The University of Georgia, which has a billion-dollar endowment, currently charges its staff and faculty, including its lowest paid staff, to pay to park on campus. Essential workers making $15 an hour at UGA have to pay between $10-40 a month, which adds up to $120-480 a year, to park on campus.
Currently, parking is run by Auxiliary Services, which is not funded by the state of Georgia. It is not funded by the state of Georgia, because the University System of Georgia (run by the Board of Regents) does not believe that parking on campus is a necessary function at UGA. In turn, Auxiliary Services charges everyone (staff, faculty, visitors, students) that park on campus to pay based solely off of location, without holding themselves to the same standards of conduct that UGA holds its students to: wisdom, justice and moderation.
Lack of Wisdom
According to UGA’s Code of Conduct for students, “wisdom challenges us to apply lessons received inside and outside the classroom to our everyday lives. Wisdom transcends knowledge, embracing curiosity, discovery and expression throughout our community.” There is nothing wise about making essential workers pay to park on campus.
Expecting underpaid essential workers, such as custodial and dining staff, to pay to park on campus disincentivizes people to work at the University of Georgia. Currently, many jobs have openings at the University of Georgia, and the choice to force essential workers to pay to come to work is likely only decreasing the odds that these essential roles will be fulfilled.
Furthermore, it is inefficient to have essential staff pay to park on campus. Without any dedicated parking for essential workers, other UGA community members and visitors may take parking from essential workers, making them late to work. For instance, if your lot becomes filled and you cannot find a parking space, there’s not much you can do. There’s no overflow parking or any real process to deal with this problem. I’ve heard several occasions of essential workers having to call Auxiliary Services just to find a place to park before work.
This convoluted system wastes time and money. If UGA would follow the precedent of other universities, such as Georgia Gwinnett College, staff would have accessible — and FREE — parking near their places of work so that they never have to worry about making it on time to work.
Lack of Justice
According to UGA's Code of Conduct for students, “justice leads us to be fair in our dealings, accountable for our actions, responsible for ourselves, and empathetic for others. Justice requires honesty and celebrates diversity, establishing credibility and integrity for our community and ourselves.” There is nothing just about making essential workers pay to park on campus.
Essential workers that make $15 an hour and pay to park in a lot or deck that costs $40, must work at least three hours just to pay to be at work for that month. This is exploitative. No one should have to pay to be at work.
Yet, the assumption that workers should sacrifice their time and money for UGA is baked into hiring policies that ignore the material realities of underpaid essential workers. For instance, essential workers may not know that they will have to pay to park at work. Further, when hired some essential workers may not know that some parking areas are more expensive than others, causing them to pay even more to come to work. This puts the essential worker in a position where they have to advocate for themselves just to make it to work, which is extremely unjust.
Lack of Moderation
According to UGA's Code of Conduct for students, “moderation compels us to act with civility, bolstering our faith in others and the faith others have in us. Moderation accentuates our self-respect, promotes responsible citizenship, and enhances pride in our university.” There is nothing moderate about making essential workers pay to park on campus.
Across campus, I have heard testimony of low paid essential workers paying the same amount to park on campus as the highest paid workers. Any given custodian at the law school will pay the same price for their parking spot in N05 as the highest paid law professor. Having laborers that make $15 an hour pay the same as someone that makes $100 dollars an hour is not moderate — it's extremely inequitable and regressive. USG showcases their total lack of respect and utter apathy toward essential workers by further marginalizing them, decreasing faith and pride in the University of Georgia.
But, all of these are choices, and the University System of Georgia can choose to set aside staff parking as well as better fund and manage essential roles at UGA, such as transportation. UGA could choose to cover staff parking through its budget, or at the minimum, parking for the lowest paid workers on campus. If we, community members at UGA, stand with our fellow essential workers, we can apply pressure to the current policies that underfund and exploit essential workers.
Indeed, the United Campus Workers of Georgia at UGA has led a campaign to repair this broken system, which marginalizes custodians, dining hall staff, landscape crews, bus drivers, electricians — and all the laborers that make everyday at UGA possible. Currently, nearly 1,000 people have physically and electronically signed the petition to support laborers in the UGA community, which is set to be delivered again to UGA’s President Jere Morehead on May 1, known as May Day or International Workers’ Day.
Help take a stand against the unfair treatment of essential workers at UGA. To show your support for essential workers, join other community members in signing the petition for free parking for UGA employees.
