Re: Student union strikes, calling for higher wages and other benefits
Since my time as a Dartmouth student, I have vocally supported student workers’ efforts to unionize. Today, I want to offer my deepest support to the Student Workers Collective at Dartmouth on its strike, which, among other noble demands, seeks to improve working conditions for the College’s vital workforce of undergraduate advisors.
I was a UGA during the 2020-21 academic year, and I experienced the best and the worst the job had to offer. My brightest memories as a UGA involved getting to know many residents and coworkers, many of whom I have the privilege of calling friends today. The amazing humans I met in this role were a constant source of inspiration, and I was devastated to leave the role after one year.
The darkest moments of the job have also stuck with me, almost four years later. As a UGA, I witnessed two of my coworkers and close friends lose their residents to suicide — a UGA’s worst nightmare repeated thrice in one of Dartmouth’s darkest years. My coworkers and I played a critical role in the College’s suicide prevention and postvention strategies, yet we were not adequately trained in that capacity, nor did our compensation match the emotional risks we faced.
I wish I was unionized when I was a UGA. SWCD’s demands will better prepare current and future UGAs for their immense breadth of job responsibilities. No amount of money or training could have prepared me and my coworkers for the emotional toll of the 2020-21 academic year. But these provisions would have allowed us all to be better equipped for the unthinkable.
In solidarity,
Spencer Allen ’23
Spencer Allen is a member of the Class of 2023 and a former opinion editor and Editorial Board member for The Dartmouth. Letters to the editor represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
