DEC 12, 2024 | NEWS | By Veronica Bianco
For the first two Blocks of the year, an empty front desk greeted students as they walked into the Big Three residence halls.
“For the entire first Block, I would walk into where I live and literally see a cage,” Ben Laschever ‘27 said. “It’s like, what’s going on here? They need to start hiring people.”
Laschever ended up being one of those new hires. He and about 30 other students started working during Block 3, alleviating some of the pressure on the few front desk assistants (FDAs) who returned to the job this semester.
Even though the new cohort solved the understaffing issue, some student employees said they were frustrated with changes brought by their new managers, Kaitlyn Griffin and Nathalie Rowell. The two supervisors were brought on shortly before the academic year began.
The Catalyst spoke with five current employees and two who resigned about their experiences in the position. All but one of them requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.
“Because we are students and need the job, we can’t really speak up because of the fear of getting fired on the spot,” one student said.
The tension between the managers and employees prompted a group of workers to form a GroupMe chat called “FDA (unofficial) union.”
Although the chat may lack the components of an official labor organization, the tension between the FDAs and their management reflects a broader national trend seen in workplaces and on campuses across the nation. According to an Inside Higher Ed article, the National Labor Relations board has certified unions for 50,000 student employees since 2022.
Griffin initially responded to an emailed request for comment but did not respond further when asked for an in-person interview, rather than responding to questions over email. The Catalyst followed up three more times via email. Griffin responded and said she didn’t have time for an interview in person or over the phone. The Catalyst sent questions in writing but received no response.
FDAs have a host of responsibilities, but most students know them for checking out lockout keys when they can’t get into their rooms.
Besides that, other duties include overseeing “security and maintenance of the front desk equipment and technology,” and “holding community members accountable for their actions by directly addressing and documenting any behavior that violates these standards and expectations” according to the Front Desk Assistant Statement of Understanding and Acceptance, which all employees are required to sign.
At the beginning of Block 2, before anyone new had started working, Griffin sent an email to all of the employees with the subject line “Final Notice regarding Performance and Communication.”
In it, Griffin wrote that some FDAs weren’t meeting expectations and that their communication had been “subpar” and “detrimental” to the team environment. “This serves as final notice before we consider termination,” the email read.
The email, which Griffin told students she sent with approval from the Student Employment office, began, “I am writing to address serious concerns regarding the performance and communication of the Front Desk Assistants.”
The Student Employment Office could not be reached for comment before this article’s publishing deadline.
Griffin wrote that “several employees” were not meeting the expectations outlined in the FDA agreement and discussed during their Block 1 meeting. She didn’t specify what expectations had been shirked and did not respond to the Catalyst’s clarifying questions.
“If you are unable to meet the outlined expectations, we expect your resignation by Monday, September 30,” Griffin wrote.
Two students said that they didn’t understand what specifically the managers were taking issue with.
“Most of the material covered was verbal, and none of it was clearly written out in either the slides or the FDA manual,” one student wrote in an email. “The manual is years outdated.”
“(The email) was very sudden and abrupt,” another student said. “We went into our second Block meeting with a lot of questions for them about how we proceed going forward knowing that we all basically could be fired at any moment.”
The FDAs gathered for their Block 2 meeting three days later on Sept. 30.
In an audio recording taken by a student worker at the meeting, Griffin and Rowell addressed the email, acknowledging that it was harsh but maintaining that it was necessary.
“This was not taken lightly to make this decision,” Griffin said. “The problem is that we’ve had continual issues that have impacted our communities.”
She told the students that her job is to make sure they are as prepared as possible to enter the workforce successfully after graduation, which includes holding them accountable when they aren’t meeting expectations. She also said that the email had to do with the hiring that was taking place at the time.
“Our new folks are being onboarded to the standard that Nathalie and I have established as our expectations,” she said. “Because of when we started and our conversations with you all, we have been trying very hard to meet you in the middle. We want to give grace. We want you to be able to grow. But we also will hold you accountable.”
“This is final notice. So if there is any infraction at this point, we do have the right to terminate moving forward,” she said during the meeting.
Rowell and Griffin did not respond to questions regarding whether they had fired anyone since sending the email.
“I’ve never experienced a working environment in my three years as an FDA until now where termination was brought up regularly,” said Jonathan Davis ‘26, a former FDA who resigned this year.
Beyond the email, five student employees said they’re frustrated with their managers’ decision to schedule shifts by the semester rather than the Block, as was done before Griffin and Rowell took over. The managers also cracked down on employees trading shifts, prohibiting it within 24 hours unless there’s an emergency.
Other jobs on campus, like the Fitness Center, Gear House, Library, Ed Robson, and Athletic Communications do their scheduling by the Block or every two weeks, according to employees.
The Catalyst spoke with two students who have quit the job since the beginning of the year. “I just felt like some kind of cog in a machine, like my wellbeing didn’t matter,” one of them said of why they resigned.
“I’ve worked like six jobs up to this point in my life and never have I felt so confused and conflicted about something so simple,” one current employee said.
Another said that they wouldn’t be returning to the job. “(Speaking up would) cause them to fire us. I’m not coming back to this position next year specifically because of this,” they said.
One student said that things have died down a little bit since Block 2, but that concerns about management, potential termination, and workplace culture remain.
“I believe (the new managers) struggle to take accountability and learn from their employees,” Davis said. “I think professionalism and respect is a two-way street, and an issue we’ve never experienced until now.”