Kenyon College Community Advisors File Wage Theft Complaints

MAY 5, 2021 (Gambier, OH) - Community Advisors (CA’s) at Kenyon College have filed wage theft charges against Kenyon College with the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Wage and Hour Administration. If the complaint is seen as substantiated, it will trigger an investigation by the Bureau into the employment practices of Kenyon College to determine the facts of the complaint and if wage theft has occurred.

"Community Advisors work consistently more than the capped 18 hours a week, remaining uncompensated for both the emotional and tangible labor they perform in their own residence halls and across campus every day. In training, CA’s are told frequently that our ‘CA hat is never off.’ Although Community Advisors can't clock out, our paycheck certainly does. Residential Life holds CA's accountable for all aspects of their behavior (like the clubs they can join, or the classes they can take) 24/7, not just 18 hours a week. As in any workplace, we deserve fair compensation for all hours worked, which certainly exceeds the 18 Residential Life restricts us to," states an anonymous Community Advisor.

Many CA’s are currently striking administrative duties as part of a larger strike for recognition for the Kenyon Student Worker Organizing Committee (K-SWOC/UE), the campaign to form the first multi-shop undergraduate student labor union, which represents the majority of CA’s. In Summer 2020, CA’s successfully organized collectively to advocate for increased wages and lowered room costs after Kenyon College invited all CA’s back to campus for the Fall 2020 semester and many CA’s quickly realized that they would lose money by returning to campus to work. Controversial changes to the CA program have been made for the Fall 2021 semester including the outsourcing of the Apartment Community Advisor to two graduate students at Kent State University and a contract that implies the ability of supervisors to refuse CA’s the ability to participate in extracurricular activities if they feel that they are too burdened or busy. These controversial changes were made in the week following a one-day Unfair Labor Practice strike by other shops of student labor within Kenyon.  

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