Hundreds of students, faculty and campus workers gathered Saturday morning in Firestone Plaza to voice their criticism of the University's policies regarding campus employees.
Representing such workers as librarians, custodial staff and dining services employees, the rally featured various speakers, including a few professors.
Last week, representatives of the Workers' Rights Organizing Committee met with administrators in an effort to negotiate changes to the University's treatment of its lowest-paid workers.
According to rally organizer David Tannenbaum '01, he and his colleagues found that the administration was unwilling to change its standards.
"On nearly every issue, they said that they felt comfortable with what the University's policies were," he explained.
"The reason we're having this rally is to make them feel uncomfortable, so they will change their policy," Tannenbaum said at the rally.
Joining Tannenbaum in calling for better working conditions were several of the workers themselves, Wilson College Master Miguel Centeno, USG president Joe Kochan '02 and economics professor Elizabeth Bogan.
In her brief speech, Bogan contested the argument that paying workers more than they are currently making would be anti-market.
"There is nothing anti-market in looking for ways to pay more to those of you who are at the lower end," she said.
She also said that in the past 30 years, the ratio of the University president's salary to that of the lowest paid employee has gone from 30 to one to 200 to one.
Bogan's attendance at the rally was seen as a step forward by many of the students there.
"The fact that she used economic analysis to support [the rally's cause]" was uplifting, Lauren Jones '03 said.
"There are a lot of really common-sensical notions that need to be addressed," she added, pointing specifically to affordable health care and keeping up with inflation.
Mary Weiland, a University library assistant for 16 years, summed up her feeling on the University's attitude toward its employees.
"It seems as though the University resents paying me for the job they've hired me to do," Weiland said.
During his speech, Centeno asked, "Does the University owe a morality to anything other than the market?"
The answer, he said, is yes, since the University pays its professors salaries and charges its students tuition far more than the market rates for either.
"This is going to require sacrifice," he said, noting that faculty may have to take pay cuts and students may have to pay more in tuition.
Once the speaking in Firestone Plaza was done, the crowd of over 350 people marched down to Jadwin Gym, chanting, "What do we want? COLA! When do we want it? Now!" COLA is a common acronym for cost of living adjustment.
The protest message was passed on to alumni who were attending an Alumni Day function at Jadwin.
Once the crowd had been acknowledged at Jadwin, the rally made an unplanned trip to Frist, before the group finally dispersed.
Tannenbaum said he thought the rally went well. He was pleased with the turnout, especially considering the time of the event.
"That's just not something that Princeton students and faculty normally do," he said of the Saturday morning protest.
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