The College of William and Mary has responded to COVID-19 by furloughing contracted dining workers and refusing to financially support these workers. To implement mass lay-offs in the midst of a pandemic and not provide any support to those laid-off is unacceptable.

In March, the majority of William and Mary's contracted Sodexo dining workers were laid off. Workers were told to use the rest of their paid time off and then file for unemployment insurance (1). While many William and Mary workers are used to working other jobs in May when the spring semester ends, they were unprepared to lose work in mid-March and were blindsided by the decision to cut their pay completely. Some dining workers are still unable to access unemployment benefits due to state-wide delays (2), leaving them in a financially vulnerable position. Neither Sodexo nor William and Mary has stepped up to financially support these laid-off workers.

In comparison, other universities such as the University of Virginia, Tufts University, Harvard, MIT, University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, and Northwestern have committed to financially supporting their workers, including contracted workers, either by paying them through the end of the spring semester or by setting up an emergency relief fund for workers. Given that William and Mary's endowment is now over $1 billion, thanks to the For the Bold fundraising campaign which raised $92 million in FY19 including $10.8 million in unrestricted giving (3), and that the Federal CARES Act Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund makes William and Mary eligible for $3.95 million in funding (4) (50% of which must go to emergency aid for students and 50% of which is unrestricted but must be used by the university to "respond to coronavirus") (5), it is unconscionable that the university is not stepping in to support their workers, nor has it put pressure on Sodexo to do so.

Workers are a critical part of our campus community, and they, as much as students, deserve stability and safety. We are asking you to join us in demanding that the College of William and Mary do right by every member of its community.

1. https://www.dailypress.com/news/education/dp-nw-coronavirus-dining-hall-workers-20200414-trksfqcoondyrmqty5at2malbe-story.html

2. https://www.13newsnow.com/article/money/economy/virginia-report-problems-receiving-unemployment-benefits-missing-pins-delays/291-f70b1e40-53fa-4539-b701-518beb7f9e66

3. https://www.dailypress.com/virginiagazette/opinion/va-vg-ed-shatz-wm-campaign-0325-20200323-jxaa4rgcn5bs5jo3uj4qb2hsuu-story.html

4.https://www.wm.edu/about/administration/senioradmin/financeadministration/financialreport/_documents/financial-report.pdf

5. https://schev.edu/docs/default-source/Documents/schev-cares-act-ihe-overview-update-4-9-22.pdf

6. https://www.acenet.edu/Documents/Summary-CARES-Act-HigherEd-Provisions-032620.pdf