UVA workers get an audience at Open Grounds

Imagine UVA without its workers. Think about it. With no staff to take care of this place, the dining halls would fall deader than the libraries during a football game. Trash cans would overflow, flooding the stacks of Alderman with banana peels, sushi boxes, and Greenberry’s cups, detritus of late nights that inevitably turned into later nights at Clem. Bathrooms in the dorms would turn into a showcase of the terrible aim of drunk hallmates on a Friday night – basically, things would fall apart.

Though they do so much, I rarely register the presence of the UVA employees in the spaces I share with them. Except for the rare exceptions, like Miss Kathy or Double-Swipe Dean, I don’t know their names or what their lives look like once they get home and take off their UVA polos or Aramark aprons.

Students involved in the UVA Workers Project at the exhibit

This past Friday, April 23, the UVA Worker Voices Project opened my eyes to the presence of these people in my everyday existence and the lives they lead. From 3pm to 5pm at Open Grounds, the project showcased the results of its efforts over the past year. Started by a group of students working to better the conditions for university employees, the project (and its exhibit) centered around interviews with university employees conducted by students.

Whether reading about how one dining hall employee was instructed not to talk to parents during Family Weekend, listening to a voice actor tell employee stories , seeing pictures of bare apartments, or learning about the minimum wage that employees are expected to live off of, the exhibit woke me up out of my complacency.

Thankfully, the exhibit gave its attendants, including me, a chance to respond to these workers who so often go unheard and unsung. At the end, they provided markers and construction paper to make thank you cards.

A student involved in the project, Ibby Han, explained that, “We wanted to engage with the workers more.”

Markers and construction paper for thank-you cards

After hearing what the workers had to say for themselves, I realize that what Ibby said is true for me, too. Our experience here is made possible by the hard work of people who may not know where they will go home to that night, or when they’ll see their family again. The least I can do is look them in the eye, learn their names, and say thank you whenever I have a chance.