UVM Staff United and a group of pro-Palestinian students picketed at Convocation on Aug. 25.
UVMSU was urging UVM to provide livable wages for its workers, said Ellen Kaye, co-president of UVMSU. Kaye said contract negotiations with the University that began in February are now at an impasse, and the two parties are now working through a mediator in order to reach a deal.
“Many of us have a second job, and we’re asking and pushing for raises since February that put us above inflation, and the administration has not budged,” Kaye said.
A group of pro-Palestinian students also picketed at Convocation “to call attention to how our university profits off the illegal occupation and genocide in Palestine,” according to a statement from Vermonters for Palestine.
“UVM has repeatedly attempted to silence Palestinian activism on campus, but students will not stand by and watch our money be used to profit off genocide,” the statements reads. “They have canceled Palestinian speakers, suspended Palestinian activist organizations, and threatened individual activists with suspension and student conduct cases.”
The pro-Palestinian students were picketing in order to bring attention to the University’s investments among first-years, according to the statement.
“We will not let UVM or its students ignore what their money is being invested in, and will continue to focus the campus’s attention on Palestine and pressure our university to divest from the genocide,” the statement reads.
Claire Whitehead, co-president of UVMSU, said they are asking for wages that put them above inflation, make up for the economic turmoil in recent years and fairly compensate staff for their job experience.
Single earners living in Burlington making under $66,000 a year are considered low income, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Whitehead said 77% of the nearly 1,500 Staff United members make less than that wage.
Whitehead said the University cannot make up for low-paying jobs with its employee benefits, many of which are wage-based.
“We’ve hit a point in the economy where the workforce can’t sustain ourselves on benefits alone,” Whitehead said. “Tuition remission doesn’t pay my rent.”
Many Staff United members hold jobs in which there is little to no upward mobility, increasing the need for higher wages, Whitehead said.
“We can get masters degrees and there’s no change in salary,” she said. “We can be the best person in our office at our job. We can be teaching everyone else how to do that job, and that’s never recognized through our pay.”
Both UVMSU and the pro-Palestinian students stood on the steps of Howe Library and passed out informational pamphlets about their respective causes among the crowds of first-years on the Andrew Harris Commons.
When UVM President Suresh Garimella and Patricia Prelock, provost and senior vice president, took to the stage, pro-Palestinian picketers moved closer to the stage and began chanting “Divest, Divest, Divest” and “Suresh, Suresh, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”
About halfway through Garimella’s remarks, Prelock addressed the picketers directly.
“I wanted to acknowledge the members of our community here today who are exercising the right to express their opinions on issues,” she said. “We strongly support and respect the right to your ability to express yourself in a peaceful, non-disruptive manner.
Prelock asked the protestors to be mindful of the first-years participating in Convocation.
“We ask, too, that you show respect for the other members of our community gathered to celebrate the start of an amazing academic year and the induction into the UVM community by expressing your views in a non-disruptive way,” she said.
SGA President, senior Mahder Teferra, wore a keffiyeh—a traditional Arab headdress—around her neck, and took the stage to address the first-years. As she did so, the pro-Palestinian picketers began to cheer and chant her name.
First-year Jamie Andrews attended Convocation and said she felt that paying attention to and respecting the speeches was important, but that free discourse about current events was equally important.
“I don’t know what a solution would have been, but I also don’t necessarily think that there has to be a perfect solution,” Andrews said. “Everything went fine, the ceremony went well.”
First-year Peter Stiebris also attended Convocation and felt his class was disrespected by the pro-Palestinian protesters’ chanting, he said.
“They obviously have the right to protest, but they kind of didn’t give respect to the President or us freshmen at all,” he said. “I feel like there’s much better scenarios in which they could have executed their right to protest.”
A sophomore orientation leader, who wished to remain anonymous for job security reasons, said that while she supported the protest’s message, she questioned whether or not incoming students have the context to understand it.
“I totally understand where they’re coming from, because it’s a really important issue,” she said. “I just fear that students coming in don’t have enough education on the topic to fully understand what they’re protesting.”
The orientation leader said some of the first-years seemed confused by the chanting.
“I can tell that some of them looked a little bit apprehensive or concerned,” she said. “It definitely seemed like some of them were laughing about it rather than realizing what was actually happening.”
The University encouraged students to engage with peers respectfully and to exercise their right to free expression in an Aug. 26 email from Garimella and Prelock.
“The Fall 2024 semester is sure to bring passionate debate to our campus about a range of current topics that will challenge your thinking and understanding—our national elections in the U.S. and continued unrest overseas are just a few examples,” the email states.
