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Kenyon Anti-Outsourcing Progress
Campus Worker Justice Tour Kicks Off At Kenyon College -- Have I mentioned recently how proud I am of our community and our students?
Kenyon Community Alliance on Facebook -- if you're not FB-afflicted, and would like to be kept up to date on their work, send me a message and I'll get it to Melanie; I've already asked her about a mailing list for non-FB alums to maintain contact.
Photo Album: Informational Picket 9-19-12
Heather Ault/4000 Years for Choice
Headed out early today to catch Heather Ault's discussion of contraception, art, and activism at the Dittrick Medical History Center. Good stuff; lots of chewy thought-provoking ideas about activism and messaging. Heather particularly specializes in positive and affirming framing; talking about our values, about what we're FOR, not just what we're AGAINST. Great ideas for future protest signs; anyone got some posterboard?
Also, I'm totally a Heather Ault fangirl, and have been for several years, so it made me quite happy to get to hear her in person.
4000 Years for Choice
More about events in Cleveland this weekend around Heather's visit
Oh, and she's on Facebook too
I'm not 100% sure, but I think these are the two prints I have at home from the My Abortion My Life event last year (they're in the attic with all my other decorations at the moment):
TREASURE THE MENSTRUAL EXTRACTOR
COOPERATE JANE COLLECTIVE
Mine are "framed" much like these: I love the simple yet evocative coat hanger, clips, and plexi approach
On FB and her site, Heather's also now working on pieces drawn from women's personal statements about their abortions and also statements from providers' experiences. This is one of many that I absolutely love:
"We need to support all women’s ability to decide to terminate a pregnancy and not demand that they tell us a story of victimhood in order to gain access to abortions." - Tracy Weitz
Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes.
Random
The other fun thing about the Heather Ault talk today was that it was held at Dittrick Medical History Center and Museum. It's not a huge place, but it's fascinating, and their History of Contraception exhibit is among the best in the country, if not THE best -- Heather spoke there because she came out to Cleveland from CA just to see it when she was doing her project research. Last time I saw it was back in 2009 when it opened; I'm happy to report it's just gotten bigger and better. More on that exhibit here:
This unique collection includes a wide range of contraception items, prototypes, and manufacturing devices. The Dittrick Medical History Center learned in August of 2004 that it would receive the Percy Skuy Collection on the History of Contraception. Mr. Skuy, past President of Ortho Pharmaceutical (Canada), assembled the world's most comprehensive collection of historical contraceptive devices, numbering over 650 artifacts. Since its arrival the collection has grown through donations and museum purchases to approximately 1100 artifacts. The Dittrick also maintains a collection of literature on the topic, including primary source material as well as historical writings.
The exhibit depicts the social and cultural climate that influenced birth control decisions in this country, says James Edmonson, chief curator at the Dittrick. The Dittrick staff with guest curator Jimmy Wilkinson Meyer from The College of Wooster designed the exhibit.
Broke Clevelanders, this is a FREE Museum!
Wake The Fuck Up (Obama ad with Samuel L. Jackson; I love it!)
Also, for those who have not yet experienced it, Jackson reading "Go the Fuck to Sleep" is magnificent
Books!
I've finished two via Audible recently:
House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones, one of the greats of YA Fantasy (also, I highly recommend that site, FantasticFiction.Co.UK, if you're ever struggling to sort out series and their sequence). This is related to Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Air, although I wouldn't call it a direct sequel. Howl and Sophie are moderately important secondary characters, though.
Incidentally, Studio Ghibli, my favorite animation studio, has done a lovely version of Howl's Moving Castle that is, while different from the books, quite excellent.
Ummm... Getting back to the book I just finished, now that I'm done with the more general fangirling:
House of Many Ways was wonderful; gentle and funny with marvelously imperfect characters. Highly recommended! The Audible version had a wonderfully British reader, as appropriate, and I haven't a lick of complaint about its translation to audiobook.
Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin. I was already well familiar with her work and deeply impressed by it, but this is the first of her books that I've read. Read it. Read it, read it, read it. If you ever interact with or eat animals, if you ever go to a zoo, if you ever interact with other humans, even, read it. I love animals, I almost went into an animal-centric career, I've lived with multiple critters my entire life and read a good bit about behavior, and I still gained a whole new framework from this. Hugely valuable. Although her old-school pronoun use throughout the book drives me a bit up the wall, and there are moment of gender essentialism as well, these are minor detractions (along with what I hope was an editing error that replaced "mammal" with "animal" in the chapter I link below -- I totally headdesked at her, of all people, making that error) from a thoroughly amazing book.
The excellent first chapter, free on her website The section on "Blue Ribbon Emotions" (Seeking, Rage, Fear, and Panic are the life-long ones, and Lust, Care, and Play are the more intermittent) is well-worth reading even if you aren't interested enough to read the entire book. It's really at the heart of what she's teaching, and I found it incredibly helpful not just for better contextualizing animal behavior and reactions, but for doing the same with human behavior and reactions. Although she never explicitly makes the latter connection in the book, I couldn't help seeing it jump out at me over and over again, and I found it quite valuable (especially the writings about the relationship between frustration and rage).
The chapters on animal husbandry (Cows, Pigs, Chickens) can be rough, and may be too rough for some folks (because some really fucking horrific shit happens to animals in the bad side of the meat industry), but I find reading her writing about them somewhat reassuring, so I'd encourage getting through them. Because Temple is so involved in livestock work, and revolutionizing livestock care approaches, I found the horror of hearing more details about some of what I already knew was happening to be counterbalanced by hearing compassionate and ethical approaches to correcting these problems, and specifically in hearing it from someone who's actively working in the system to create that change, and has already accomplished it to a greater extent than just about any other modern human (when fucking PETA, of all groups, gives someone in the Livestock Industry a "Visionary" award ya gotta be impressed -- not because PETA doesn't suck monkey balls, but because it's so damned amazing for them to take positive notice of anyone doing animal rights work that isn't extremist). If you can do it, read those chapters. If you can't, the book will read just fine even if you skip those three.
Something I noticed on Audible while looking those up:
WhisperSync -- Hmmm. Fascinating. I've lamented frequently that I couldn't do this, so it's definitely a step in the right direction. Really not loving having to buy a book twice just to be able to do it, though. Boo.
Campus Worker Justice Tour Kicks Off At Kenyon College -- Have I mentioned recently how proud I am of our community and our students?
Kenyon Community Alliance on Facebook -- if you're not FB-afflicted, and would like to be kept up to date on their work, send me a message and I'll get it to Melanie; I've already asked her about a mailing list for non-FB alums to maintain contact.
Photo Album: Informational Picket 9-19-12
Heather Ault/4000 Years for Choice
Headed out early today to catch Heather Ault's discussion of contraception, art, and activism at the Dittrick Medical History Center. Good stuff; lots of chewy thought-provoking ideas about activism and messaging. Heather particularly specializes in positive and affirming framing; talking about our values, about what we're FOR, not just what we're AGAINST. Great ideas for future protest signs; anyone got some posterboard?
Also, I'm totally a Heather Ault fangirl, and have been for several years, so it made me quite happy to get to hear her in person.
4000 Years for Choice
More about events in Cleveland this weekend around Heather's visit
Oh, and she's on Facebook too
I'm not 100% sure, but I think these are the two prints I have at home from the My Abortion My Life event last year (they're in the attic with all my other decorations at the moment):
TREASURE THE MENSTRUAL EXTRACTOR
COOPERATE JANE COLLECTIVE
Mine are "framed" much like these: I love the simple yet evocative coat hanger, clips, and plexi approach
On FB and her site, Heather's also now working on pieces drawn from women's personal statements about their abortions and also statements from providers' experiences. This is one of many that I absolutely love:
"We need to support all women’s ability to decide to terminate a pregnancy and not demand that they tell us a story of victimhood in order to gain access to abortions." - Tracy Weitz
Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes.
Random
The other fun thing about the Heather Ault talk today was that it was held at Dittrick Medical History Center and Museum. It's not a huge place, but it's fascinating, and their History of Contraception exhibit is among the best in the country, if not THE best -- Heather spoke there because she came out to Cleveland from CA just to see it when she was doing her project research. Last time I saw it was back in 2009 when it opened; I'm happy to report it's just gotten bigger and better. More on that exhibit here:
This unique collection includes a wide range of contraception items, prototypes, and manufacturing devices. The Dittrick Medical History Center learned in August of 2004 that it would receive the Percy Skuy Collection on the History of Contraception. Mr. Skuy, past President of Ortho Pharmaceutical (Canada), assembled the world's most comprehensive collection of historical contraceptive devices, numbering over 650 artifacts. Since its arrival the collection has grown through donations and museum purchases to approximately 1100 artifacts. The Dittrick also maintains a collection of literature on the topic, including primary source material as well as historical writings.
The exhibit depicts the social and cultural climate that influenced birth control decisions in this country, says James Edmonson, chief curator at the Dittrick. The Dittrick staff with guest curator Jimmy Wilkinson Meyer from The College of Wooster designed the exhibit.
Broke Clevelanders, this is a FREE Museum!
Wake The Fuck Up (Obama ad with Samuel L. Jackson; I love it!)
Also, for those who have not yet experienced it, Jackson reading "Go the Fuck to Sleep" is magnificent
Books!
I've finished two via Audible recently:
House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones, one of the greats of YA Fantasy (also, I highly recommend that site, FantasticFiction.Co.UK, if you're ever struggling to sort out series and their sequence). This is related to Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Air, although I wouldn't call it a direct sequel. Howl and Sophie are moderately important secondary characters, though.
Incidentally, Studio Ghibli, my favorite animation studio, has done a lovely version of Howl's Moving Castle that is, while different from the books, quite excellent.
Ummm... Getting back to the book I just finished, now that I'm done with the more general fangirling:
House of Many Ways was wonderful; gentle and funny with marvelously imperfect characters. Highly recommended! The Audible version had a wonderfully British reader, as appropriate, and I haven't a lick of complaint about its translation to audiobook.
Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin. I was already well familiar with her work and deeply impressed by it, but this is the first of her books that I've read. Read it. Read it, read it, read it. If you ever interact with or eat animals, if you ever go to a zoo, if you ever interact with other humans, even, read it. I love animals, I almost went into an animal-centric career, I've lived with multiple critters my entire life and read a good bit about behavior, and I still gained a whole new framework from this. Hugely valuable. Although her old-school pronoun use throughout the book drives me a bit up the wall, and there are moment of gender essentialism as well, these are minor detractions (along with what I hope was an editing error that replaced "mammal" with "animal" in the chapter I link below -- I totally headdesked at her, of all people, making that error) from a thoroughly amazing book.
The excellent first chapter, free on her website The section on "Blue Ribbon Emotions" (Seeking, Rage, Fear, and Panic are the life-long ones, and Lust, Care, and Play are the more intermittent) is well-worth reading even if you aren't interested enough to read the entire book. It's really at the heart of what she's teaching, and I found it incredibly helpful not just for better contextualizing animal behavior and reactions, but for doing the same with human behavior and reactions. Although she never explicitly makes the latter connection in the book, I couldn't help seeing it jump out at me over and over again, and I found it quite valuable (especially the writings about the relationship between frustration and rage).
The chapters on animal husbandry (Cows, Pigs, Chickens) can be rough, and may be too rough for some folks (because some really fucking horrific shit happens to animals in the bad side of the meat industry), but I find reading her writing about them somewhat reassuring, so I'd encourage getting through them. Because Temple is so involved in livestock work, and revolutionizing livestock care approaches, I found the horror of hearing more details about some of what I already knew was happening to be counterbalanced by hearing compassionate and ethical approaches to correcting these problems, and specifically in hearing it from someone who's actively working in the system to create that change, and has already accomplished it to a greater extent than just about any other modern human (when fucking PETA, of all groups, gives someone in the Livestock Industry a "Visionary" award ya gotta be impressed -- not because PETA doesn't suck monkey balls, but because it's so damned amazing for them to take positive notice of anyone doing animal rights work that isn't extremist). If you can do it, read those chapters. If you can't, the book will read just fine even if you skip those three.
Something I noticed on Audible while looking those up:
WhisperSync -- Hmmm. Fascinating. I've lamented frequently that I couldn't do this, so it's definitely a step in the right direction. Really not loving having to buy a book twice just to be able to do it, though. Boo.
Manual Transcription: any errors are my own (Sarah Young ‘95)
The Kenyon Collegian
Volume CXXXIV, Number 24
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Cover Article:
Nugent’s first four years at Kenyon
By Willow Belden
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
( Read more... )
The Kenyon Collegian
Volume CXXXIV, Number 24
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Cover Article:
Nugent’s first four years at Kenyon
By Willow Belden
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
( Read more... )
So happy I'm on the verge of tears!
Jun. 18th, 2012 08:10 pmWe Did It!!!!!!!
BREAKING: College Suspends Negotiations with Sodexo, Will Form Advisory Panel
I'm so far beyond ecstatic I don't even know what to say, except:
Thank You!
Everyone who lent support, private or public, everyone who helped brainstorm ideas, everyone who helped spread the word, you rock my world!
If you contacted the college, especially if you decided to withhold donations, now's a good time to send them a thank you, and, if you feel it appropriate, to reinstate your donation.
If you want to know why I'm passionate about my alma mater, and why I believe I got something deeply valuable from my education and my time there, just look at this! This is what our Kenyon Family looks like. This is what we do. This is how much we care. Today I am more in love with Kenyon College and her difficult but devoted family than ever.
We'll continue to maintain the communities we've formed online and will post news as appropriate, but at this point I expect they'll be pretty silent until we hear from the advisory committee in November. I'll also be changing the Preserve Our Kenyon Community page to note the current status, and to thank everyone who has helped.
I'm calling Alumni Affairs tomorrow to pledge an annual contribution to the Roelofs Fund (tiny, since I'm perpetually broke, but at least a token celebration of Kenyon Community in Action). It's the Peep Alumni favored cause, and particularly apropos in this case since it helps provide Bookstore funds to students from Knox County.
Ah, heck, why wait for tomorrow?
Sarah Young Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 7:21 PM
To: Kyle Henderson <hendersonk@kenyon.edu>
Subject: Making good...
Kyle,
Given the news today, I'd like to pledge $100 annually to the Roelofs Fund. Could you send me paperwork on
that?
Thanks so much!
Sarah Young '95
( The letter I was just about to send out when the news came through, stored here for reference and context )
BREAKING: College Suspends Negotiations with Sodexo, Will Form Advisory Panel
I'm so far beyond ecstatic I don't even know what to say, except:
Thank You!
Everyone who lent support, private or public, everyone who helped brainstorm ideas, everyone who helped spread the word, you rock my world!
If you contacted the college, especially if you decided to withhold donations, now's a good time to send them a thank you, and, if you feel it appropriate, to reinstate your donation.
If you want to know why I'm passionate about my alma mater, and why I believe I got something deeply valuable from my education and my time there, just look at this! This is what our Kenyon Family looks like. This is what we do. This is how much we care. Today I am more in love with Kenyon College and her difficult but devoted family than ever.
We'll continue to maintain the communities we've formed online and will post news as appropriate, but at this point I expect they'll be pretty silent until we hear from the advisory committee in November. I'll also be changing the Preserve Our Kenyon Community page to note the current status, and to thank everyone who has helped.
I'm calling Alumni Affairs tomorrow to pledge an annual contribution to the Roelofs Fund (tiny, since I'm perpetually broke, but at least a token celebration of Kenyon Community in Action). It's the Peep Alumni favored cause, and particularly apropos in this case since it helps provide Bookstore funds to students from Knox County.
Ah, heck, why wait for tomorrow?
Sarah Young Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 7:21 PM
To: Kyle Henderson <hendersonk@kenyon.edu>
Subject: Making good...
Kyle,
Given the news today, I'd like to pledge $100 annually to the Roelofs Fund. Could you send me paperwork on
that?
Thanks so much!
Sarah Young '95
( The letter I was just about to send out when the news came through, stored here for reference and context )
Kenyon Maintenance Local 712 Protest
Jun. 14th, 2012 06:18 pmFirst of all, the new online presence for the workers at Kenyon who are protesting:
http://www.facebook.com/PreserveOurKenyonCommunity
40 pics from the protest are up over there, as well as basic "how you can help" info. Please join!
http://www.facebook.com/KenyonWorker?sk=info
The anon account for Maintenance workers to share their perspectives. Please friend!
http://twitter.com/#!/KenyonCommunity
The Twitter feed from the Facebook Community.
preserve.kenyon.community@gmail.com
Our new central email account. I keep an eye out over here, and UE 712 has access as well.
How to help:
http://www.change.org/petitions/kenyon-college-stop-kenyon-from-partnering-with-sodexo
President Georgia Nugent: 740-427-5111
Like us here on Facebook, and/or on Twitter @KenyonCommunity
SPREAD THE WORD!
News
Previous writeup from June 10th: http://moominmuppet.livejournal.com/1668260.html
Mt Vernon News coverage of yesterday's protest:
http://www.mountvernonnews.com/local/12/06/14/kenyon-outsourcing-decision-protested
Official Responses from the College:
https://today.kenyon.edu/news/sodexo
Notes from Faculty Meeting, June 13th:
Provided to me (SY) for unattributed posting:
Here are notes from the meeting -- two notetakers combined into one. Pass them around, no attribution please!
( Read more... )
My write-up of the Protest and the rest of my day at Kenyon yesterday:
( Read more... )
Overall I found it an extremely productive day and use of my energy.
Emotionally, I needed to connect with my people and show them my support.
Practically, I could do more to coordinate with the workers if we could put our heads together in person at least once.
Politically, due to my current position as an Alum who isn't beholden to the College for employment, I can take certain actions that most others would be unable to do or would be likely to be punished for in some manner (I remember the warnings I got all over campus when I was an employee involved in this stuff back in '97). Prime example -- holding a protest sign on College property before the staff meeting. The PR nightmare of escorting a peacefully and cheerfully protesting Alum off-campus is just not something the college wants, I guarantee that.
Personally, this role is something I'm particularly well-suited for; I'm still reasonably well-recognized on campus, mostly with at least a decent amount of fondness. I may hate conflict, but I have an activist temperament, so I tend to do a lot of explaining in cheerful ways why I think something is totally kerfucked. Basically, I'm good at being a really damned friendly nuisance, and right now that's a big part of my goal. It's the kind of pressure I, as a perpetually broke Alum who doesn't make significant financial contributions, can apply to the College.
I don't hate people for disagreeing with me on these issues, although I do find the conflict itself painful. I just need to be very clear that I am going to be advocating for the workers. Other people will advocate for the College, some will sit in the middle and try to work out compromise. Those are not my roles here. My role is to amplify the workers' voices in the ways in which I can.
http://www.facebook.com/PreserveOurKenyonCommunity
40 pics from the protest are up over there, as well as basic "how you can help" info. Please join!
http://www.facebook.com/KenyonWorker?sk=info
The anon account for Maintenance workers to share their perspectives. Please friend!
http://twitter.com/#!/KenyonCommunity
The Twitter feed from the Facebook Community.
preserve.kenyon.community@gmail.com
Our new central email account. I keep an eye out over here, and UE 712 has access as well.
How to help:
http://www.change.org/petitions/kenyon-college-stop-kenyon-from-partnering-with-sodexo
President Georgia Nugent: 740-427-5111
Like us here on Facebook, and/or on Twitter @KenyonCommunity
SPREAD THE WORD!
News
Previous writeup from June 10th: http://moominmuppet.livejournal.com/1668260.html
Mt Vernon News coverage of yesterday's protest:
http://www.mountvernonnews.com/local/12/06/14/kenyon-outsourcing-decision-protested
Official Responses from the College:
https://today.kenyon.edu/news/sodexo
Notes from Faculty Meeting, June 13th:
Provided to me (SY) for unattributed posting:
Here are notes from the meeting -- two notetakers combined into one. Pass them around, no attribution please!
( Read more... )
My write-up of the Protest and the rest of my day at Kenyon yesterday:
( Read more... )
Overall I found it an extremely productive day and use of my energy.
Emotionally, I needed to connect with my people and show them my support.
Practically, I could do more to coordinate with the workers if we could put our heads together in person at least once.
Politically, due to my current position as an Alum who isn't beholden to the College for employment, I can take certain actions that most others would be unable to do or would be likely to be punished for in some manner (I remember the warnings I got all over campus when I was an employee involved in this stuff back in '97). Prime example -- holding a protest sign on College property before the staff meeting. The PR nightmare of escorting a peacefully and cheerfully protesting Alum off-campus is just not something the college wants, I guarantee that.
Personally, this role is something I'm particularly well-suited for; I'm still reasonably well-recognized on campus, mostly with at least a decent amount of fondness. I may hate conflict, but I have an activist temperament, so I tend to do a lot of explaining in cheerful ways why I think something is totally kerfucked. Basically, I'm good at being a really damned friendly nuisance, and right now that's a big part of my goal. It's the kind of pressure I, as a perpetually broke Alum who doesn't make significant financial contributions, can apply to the College.
I don't hate people for disagreeing with me on these issues, although I do find the conflict itself painful. I just need to be very clear that I am going to be advocating for the workers. Other people will advocate for the College, some will sit in the middle and try to work out compromise. Those are not my roles here. My role is to amplify the workers' voices in the ways in which I can.
I am horrified and heart-broken. I hope I will still be able to communicate as eloquently as my Kenyon education taught me.
I came to Kenyon in 1991 because I fell in love. Heads over heels, first time on the Hill -- I never finished a college application to another college. The feel of the Hill and the flavor of the community told me everything I needed. I stayed through breaks and summers, working various Kenyon jobs, and took a full-time position with the college as soon as I graduated. I left college employment in 1999, and the geographical Kenyon community in 2000. I may have needed other experiences, but Kenyon never left my heart. I have retained close connections with the Peeps alumni group, I have returned to campus for reunion after reunion. Every time I have returned, I have been welcomed back by people who remember me, my "Kenyon Family". Those people include my professors and a few administrators, but the majority? Maintenance workers, groundskeepers, custodians, Bookstore employees.
These are the same people who welcomed me when I was a student; a maintenance helper who 'adopted' dozens of students over the years, he and his wife feeding and loving them whole-heartedly; custodians who picked up supplies for students before everyone had cars, who introduced students to new musical experiences; painters who welcomed student workers into their homes for pig roasts, the list goes on. I could fill pages (and have in the past) just talking about the impact Yauncey and Juanita Newman have had on this community we share.
These wonderful people are not auxiliary to our community, they are at the heart of it. Only one subset may be directly endangered now, but I don't doubt this outsourcing disease will spread to other departments if unchecked.
Let me be clear: there is absolutely no outsourcing option for Kenyon employees that is acceptable to me as an alum. I will work to my utmost to fight this, because I believe it destroys the very spirit of the community I love so deeply. I'm still angry that our cafeteria workers are shut out of our community like they are. Sodexo is among the worst of the worst, and leaves no doubt that someone's judgment must be deeply and seriously impaired, but a kinder and gentler death to employee benefits and union rights would be no more welcome.
I wish to make several discrete points as to why I find this so gut-wrenchingly horrific:
This is directly anti-union activity. Given that I learned at Kenyon to appreciate my 40-hour work week, my weekends, my benefits, I believe it is morally responsible to support unions, not weaken them further in the face of overwhelming odds. Kenyon takes deep pride in its liberal arts tradition, in teaching its students to go out into the world and attempt to apply their ethics to their lives. We learn the history of social justice movements, the power of protest. When it comes to applying these at home, though, we have often fallen short, much to my dismay. Right now I see the administration as taking a clear "Do as we say, not as we do" approach in this regard. I saw something similar in 1997 when the maintenance workers were locked out by the College during negotiations.
This feeds Kenyon's class problem. We've always had a hard time talking about class on campus; it hits a bit too close to home. I was a middle-class scholarship kid so it felt especially noticeable to me. The Town/Gown split has always made me sad and uncomfortable. What really mediated that was the constant (if relatively small) stream of local kids who attended Kenyon thanks to the GLCA tuition benefit. Local kids don't just increase our class diversity, they provide deeply needed connections to our larger local community. As far as I can see, any change that takes away the protection of being a true Kenyon employee means that those GLCA benefits will fall. If not now, soon. Also, having worked for the college, I can say with comfort that the pay scale sucks. It does. We all know it when we go into academic support. We work for love and benefits. The GLCA tuition benefit is the most intergenerationally valuable, but access to TIAA-CREF and College matching funds? Our health insurance? Does anyone have the audacity or naivete to believe that what our Maintenance workers will receive in the future could come close to approximating these?
Kenyon is not about efficiency. If we were, we'd be a completely different institution. We'd stop wasting time and money on all these pretty buildings and trees, wrangle 30 or 40 students into a class at a time. Liberal Arts itself is not about efficiency! I have proudly defended my choice of pursuing a liberal arts degree, and encouraged others to do the same, because it didn't just efficiently train me for a job. It prepared me for life. Honestly and truly, Kenyon brochure material, it has added so dramatically to the quality of my life that I couldn't imagine ever regretting the choice. Is it less efficient to treat our employees like human beings and valued friends? Of course it is. Do we have to figure out how to squeeze a little tighter to make sure they receive what is fair and right? Maybe so. It is our moral duty to do so. To do otherwise puts us on the wrong side of history and justice, just as I learned at Kenyon.
This is an attack on people I love and their children. What else can I say? I am in enraged mama bear mode over this threat to them, and Kenyon convinced me to dedicate my life focus to activism work. Expect to see a lot of me, starting this Wednesday.
Sarah Young
Class of '95
(cross-posted to all relevant facebook groups, and hosted on my primary blog at http://moominmuppet.livejournal.com/1669224.html)
I came to Kenyon in 1991 because I fell in love. Heads over heels, first time on the Hill -- I never finished a college application to another college. The feel of the Hill and the flavor of the community told me everything I needed. I stayed through breaks and summers, working various Kenyon jobs, and took a full-time position with the college as soon as I graduated. I left college employment in 1999, and the geographical Kenyon community in 2000. I may have needed other experiences, but Kenyon never left my heart. I have retained close connections with the Peeps alumni group, I have returned to campus for reunion after reunion. Every time I have returned, I have been welcomed back by people who remember me, my "Kenyon Family". Those people include my professors and a few administrators, but the majority? Maintenance workers, groundskeepers, custodians, Bookstore employees.
These are the same people who welcomed me when I was a student; a maintenance helper who 'adopted' dozens of students over the years, he and his wife feeding and loving them whole-heartedly; custodians who picked up supplies for students before everyone had cars, who introduced students to new musical experiences; painters who welcomed student workers into their homes for pig roasts, the list goes on. I could fill pages (and have in the past) just talking about the impact Yauncey and Juanita Newman have had on this community we share.
These wonderful people are not auxiliary to our community, they are at the heart of it. Only one subset may be directly endangered now, but I don't doubt this outsourcing disease will spread to other departments if unchecked.
Let me be clear: there is absolutely no outsourcing option for Kenyon employees that is acceptable to me as an alum. I will work to my utmost to fight this, because I believe it destroys the very spirit of the community I love so deeply. I'm still angry that our cafeteria workers are shut out of our community like they are. Sodexo is among the worst of the worst, and leaves no doubt that someone's judgment must be deeply and seriously impaired, but a kinder and gentler death to employee benefits and union rights would be no more welcome.
I wish to make several discrete points as to why I find this so gut-wrenchingly horrific:
This is directly anti-union activity. Given that I learned at Kenyon to appreciate my 40-hour work week, my weekends, my benefits, I believe it is morally responsible to support unions, not weaken them further in the face of overwhelming odds. Kenyon takes deep pride in its liberal arts tradition, in teaching its students to go out into the world and attempt to apply their ethics to their lives. We learn the history of social justice movements, the power of protest. When it comes to applying these at home, though, we have often fallen short, much to my dismay. Right now I see the administration as taking a clear "Do as we say, not as we do" approach in this regard. I saw something similar in 1997 when the maintenance workers were locked out by the College during negotiations.
This feeds Kenyon's class problem. We've always had a hard time talking about class on campus; it hits a bit too close to home. I was a middle-class scholarship kid so it felt especially noticeable to me. The Town/Gown split has always made me sad and uncomfortable. What really mediated that was the constant (if relatively small) stream of local kids who attended Kenyon thanks to the GLCA tuition benefit. Local kids don't just increase our class diversity, they provide deeply needed connections to our larger local community. As far as I can see, any change that takes away the protection of being a true Kenyon employee means that those GLCA benefits will fall. If not now, soon. Also, having worked for the college, I can say with comfort that the pay scale sucks. It does. We all know it when we go into academic support. We work for love and benefits. The GLCA tuition benefit is the most intergenerationally valuable, but access to TIAA-CREF and College matching funds? Our health insurance? Does anyone have the audacity or naivete to believe that what our Maintenance workers will receive in the future could come close to approximating these?
Kenyon is not about efficiency. If we were, we'd be a completely different institution. We'd stop wasting time and money on all these pretty buildings and trees, wrangle 30 or 40 students into a class at a time. Liberal Arts itself is not about efficiency! I have proudly defended my choice of pursuing a liberal arts degree, and encouraged others to do the same, because it didn't just efficiently train me for a job. It prepared me for life. Honestly and truly, Kenyon brochure material, it has added so dramatically to the quality of my life that I couldn't imagine ever regretting the choice. Is it less efficient to treat our employees like human beings and valued friends? Of course it is. Do we have to figure out how to squeeze a little tighter to make sure they receive what is fair and right? Maybe so. It is our moral duty to do so. To do otherwise puts us on the wrong side of history and justice, just as I learned at Kenyon.
This is an attack on people I love and their children. What else can I say? I am in enraged mama bear mode over this threat to them, and Kenyon convinced me to dedicate my life focus to activism work. Expect to see a lot of me, starting this Wednesday.
Sarah Young
Class of '95
(cross-posted to all relevant facebook groups, and hosted on my primary blog at http://moominmuppet.livejournal.com/1669224.html)
(no subject)
Jun. 10th, 2012 11:32 pmPlanning on making a picket sign for Wednesday. A quick run through the current Kenyon course catalog gives me these courses that all seem to directly apply to "Do as we say not as we do? Shame on Kenyon!", which I'm going to follow with the course listings.
SOCY 107 Institutions and Inequalities
SOCY 223 Wealth and Power
SOCY 229D Social Movements
SOCY 234 Community
SOCY 235 Transnational Social Movements
SOCY 243 Social Justice:The Ancient and Modern Traditions
SOCY 250 Systems of Stratification
SOCY 463 Intersectional Theory
SOCY 477Y Fieldwork: Rural Life
PHIL 110 Introduction to Ethics
PHIL 115 Practical Issues in Ethics
ECON 344 Labor Economics
ECON 382 Economics of Education
ECON 383 American Economic History
IPHS 113Y Odyssey of the West: Love and Justice
INST 121 Globalization and Migration-at Home
SOCY 107 Institutions and Inequalities
SOCY 223 Wealth and Power
SOCY 229D Social Movements
SOCY 234 Community
SOCY 235 Transnational Social Movements
SOCY 243 Social Justice:The Ancient and Modern Traditions
SOCY 250 Systems of Stratification
SOCY 463 Intersectional Theory
SOCY 477Y Fieldwork: Rural Life
PHIL 110 Introduction to Ethics
PHIL 115 Practical Issues in Ethics
ECON 344 Labor Economics
ECON 382 Economics of Education
ECON 383 American Economic History
IPHS 113Y Odyssey of the West: Love and Justice
INST 121 Globalization and Migration-at Home
Good grief, it's been a chaotic few days. Yesterday was full of psych weirdness, and today has been absolutely lovely, but I'll catch up on that in a bit. Kenyon stuff is more pressing.
First of all, quick administrative note: I've now switched![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
moominrecs to crosspost to its own Twitter (moominrecs) instead of mine (moominmuppet), but have also actually finally set this primary journal to reliably crosspost to moominmuppet twitter. I've also created another Facebook, Moomin Recs, specifically for it to cross-post to. Feel free to add me in whatever context is most convenient, if interested.
Right as I was in the middle of all that, things went a bit haywire. I'm posting about the Kenyon part of that below, and it's as complete as I can make it, since keeping track of things on FB is a royal pain, and I expect to be involved in this for a while so I'm documenting.
Thursday night I found out that my college, Kenyon, is trying to outsource our maintenance department to Sodexo. As folks may have noticed a few weeks ago regarding my reunion, I love Kenyon with a passion. The maintenance department workers are a non-trivial part of why. These folks took me into their community and homes when I was at my most awkward and obnoxious phases, and are family to me. Following are my various FB posts and comments about it, as well as links to the basic story. My comments in bold, to prevent confusion.
( Read more... )
First of all, quick administrative note: I've now switched
moominrecs to crosspost to its own Twitter (moominrecs) instead of mine (moominmuppet), but have also actually finally set this primary journal to reliably crosspost to moominmuppet twitter. I've also created another Facebook, Moomin Recs, specifically for it to cross-post to. Feel free to add me in whatever context is most convenient, if interested.Right as I was in the middle of all that, things went a bit haywire. I'm posting about the Kenyon part of that below, and it's as complete as I can make it, since keeping track of things on FB is a royal pain, and I expect to be involved in this for a while so I'm documenting.
Thursday night I found out that my college, Kenyon, is trying to outsource our maintenance department to Sodexo. As folks may have noticed a few weeks ago regarding my reunion, I love Kenyon with a passion. The maintenance department workers are a non-trivial part of why. These folks took me into their community and homes when I was at my most awkward and obnoxious phases, and are family to me. Following are my various FB posts and comments about it, as well as links to the basic story. My comments in bold, to prevent confusion.
( Read more... )
