On October 12th, I got to see Ana Mari Cauce in person for the first time since she shuffled past me at a Board of Regents meeting to get to the buffet. Last time, I was there with UW employees who were demanding better working conditions. This time, I was there with UW employees who were demanding better working conditions. The only difference was that last time, there was a public comment section, so their demands could be met with false promises and brushed aside. This time, precautionary measures were taken to ensure that no UW officials would have to bear the emotional strain of actively ignoring their employees’ circumstances.

For an hour, Cauce talked about population health, clean energy, mental wellness, and tech, making vague statements about intersectionality and depth– and jokes about her age that did not deserve the droll chuckles they received– then answered a few questions chosen from many submitted by email. Kat and Yasmin, union representatives for Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE), reported that this was a new development. “Last year,” Kat said, “we were able to ask questions. This year, we had to submit them in advance.”

Conveniently, this allowed Cauce to avoid even touching on the issue of working conditions. As Yasmin pointed out: “She didn’t talk about labor and workers. Just about students.”

She was right. In all the time Cauce spent talking about UW students’ achievements, how furniture and wall colors can make a difference for mental health, how the weird W hand sign has both depth and breadth, and how the old UW power plant does have to come down and it will happen, just not right now– she did not find time to mention last year’s library strike, the obvious disarray of HFS dining locations, or the complaints from custodians about exposure to hazardous substances. She only had an hour, after all, and it was absolutely necessary that she use any extra time to double down on the Zionist sentiments she recently posted to her blog. One of her handpicked questions was something along the lines of, “Are you going to let this horrible terrorist protest against the great and legitimate state of Israel take place in Red Square today?” to which Cauce answered something along the lines of, “Legally, I can’t stop them, but UW does not endorse these horrible crimes. We endorse only the crimes that Israel commits, because Boeing makes a lot of money selling them weapons, and we make a lot of money letting Boeing name floors in our engineering buildings.” (She began her address by condemning the “horrific attacks by Hamas,” then jumping right into a land acknowledgement. I never knew someone’s stance on settler colonialism could flip a 180 so fast.)

This highlighted a very clear pattern throughout the speech: the more money you make UW, the more air time your concerns are given. Students? Sure, if there’s enough of them. Police states with common interests? A thousand times yes. Workers? Hold on. Aren’t those the ones we have to give money to? Yeah, let’s just skip right over to… Dubs! Oh my God, remember Dubs? He’s a dog with a special name!

Yasmin did manage to corner Cauce as she was leaving the auditorium, but the group got only a couple of minutes to bring up their concerns. They cited overworking, understaffing, poor pay, mismanagement, hazardous conditions– the same things they’ve been trying to get fixed for years– and received a characteristically vague response. “I’m fairly sure there’s gonna be bargaining this year, it’s a tough time, I’ll talk to my folks.” And just like that, Cauce became a purple splotch in the distance.

The higher-ups at UW have no incentive to improve working conditions. It’s a lot more profitable to stretch workers to the point of breaking, and by leaving them out when talking about the “UW community,” UW can ward off the development of solidarity networks that might give workers more leverage. They themselves don’t have much to hold against UW; the only language UW speaks is money, and the only way for workers to stop the flow of money is to go on strike, which many of them can’t afford to do. UW’s other weak spot is its optics: it presents itself as a progressive, humanitarian school because this is what students and investors want to see. UW’s image is the net it uses to scoop up money, and damage to this image through visible protest is how students make their demands heard (I’d bet one million dollars that the only reason Cauce addressed the power plant is because of the ICA die-in). But it’s a lot harder for workers to demonstrate this way. Organizing takes time and money, which UW makes sure to monopolize– if workers have a surplus of either, they’re not working hard enough– and it requires a will to organize, reassurance that other people want the same thing. Aside from the fact that many of these employees are student workers just focused on making it through the next four years, and the high turnover rate as people realize, “Hey, it actually sucks to work here,” poor training means that workers often aren’t aware of their own rights, and close surveillance by managers discourages airing grievances. Those who do campaign for better conditions are consistently brushed aside, which is what happened at the Board of Regents meeting last year, and what happened at the President’s Address this week.

This is why it’s so important to dismantle the idea of a student/worker dichotomy. Despite how Cauce may frame it, students have much more in common with workers than we will ever have with the Board of Regents. Many students are workers. Many who aren’t would still be horrified and angered to see the kind of practices they’re going into lifelong debt to support. The next time you get food poisoning at Center Table, just know that everyone in that kitchen is doing the best they can, juggling multiple tasks amid understaffing, a lack of supplies, and an overflow of constantly-breaking machines. The only reason the gears of UW continue to turn is because its food workers, custodians, shuttle drivers, window repairers, plumbers, and other support staff pull off the impossible every day. The least we can do is stand with them. The people in our community who are most consistently devalued are the ones it wouldn’t exist without. 

Published 10-15-23
Photo from UW Website