The Residence Halls Association changed course Tuesday night on an October proposal to hire more student workers after a committee determined that Dining Services already actively seeks to hire university students.
In October, RHA members Eric Fong and Sarah Ahmad wrote a resolution stating that more on-campus student jobs are needed and that increasing the number of student workers in the dining halls could also improve service.
After discussing the issue with Dining Services officials, Dining Services Advisory Board members said they found the department advertises jobs to students and reserves student positions when hiring for each semester.
“I think the real issue was that there was kind of a lack of understanding of what was available,” said Mark Slowikowski, Dining Services Advisory Board member. “It wasn’t so much that Dining Services wasn’t hiring students, it was that students weren’t applying for the jobs.”
To ensure that interested students are aware of the job openings, RHA will help inform students with information on the group’s website. Kareem Branch, the organization’s vice president, said he and other RHA members will be revamping the group’s website over winter break and plan to incorporate a section about on-campus job openings.
“It won’t just be limited to Dining Services jobs, but that will definitely be one of the features on the site,” he said.
Branch said it is important for RHA to step in and make sure students know about the jobs if they want them.
“Supposedly there are ads in the dining halls and convenience stores regarding jobs that are open, but from my experience … I really have never seen it,” he said.
RHA wants to provide resources for student job hunters and also make them aware that Dining Services wants to hire students, Branch added. The other resolution was misinterpreted, Branch said, because RHA did not want to replace nonstudent workers.
Fong said he still thinks more should be done to increase student employment at Dining Services.
“I think it’s a satisfactory result,” he said, but added that even more advertising is needed to recruit students for the jobs before the beginning of the semester.
The new resolution also aimed to clear up confusion about the status of nonstudent workers’ jobs. RHA President Hannah Putman said RHA members did not intend for the first resolution to be critical, but rather as a method to look into the issue of increasing student employment.
She insisted nonstudent employees will not be affected because the high turnover rate will allow Dining Services to rehire seasonal workers while also hiring more part-time student workers.
