A campus-wide email sent to faculty and staff on April 19 notified of the change in policy for student employment during the summer semester.
"Effective April 20, students not yet processed at the university Career Center and input into the Banner HR system must be registered and enrolled for the minimum number of credit hours for summer semester (6 undergraduate; 3 graduate) or they will be ineligible for summer employment," interim president Curtis McCray said. "This modification is necessary in order to continue reducing university expenses. While this may pose a challenge to some departments, I appreciate everyone's cooperation and understanding as we continue to move forward with our budget remediation."
This change in policy caused a reaction from the Wright State faculty and staff, defending the students who would be affected by this.
"In addition to students not wanting to take summer classes because of scholarship, students don’t take classes because they aren’t on a scholarship and they can’t afford to have that added expense," Teresa Garrett said, Lab Manger for NeuroEngineering, Rehabilitation and Degeneration. "Summer allows them to work extra hours and add an additional means to support themselves throughout the school year. If they have to register for credit hours then there isn’t a reason for them to work on campus. They won’t be breaking even. We are a public university where a large percentage of students are low income or are putting themselves through college. This policy seems to disregard this fact."
Garrett spoke of the strain this puts on the labs, effecting the productivity, since the majority of research is done over the summer.
"Our students volunteer or register for credit hours throughout the school year, then over the summer we pay them. We can’t just hire new students," Garrett said. "These students have spent hours in training learning, what they need to know to get the job done. Now, without notice, you are telling us we can’t hire them if they don’t register for classes."
Kirby Underwood, a Chemistry lab manager, spoke of the safety concerns with not being able to hire the same students that have been trained and how this will effect efficiency in the lab.
"Our student employees usually need a semester to get up to speed to work safely in our labs," Underwood said. "Not to mention, our summer laboratory courses operate at twice their normal pace. I need student employees that can keep up with this pace, which typically means that they are not taking courses!"
"Just like some of the other recent policy changes that have come with little or no warning, we need an appeal process when there is more at stake than saving a few dollars. Too many of these changes are going to end up costing us in the long run. When there’s an accident in one of these teaching labs, I guarantee the cost savings will be lost many times over in the subsequent legal consequences," Underwood said.
