So...student activism is dead, you say? Check this out ...

[eppur_se_muova]

College pay dispute spurs student sit-in

13 camp out at president’s office as contract negotiations continue

Friday, Sept. 22, 2006

By Jesse Yeatman

Staff Writer

While staff and administrators are tied up in ongoing contract negotiations, 13 St. Mary’s College of Maryland students remained camped out Thursday in the president’s office for a third day until pay issues are resolved.

The contracts for most of the college employees, except for faculty and administrators, expire at the end of next month. A union representing maintenance and ground staff, technology workers, housekeepers, some office workers and campus police has been negotiating for salary and other issues since June. ‘‘We’re trying to help the employees take a step out of poverty,” union representative Jeff Bigelow said. ‘‘The big issue here has to do with poverty wages and other issues related to pay.”

Since Tuesday, the students have staged a sit-in at college President Maggie O’Brien’s office. Two rallies involving staff and students were also held in the past week at the campus.

According to Marc Apter, spokesman for the college, there will be an open meeting today, Friday, Sept. 22, at 3 p.m. in St. Mary’s Hall to discuss the issues.
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more: http://www.somdnews.com/stories/092206/entetop161811_32130.shtml


College and workers union reach tentative agreement

Students end sit-in at president’s office after week

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2006

By Jesse Yeatman

Staff Writer


After about four months of negotiations, the union for employees at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and the college administration have reached a tentative agreement for a three-year contract.

The next step will be for both the employees and the board of trustees to vote on the contract.

The college’s Vice President of Business and Finance Tom Botzman said that a tentative agreement was reached late in the evening on Thursday, Sept. 21.

‘‘Until it is ratified by both sides I can’t talk about” the details of the agreement, Botzman said.

Botzman will present the contract for a vote by the college trustees within a few weeks, he said, probably at the board’s next open meeting on Oct. 7.
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more: http://www.somdnews.com/stories/092706/entetop180813_32134.shtml

The workers haven't gotten everything they wanted, but the students definitely spurred progress. They got a lot of support from the faculty, many of whom signed a statement of support.

It's the Sixties all over again, man!