The Students for Staff (SFS) organization is holding an all-day, campus-wide event Wednesday to recognize and give thanks to Miami University's staff of more than 3,600.
Staff Day will include opportunities for any Miami community member to write letters of appreciation for the staff and to wear green ribbons in honor of them. The day will conclude with a dinner and toast from 5-7 p.m. on the Shriver Center patio.
According to an SFS press release, there will also be an open microphone session to encourage students, faculty and other staff to share thoughts and express their gratitude.
"I heard some staff ladies were baking brownies for the entire dorm they worked in," said Stephanie Lee, a senior and SFS member. "They do stuff like that all the time. We want them to feel welcome here, and see that we appreciate what they do. We want to create a sense of community at Miami for everyone who lives and works here. It would be nice if the administration came to meet some of their workers, too. After all, we're all Miami folks."
Director of housing contracts and meal plans, Lucinda Coveney, said that there are "many reasons" why it is important to show appreciation for the staff.
"They are dedicated to serving their customers-the students, parents and guests of the university-and they're very hardworking," she said. "They do their best to serve."
She offered no comment on what she thinks of SFS.
"Staff Day is a really great idea," said junior Annie McClain. "The staff does great things for us all the time; it's about time we gave back and showed them how much they mean to us."
SFS had been working to get a living wage committee set up through the university during the 2006-07 school year in order to assess the wages given to full-time Miami University employees. When President David Hodge denied this request last spring, the group turned to other options.
"We tried going through 'regular channels,' but those regular channels for change didn't work," said Robert Winslow, a senior at Miami and SFS member.
He added that the group was partly created after a failed Miami employee strike in 2003. They felt the employees needed help getting their voices heard.
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Ben Kuebrich, an SFS member, agreed.
"It just seemed like the administration didn't want to deal with it," he said. "Our demonstrations last year were a reaction to that."
The organization has been working on their own living wage committee without the sponsorship of the university to crunch through the statistics and come up with a proposal for higher wages or more funding for greater research on the topic.
The committee consists of three faculty members, two graduate students, four staff members and four SFS members.
"We're working with the numbers to create something feasible (for people to understand and incorporate)," Kuebrich said.
He added that the committee is also working to see where the funding could come from, and to compare Miami's employee statistics with those at other universities. According to a 1996 report by Mercer Market Analysis, Miami's wage structure was 18-19 percent below market as compared with comparable jobs at other Ohio universities.
The proposal by SFS found that as of May, almost one-third of Miami's full-time staff was potentially making poverty wages.
As for other events Students for Staff has planned, they usually has speakers come every semester, but they don't have anything finalized as of yet. SFS also is working to get their living wage proposal out within the next month.
"Right now we're mainly working on educating the community," Winslow said. "We want the university to make workers a priority-those 1,500 people that work at Miami and live close-we want students to start being aware and making it a priority to treat them better."
In case of rain, the dinner and toast will be held in ART 100.
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