Former AU employee Jim McCabe was arrested in the Terrace Dining Room on Oct. 14 while petitioning for service worker benefits. He was held in the custody of Metropolitan Police Department of D.C. for over two hours after refusing to leave campus voluntarily.
The unwise and tone deaf actions of AU authorities have predictably sparked a backlash among members of the AU community. Expelling McCabe for protesting worker rights exemplifies the University’s wrongheaded policy in dealing with the employees of its subcontractors.
We think the situation with McCabe could have been resolved differently. McCabe paid to enter TDR and, by most accounts, he caused no disturbance by distributing his flyers. That he was subsequently arrested and detained by D.C. police is, at best, an overreaction.
The optics of this situation are bad on multiple levels. Calling the police on a singular former AU staff member? Arresting McCabe in the middle of TDR when many students were eating lunch? Leading him through MGC and onto the Quad where a large police van was parked? This scale of response would be appropriate if McCabe had stolen something or possessed a weapon, but he was simply passing out pamphlets.
The issue of workers’ rights was already a hot button issue on campus before police arrested McCabe for his protest. Employees of Aramark, the main subcontractor AU uses for service work, have long been complaining about low pay, poor working conditions, understaffing, and intimidation from Aramark management.
The absence of any notification from AU when TDR employee Tijuana Saunders passed away over the summer seemed to symbolize the lack of regard University administration has for the people who make our food and clean the floors and tables.
These two issues served precursors to the arrest of McCabe, and these events have provoked a response. Many of the students campaigning for seats on the SG Senate this fall, led by former speaker Will Mascaro, have signed onto a “Workers’ Rights Pledge.” The pledge states that elected senators will use their office to “expand the rights and enhance the working conditions” of Aramark employees. Student Worker Alliance is also experiencing a sharp increase in student participation due to the McCabe arrest.
Activism is not uncommon on campus. Students have organized around fossil fuel divestment, combating sexual assault and a tuition freeze just in the last year. So we can’t help but wonder how exactly AU administration thought students would react to McCabe’s arrest.
Does administration understand what kind of campus we have? Did they not realize how students would react, or do they just not care? Administration actions prompt these questions.
Should it have taken McCabe’s high-profile arrest to draw student attention to a problem that has existed for years? It is a fair question. But moving forward, students should focus on what they can do constructively to help service workers.
Above all, it’s important that they listen to what workers want. We urge SG candidates making an issue of workers rights during this campaign season to follow through on their pledges to prioritize this matter if elected. On an everyday basis, this means all students should treat workers with basic respect: being friendly to cashiers and cleaners and cleaning up after yourself in TDR, MGC, and the lounges.
McCabe’s arrest was unfortunate. But with the right approach, we can make it teachable moment that prompts real change.
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