Yesterday, Dartmouth students staged protests defending rights of workers who were allegedly mistreated by the college. According to an article by Stephanie McFeeters in today’s The Dartmouth, Dartmouth cut health benefits to faculty but “disproportionately targeted staff.” Protesters complained  fellow students suffered from “conformity,” “indifference” and even “hostility” towards the fight for workers’ rights.
DU students suffer from something worse. We not only reinforce the existing inequalities that between students and staff, but actively promote mistreatment and prejudice against custodial, facilities and food service staff with blatant and rude behavior.
Countless times I have witnessed students spill food and drinks on the ground and walk away, toss trash on the floor and even make racially offensive comments about the staff. There is a pervasive unspoken belief that we are entitled to be careless brutes because “we pay enough to be here” and it’s “just their job.”
But anyone who has worked in the service sector can tell you that a lack of common decency can make a job a nightmare. I can only imagine cleaning residence hall bathrooms of students who do not acknowledge or respect me – sometimes between the hours of 3-7 a.m.
These workers are people – they have families sleeping at home while they make sure you, the students of DU, have shiny floors to walk on and clean windows. We need to questions whether this level of luxury is worth the time and money – and maybe question if it’s necessary for DU to hide it from us in the dark of night.
Maybe we can find time in our oh-so-busy – and privileged – lives to show a fraction of reciprocity to the staff that fill our stomachs, clean our homes and make our days pleasant.
In fact, the students of DU need to make a concrete, concerted and sustainable effort to learn about the labor standards of the University, and organize a stance on the rights they expect DU staff – members of their community – to have. Dartmouth students know which of their workers are unionize. Can you honestly say the same?
For example, Sodexo Group, food provider at DU, was accused of human rights violations in 2011, resulting in an ongoing conflict between Sodexo, unions and student groups across the country. Meanwhile, workers’ bargaining rights in other low-earning trades have been the unspoken victims of the latest financial crisis.
DU students may feel insulated to issues facing low-income workers, residing in the comfortable bubble between childhood and adulthood, swathed in political arguments over the “middle class.” But the “lower class” exists and is part of your world – it’s the man spraying your chalk off the steps of Sturm in the freezing cold.
Based on the way I’ve seen DU students treat their staff, the least I’d expect is a little humanity.
The least I’d respect is an organized effort to inspect DU’s labor policies, and our roles and responsibilities as students in them. The least I can morally accept  is that each student change not only their own attitude toward staff members, but demands transparent policies aimed at treating DU staff members as part of our community – not part of America’s forgotten class.

Updated to reflect changes made for the print edition on Oct. 30.