The Orbis

Issue date: 4/15/09 Section: Opinion

No Cuts logo (www.vandylive.com)

On Wednesday, April 8th, four representatives of Living Income for Vanderbilt Employees sat down with Chancellor Zeppos to discuss the job security of Vanderbilt’s workforce and our “No Cuts” movement. Our request for the presence of a worker was denied by the administration, but we did not let this stand in the way of civil and sustained discourse.

Going into the meeting, we wanted to clarify our requests and encourage the Chancellor to strengthen his public stance regarding cuts to our lowest-paid workers. We commended him for his voluntary pay cut, but stressed to him that our campaign was not a witch hunt of the highest paid administrators in the country. Our goal was, and still is, to protect the livelihood of our lowest-paid workers. Chancellor Zeppos expressed that he shared this goal and that every member of the Vanderbilt community is vital. He described himself as “old school” in that to him “a university consists of three parts: students, workers, and faculty.” In email correspondence since the meeting, he again emphasized that “there is no Vanderbilt without the devoted staff, faculty, and students.” It was good to hear that Chancellor Zeppos is truly committed not only to the institution of Vanderbilt, but to the people of Vanderbilt.

An ethic of shared sacrifice will be necessary to steward the Vanderbilt community through these tough economic times. Our lowest-paid workers were already made to sacrifice when Vanderbilt did away with overtime hours. Those workers must not be made to sacrifice their jobs and homes so that our University’s endowment will be a little healthier when times of prosperity return. As evidenced by his pay cut which goes into effect July 1, Chancellor Zeppos values shared sacrifice. It was vital that Chancellor Zeppos went public with his decision to take a voluntary pay cut because in doing so he put forth a valuable example of shared sacrifice for the sustainability of our community. We trust that he will continue to lead from the top by encouraging other administrators to take similar pay cuts. He assured us that he has already initiated such discussions.
Our message was clear: students and faculty – and we hope, administrators – on this campus are ready to give back to ensure the livelihood of our workers. We expressed our willingness, and indeed eagerness, to collaborate with the administration to develop creative, cost-cutting initiatives that will protect staff positions in the context of the University’s greater good. In turn, Chancellor Zeppos expressed that “There are so many things we do well, but when it comes to resource conservation and devoting resources to our mission, we all know this is a time to work together and do better.” We left the meeting with a sense that the administration is committed to protecting and strengthening Vanderbilt’s sense of community. It was explained to us that were it not for this sense of community, cuts would perhaps already have been made.

Despite the Chancellor’s strong rhetoric about community and shared sacrifice, Zeppos stopped short of guaranteeing that there would be no cuts to our lowest-paid workers. While this is disappointing, LIVE understands the difficulty of making a hard and fast guarantee. What did come out of the meeting is an understanding that the administration intends on doing what it takes to protect everyone in our community. In the coming weeks, Chancellor Zeppos will be working on his “next message to our community and emphasizing the core values of shared sacrifice and caring for all in our community.” Likewise, LIVE will continue to spread its values and put pressure on the administration to live up to theirs. If you are interested in getting involved, visit www.vandylive.com or email live.vanderbilt@gmail.com for more information.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools