Appleton SDS

BE SURE TO COME OUT & DEMAND JUSTICE!

THE FIGHT FOR $15 CAMPAIGN: During Spring Term of 2021, a coalition of international students unified to demand for a $15 student minimum wage on campus. Their grievances delineated the discrepancy between the cost of living at Lawrence University and the low wages provided by this institution, while simultaneously highlighting international students’ inability to work off-campus (due to visa stipulations). Due to these initial grievances, more of the student body including Appleton SDS and Sunrise Fox Valley members also spoke out about the campus wages sparking the “Fight for $15” —a campaign to raise the student-worker minimum wage to $15 an hour. It is unethical for Lawrence University to continue to undercompensate its student-workers with an unlivable, $7.25 wage. Student-workers provide this institution with indispensable forms of labor—from working at the front desk, to giving prospective students tours of our campus. It is self-evident that our labor power is essential to the functioning of this university. Knowing this, the Lawrence administration must begin to fairly redistribute much of the revenue it siphons off of its student body. The MIT calculator in Appleton denotes that the minimal, living wage within this area is $13.93 per hour at 40 hours/week. If students were paid this amount—which would still not cover the total costs at Lawrence—they would earn roughly $3 million in annual revenue. However, since the majority of us are given a $7.25 wage, our total earnings amount to only $1.6 million, meaning that the Lawrence administration is profiteering a difference of roughly $1.5 million from the poverty wages they impose upon us. We have mentioned this $13 wage to solely demonstrate how absurd and inhumane a $7.25 rate of compensation is. When taking into account the desired $15 wage, however, we must realize that Lawrence is actually pocketing roughly $1,7 million—an estimated $230,000 increase from the aforementioned $1.6 million. In essence, we want to emphasize that student workers at Lawrence University are not being paid the true value of their labor. We are being actively exploited by the administration. Although many reactionaries will contend that students should simply work off-campus to earn a living wage, one must consider two points: (1) downtown Appleton is unsafe for those of us with marginalized identities, and (2), off-campus employment is difficult to attain for those with accessibility needs.
It is also important to acknowledge that much of the financial information provided above was difficult to attain. This is a deliberate measure on the part of our university. Lawrence administrators want to prevent student workers from organizing and gaining class consciousness. It is time for us to rise up and fight back to take what we deserve. We have nothing to lose but our chains; we have a university to win.

Caption written by: Terrence Freeman, Gustavo Zuniga, Audari Tamayo

Hi beautiful people! Today we will be having our first meeting of the term with our returning members as well as new members of Appleton Students for a Democratic Society. Join us this evening (Sept 20th) at Diversity Center at 6pm if you are interested in learning more about the work we do in this organization. We are so excited to see you there!