On November 5, 2015, Georgetown students, alumni, staff, faculty, and administrators gathered in Riggs Library to reflect and celebrate the way the university realizes its Catholic identity and Jesuit heritage to the men and women who sustain our campus: the Just Employment Policy (JEP). For the past ten years and counting, the policy has guaranteed a living wage, the right to freely associate and organize, freedom from harassment or retaliation, and access to community resources such as bus shuttles and ESL courses for all university employees and subcontracted workers on the Hilltop.
The Just Employment Policy is a product of the courage and collaborative spirit of several components of the Georgetown community: immigrant janitorial workers who risked their livelihood by speaking out about their working conditions; student activists who led a three-year campaign and launched a nine-day hunger strike to force the university to address these issues; clergy, faculty, and community allies who stood in solidarity with workers and students; and devoted, forward-thinking faculty members and administrators who brought stakeholders together to find a meaningful solution to the crisis. We were honored to host several of the individuals who helped establish the JEP at our celebration, as well as many of those who have upheld the policy since then and updated it to meet the demands of a growing campus.
Anyone who could not attend the event is welcome to relive our dialogue about the origins of the Just Employment Policy, its impact on the campus community, and the future of the Just Employment model.
Welcome and Introductory Remarks
Dr. Joseph A. McCartin and Provost Robert M. Groves
Origins of the Policy
Erik Smulson, VP for Public Affairs and Senior Advisor to the President
Virginia Leavell, Director for DC Action Lab
Fr. Raymond Kemp, Professor in the Georgetown Department of Theology
Moderator: Dr. Joseph A. McCartin, Director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative
Impact on the Campus Community
Lisa Krim, Senior Advisor to the President for Faculty Relations
Donte Crestwell, Warehouse Receiver at Leo J. O’Donovan’s Dining Hall
Dr. Kerry Danner McDonald, Professor in the Georgetown Department of Theology
Caleb A. Weaver, Member of the Georgetown Solidarity Committee
Moderator: Nick Wertsch, Program Coordinator at the Kalmanovitz Initiative
Future of the Just Employment Policy
Dr. Robert Stumberg, Director of the Harrison Institute for Public Law
Chris Kerr, Executive Director of the Ignatian Solidarity Network
Natalie Yoon, National Organizer for United Students Against Sweatshops
Hannah Cook, Member of Students for Worker Justice at Loyola University of Chicago
Moderator: J. Callahan Watson, Director of Business Policy and Planning
