By JOHN CONNORS
Forum Editor
 

As a student, I've had the privilege of learning from our staff. As we've all heard before, some of life's best lessons are outside the classroom. I'm beholden to them for teaching me and reminding me of a score of lessons about respect, pride, and in some cases (unfortunately) fear. I'm worried that our staff are not completely equal members of the Bates Community. Of the eight staff members I spoke to, only one said that they felt they were an equal. That's why I felt compelled to write an article.

The first and most obvious indicator to me that staff are not equal members of the community here is their fear at being named in this article. You'll notice as you read, that not a single staff member I talked to was willing to go on the record. They wanted to comment, but were worried that putting their names next to comments in the paper would jepordise their position. `Marcy' said, "We were told by a former supervisor that we can't talk to students about anything." For clarity's sake, false names have been assigned to each of the seven staff members quoted in this piece. The names used here are not the actual names of the speakers.

The Bates Student handbook states "Freedom of expression is one of the fundamental academic freedoms, and Bates College strongly beleieves that all members of the College should be free to express themselves on all issues."

Staff at Bates are not free to speak. In fact, many feel very reserved about speaking out at all. When I asked one staff member what would happen if they signed their name to an article like this they told me " I'd probably be reprimanded by my supervisor. My manager would be upset with me and they might try and make it hard for me." Others felt they could speak out without fear for their jobs, but were unsure if they'd be placed on probation or punished. Many referred back to past situation where others had been punished by former supervisors and stressed that they thought their current managers would be more sympathetic. Nevertheless, as `Christine' said "You should have the right to say what you want to say without being afraid."

Maybe they should be afraid for their jobs. Job security is something Bates physical plant staff think about. `Phil' told me "Losing our jobs? I don't think there's a fear of losing our jobs, we have a fear of privatization. We don't want our jobs sub-contracted out." But some of the tales I heard of past staff experiences (before the hiring of the current managers) told another story. Marcy said that a past supervisor had said to her "From now on when I come in here, if I find one wall left dirty, I can fire you. I've been given authorization to fire you." Now, those staff I spoke to wanted to emphasis that the current manager is a lot different and far more sympathetic. But what happens if the current supervisor gets replaced? In other words, these are situations that could happen again given a new supervisor change.

When I asked about temporary workers here at Bates, many full time staff agreed their was a different position. `Peter' commmented "Temps do worry about their job security. Always." I pause to wonder whether this is an issue that is Bates specific, or a situation that all workers these days find themselves in. Bates may be a college of egalitarian ideals, but we still are a private insitutution looking to maximize our resources. My fear is that we may be focusing our financial vision towards massive capitol projects such as the new academic building, and neglecting areas like staff levels. Unfortunately, the Personnel office was unreachable for comment on these issues this week.

In the last few years the physical plant has begun using the `team' concept, replacing the old system for custodial staff where a person was assigned the care for a certain building or area. Now, staff are rotated between buildings, doing multiple jobs, and by their accounts, being stretched very thin. Repeatedly in my conversations with them, some staff members brought up the concern that older staff were inadvertantly being pressured to retire (a number of our custodial staff members are approaching retirement age) through the use of the team concept. `Joann' said; "I don't think we like the team concept, we find it very stressful. We simply don't have the time to do the work

we're asked to do." `Peter' commented "Most people don't enjoy their job here the way they used to there's a lot of pressure now."

The quality of life for staff here has seen better days. Is this connected to concerns of age discrimination and a subtle pressure for older staff to retire? I'm not sure. Part of that problem is clearly the shift to this new team concept. Simply put, a lot more is being asked of fewer people. Those staff I talked to know the number of injuries among staff are up, the quality of their work is suffering, and they aren't as happy here as they used to be.

Some people have asked me if in writing this article I'm making something out of nothing. It all depends on what you think is fair and how far you think we should go for our staff here at Bates. If we, as a community, are serious about including staff as true equals then things must change. Right now our staff have certian fears. Some people consider these fears, such as issues revolving around job security, the freedom to speak up and have your criticisms really acted on, and shabby treatment based on educational background or age, as things workers need to expect as par for the course. They are not. The other focus of our concern has to be on their basic quality of life. Are our staff increasingly being given tougher jobs that make them unhappy and overstressed?

Bates College tries to embody the image of the city upon the hill. Perhaps in response to pressure to reduce the costs of a Bates education, we're sacrificing a completely safe and egalitarian envirionment for staff, and replacing that with an envirionment where an editor for the student newspaper has to resort to protecting staff with anonyminity simply for speaking their mind. If we're to begin to approach the ideal. We've got to create an environment where staff can criticize, openly and free from fears of punishment, their job envirionment; with this criticism improvement will hopefully follow.

The Bates catalog states on page 14 "With intellectual development should come a deepening moral awareness. A college woman or man should have the ability to lead as well as a willingness to cooperate. Comprehension of the complexities of life should lead to a sympathetic understanding of others and generosity in response to them. The student should develop a sense of social and civic responsibility and integrity should guide every action."

Almost unanimously the seven staff members I interviewed had the same things to say about their relationships with students. Phil said "The two words I could use are (to describe the student-staff relationship) `mostly good.' There are some very close bonds between staff and students... A little bit of help goes a long way with students. We (staff) are very aware of the pressues on students. I think all we want is the same respect back." The feeling from staff that I heard was that every once in a while a student will condecend to them, will ignore requests to clean up unreasonable messes (after-party hurricanes of damage that leave rooms wrecked) or treat them badly. But those situations were few and far between. But the large majority of students treat them decently, if not very well.

But what students need to be aware of is that some staff are operating under the idea that there is a barrier between themselves and students that if they cross they can be punished for. When I asked if staff were allowed to respond when students were being condescending or unreasonable, Marcy told me "In the past we were told that they (students) can do whatever they want, they can say whatever they want, and we (staff) can't do anything about it." In this environment, students have to be careful to watch out for our staff, and make sure some of our classmates aren't casually and unreasonably complaining to their supervisiors. I know of two different situations where a student has made comment through email or phone to a supervisor with an unfair comment or complaint. Both times I've spoken up as well, making sure that the supervisor got another side to the story. What I worry about is when there isn't another student to act as the spokesperson for that staff member.

What are the issues here? One issue is class or dignity. You can look at this from the academic perspective, adopting the vague rhetoric of class issues and hierarchies, but what it really comes down to is how a person is treated on the day to day personal level, combined with the long term quality of life for that person. We live within an egalitarian institution that tries very hard to use the language of equality and community. But constantly, in the back of all our minds, we wonder what the trickle-down reality is when we hear and read statements of diversity and equality at Bates. But do we remember staff? They are another group within our community that we should be particularly concerned with when it comes to equality, both because of their perceived lack of voice within our home, and because so many make the mistake of taking them for granted.