University of Virginia Library

Shutts Cuts

The crunch of the wage-price spiral that is
strangling the nation was brought home to the
University on Thursday in a minor, though
remarkably personal, manner. Citing rising
costs and wages, Business Manager Richard F.
Shutts announced the the Housing Office will
be forced to cut back maid service in the
dormitories next fall if the University
intends to maintain room rents at their
present levels.

For University employees, this
announcement means that some 33 Housing
personnel will be transfered to the
Department of Buildings and Grounds, which
is experiencing personnel shortages of exactly
that many positions. The shift will be
accomplished not only without a single
person losing his or her job, but also without
the loss of a cent in wages or fringe benefits
for the displaced employees, Mr. Shutts
assured.

What the maid cutback means for the
University's dormitory residents is somewhat
less clear. Students have been saved an average
rent increase from $384.50 to $432.82, by
paring the personal services in dormitories.

Maintaining rents at their present levels
also saved the University and especially dorm
residents the complications which would have
ensued in distributing a fixed amount of
financial aid over a larger number of students
who could not afford the cost of dormitory
living. Particularly hard-hit would have been
first-year students, who are required to live in
University housing.

Yet, in a indirect way, students must pay
for the wage increases authorized for state
employees by the General Assembly in
February, as well as for the rising costs of
contracted services such as plumbing and
heating. Dormitory residents will therefore
lose the luxury of having their rooms swept
daily and emptied of trash by the maids. With
the personnel cutback, maids will only be
responsible for maintaining public areas in the
dormitories, such as halls, suites, and lounges,
and the residents must take personal
responsibility for the cleanliness of their own
rooms.

While some may chaff at the
inconvenience and personal discomfort
entailed in having to take care of their own
rooms, and protest that they would gladly
have payed more rent to keep personal maid
service, we note that other, less affluent (or
perhaps, more frugal) students welcome the
opportunity to forego maid service rather
than face higher rents.

Though we may pride ourselves on those
little extras which give the University its own
particular flavor, personal maid service in
dorm rooms is one little extra which we must
recognize as just that-an expendable
extravagance, a piece of fat to be trimmed
from the Housing budget at a time of rising
prices.

For those who would still prefer to pay
extra for the convenience of having their
rooms cleaned for them, for whatever reasons,
let us suggest that free enterprise should
supply the service if enough dorm residents
voice such a desire. Mr. Shutts has already
refused to allow a contracted housekeeping
service to be paid for by those who want it.
We believe, however, that although maid
service is expendable, students should be
allowed to spend their money for such extras
if they choose, much as they do for the linen
service already operating in University
housing.

Giving residents the option of paying for
personal maid service if they want it and
removing the burden of supporting such a
service from the purses of those thrifty
students who don't seems to us the only fair
way to resolve the sticky problem of saving
money while providing dormitory residents
with the services they desire.