President Roth,

In an emergency situation like this one, financial constraints should be no object. Another petition, written by Tyler Lederer-Plaskett '21, already articulated several ways the university can help students, but we must consider our school’s obligations to the entire community. Wesleyan has the resources to take the necessary measures to make sure that we are fostering a “safe enough space” for students, workers, and Middletown residents.

During this crisis the administration of Wesleyan University must:

Help the Middletown Community!
1. Follow many other institutions of higher education and allocate Wesleyan’s financial resources through a community fund to the people of Middletown;
a. Commit to collaborating with community entities, including but not limited to the community partners of the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships and the Allbritton Community Advisory Board, to ensure that the fund is managed and distributed by marginalized members of the local community and their representative organizations;
b. Work with the Office of Mayor Ben Florsheim to create a working relationship of wealth redistribution that empowers under-resourced local communities, rather than serving as a form of patronage;
2. Regrant community partners' access to Long Lane Farm throughout the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to ensure there is food available to residents who have relied on the consistency of this supply for over five years;

Protect Workers!
3. Pay full compensation, benefits, and health insurance to all (including furloughed) employees of Bon Appétit, SMG, RJ Julia, and other service contractors for the full duration of the COVID-19 crisis, regardless of its duration, as demanded by the union of Bon Appétit workers at Wesleyan;
4. Establish an employee assistance fund to allow both directly employed and contracted workers at Wesleyan to apply for immediate financial relief for basic needs such as food and housing;
5. Work with service contractors to ensure that both directly employed and contracted workers at the University receive hazard premiums of at least 1.5x pay for working in conditions of increased vulnerability to the COVID-19 virus—especially food service and custodial workers;
6. Work with service contractors to ensure that both directly employed and contracted workers at the University receive adequate personal protective equipment when working in conditions of vulnerability to the COVID-19 virus;
7. Ensure that there is no retaliation against either directly employed or contracted workers for refusing to perform work due to the risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus;
8. Stop the implementation of WorkForce software, which invades workers’
privacy and risks underpaying them;
9. Fully inform and frequently update both directly employed and contracted workers on the policies regarding their working conditions, compensation, and benefits in their preferred languages;

Protect Students!
10. Fulfill Wesleyan’s work study contribution to student workers (Federal Work-Study, Wesleyan Term-Time Employment, or Freeman Scholars Term-Time Employment) regardless of the length of the in-person semester;
11. Join immigrant and Latinx activists in demanding that Governor Lamont establish a sizable fund for undocumented Connecticut residents who are ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits and federal relief measures, and support an efficient and direct process for the distribution of this money;
a. Commit to making a substantial donation towards this fund once it is established;
12. Remove the hiring freeze on Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS).

Put People Over Profit!
13. Reallocate funds earmarked for all nonessential facilities and construction projects (which are now frozen) to the community fund and the employee assistance fund;
14. Immediately launch a fundraising campaign to support the community fund and the employee assistance fund;
15. Freeze all real estate acquisitions and reallocate funds earmarked for them to the community fund and the employee assistance fund;

Awaiting your response,

The Wesleyan Community