University of Virginia Library

Wage Petition

It seems to me that if the
various activists groups are sincerely
concerned about the inequities in
the wage scale of university employees,
they should take the
following course of action:

1) Make a study to determine
the cost of raising the
wages of these employees to a
level they consider equitable;

2) Calculate the raises in
food prices, room rents, fees
and tuition that would be
necessary to finance these raises;

3) Circulate a petition
among students to the effect
that the signers would favor
these increases in food prices,
rents, fees and tuition to effect
these wage increases.

It would seem that the administration
would consider with favor
any such petition if signed by a
majority of the students.

Simply to demand that state
taxes be raised to finance such
increases would appear to leave one
open to the criticism that we
students are in favor of "progress"
only so long as it is at someone
else's expense. After all, it is we
who would have been on the
receiving end of whatever exploitation
has taken place up to this
point.