the obstacles created by COVID-19, McFalls also endeavored to make many of the exhibition’s pieces virtually accessible. This way, those that could not visit campus in person were still able to interact with the works of art. In regards to what the Ewing Gallery is planning next, the upcoming exhibition will feature pieces from Europe and the Americas from its permanent collection. Much like the works of Asia exhibit, these works will only be on display for a short time before returning to their home in storage. “I think people who really want to see the exhibit will come,” Yates said. “We think the show has got a little something for everybody.”