Demand 7: Recruitment, Compensation, Quality of Work Life
via community letter, Nov. 11, 2015: RESOLVED Spring, 2019
"Black staff, faculty, and administrators who advise Black organizations should receive an increase in their financial compensation or salaries. Changes should be made to the hierarchical structure of Campus Life which puts primarily white males at the top of the structure which lead to their increased compensation and salaries. Also, we demand an increase of Black staff, faculty, and administrators to be in higher positions of power so that they can implement the changes that black students wish to see in the university. We align ourselves with the letter/petition addressed to the Advisory Committee of The Board of Trustees and the Presidential Selection Committee signed by many members of the Emory University communities of color. The people who are currently in positions of power have done minimal or no work for Black students, therefore they are not thoroughly knowledgeable about how to implement diversity initiatives that help Black students. Black/POC administrators and staff are overworked and underpaid, but they are the most influential on campus. The staff needs to be paid more for the work and time that they spend ensuring that the Black community has what it needs in the areas of administration, food, maintenance and custodial services, etc."
Discussions with the working group at the 2016 retreat clarified that the primary concern was about staff in Campus Life. To streamline discussion and possible solutions, the aspects of this demand which focus on faculty were shifted to the Demand 10 working group, which explicitly addressed faculty hiring and diversity.
2016 Campus life staff demographics showed robust representation on staff and in executive leadership with 39% of senior staff being people of color and/or hispanic, and specifically 32% black. At the same time, 38% of the executive leadership were people of color and/or hispanic, and 13% were black.
Campus Life completed a search committee guide focused on recruiting and hiring diverse leaders. Search committee guide training is held monthly by Campus Life and is required for all senior/executive staff and any staff serving on a Campus Life search committee beginning in fall 2019.
After a compensation review, Campus Life established guidelines around how staff should be compensated for advisory roles, and compensation changes were made according to the guidelines.
Updated: August 2019