Making Student Employment More Accessible

Taking heed of employee feedback and the recommendations of an outside review, Dorm Crew has introduced significant and positive changes for its employees. This year marks the first in which the pre-orientation program provided dinners, and this fall will see a significant increase in wages in hopes of retaining more employees. While these changes represent progress towards increasing the value of student work opportunities on campus, much more can be done to better equalize the playing field of term-time employment opportunities for students.

In recent years, the College has turned a critical eye to its own issues of diversity, assembling a working group that ultimately published an extensive report highlighting imbalances in student life, academic offerings, and faculty representation. This report indicated that, despite Harvard’s efforts to create a diverse student body in which all feel they are full members of the community, the University is still not immune to the many structural inequities that permeate the our society.

These structural inequities manifest themselves throughout campus, but one significant way in which they clearly influence student life is in the different work expectations faced by students from different socioeconomic backgrounds one they arrive in Cambridge. Many students from lower income backgrounds are already keenly aware of the sacrifices they have to make in order to make ends meet, sometimes at the expense of academic work and extracurricular involvement. These grievances highlight the struggles that some undergraduates with term-time jobs face. We believe that the diversity and inclusion working group’s recommendations for action should serve as an impetus for positive change in this area, and we are glad that these suggestions are starting to take root.

In the case of Dorm Crew, an increased wage means student workers will be able to work fewer hours, freeing up precious time for going to office hours and club meetings, or simply studying. This will likely increase interest in Dorm Crew, as well as the program's rate of retention. Other student work opportunities, however, do not offer comparable wages. Though the pay increase may seem like an unalloyed good, it is important to consider that these changes may have a coercive effect on lower-income students’ approach to potential employment. They may be pigeonholed for the sake of money into cleaning toilets, a job that can erect an uncomfortable power dynamic between them and their peers who may be pursuing other avenues of employment. Ultimately, equitable pay across student work opportunities is crucial for maximizing choice and minimizing any deleterious effects of term-time employment opportunities.

In the same vein, we believe that Harvard should look more broadly into financial aid to evaluate whether existing supplemental programs are adequate. After freshman year, startup grants and coat funds are no longer offered, which may push students towards taking on jobs that hinder them from making the most of their college experience in later years.