When Colette Pinkowski, a junior in graphic design, walked into the Ikenberry Dining Center one evening, she noticed that the hard plastic china, cups, and metal silverware were replaced with paper and plastic alternatives. 

“I was surprised,” she stated. “It was out of the ordinary.”

Some students excused the use of such alternatives with assuming the dishwasher was broken. However, as time went on and paper and plastic products were still in use, Colette and other Ikenberry residents began to understand why. 

“I quickly realized why, and it sort of made me think about how bad the shortage of workers is. They can’t even wash the plates,” Colette observed.

The United States economy is currently undergoing the worst labor shortage in history. According to an article by the Wall Street Journal, the labor force participation is still 1.7% lower than in February 2020 despite 10 million job openings. The University is feeling the effects of the labor-supply shortage.

Michelle Trame, the Director of Student Financial Aid, acknowledged the issue. “We are seeing a drop in student employment compared to two years ago.”

According to Trame, in Fall 2019, the university employed 8,165 students. In the current Fall 2021 semester, there are 6,751 student workers – a decrease of 17.3%. 

Trame also said that since university housing and dining hires the most employees, they have been the most afflicted by the shortage. 

Mari Curry Anne Brocker Curry, the Director of Housing Information and Marketing for University Housing said, “The impact of the workforce that is being felt globally is very much being felt in university housing.”

Housing staffing shortages have caused several closures and changes in the way university dining operates.

Mindy Leek, a sophomore in communications who currently works at the Ikenberry Dining Center said that working during the shortage has been very difficult. 

She went on to explain that the use of disposable china is sometimes due to malfunctioning equipment, however, most of the time it’s because they don’t have enough staff members.

The integration of disposable china into the Ikenberry dining center is just a small portion of the effects. The Caffeinator in the Ikenberry Commons and Florida Avenue Residence (FAR) dining have been temporarily closed.

“I normally don’t leave my dorm until it’s too late to eat anywhere else besides FAR,” says Bailey Speer, a freshman in English. “I would like them to reopen so I could get the late-night dinner.”

According to Curry, the decision to close them down was due to low student usage in those places and the need to staff higher student-concentrated locations. 

“For example, sometimes there’s only certain people that can work in the dish room,” she explained. 

“We have to borrow from one area to another in the same job classification so we could provide a better experience. It was better to consolidate to fewer locations and then focus on the experience in the remaining locations,” she said. 

The good news is that these closures won’t last. In a mass email sent Sunday, University Housing announced that they plan on a reopening in the upcoming spring semester.

Trame and Curry reflected on the shortage’s continuation,why they believe students aren’t working, and what the university could do to hire more employees. 

Trame believes that federal government emergency grants given to students have alleviated some of the costs needed to supplement their livelihoods that otherwise would’ve been earned through student employment.

She said that she believed that students were still getting acclimated to being back on campus and might not want to work right away. 

Trame hopes that the coming increase in minimum wage will encourage more students to work.

Curry believes that the workforce issues have been magnified by COVID. 

“There are folks that are changing how, where, and when they work. Some people used to work in the restaurant and foodservice industry who have decided to do something different,” he said. 

“Our vendor has issues too. They’re trying to fill all their truck driving and delivery positions and this impacts when we get our products,” Curry explained, referencing national supply chain issues as another cause.

She also mentioned that the dining hiring process is extensive and often takes a long time to hire students. “We’ve been working closely with the HR department to expedite hiring wherever we can, so it doesn’t take so long.”

Regarding wage, housing is also trying to make sure that we have a competitive wage as the minimum wage continues to rise. 

“We are always looking to improve,” she said.

“We’re working to provide developmental opportunities for staff once they work with us. We want to know how we can support and take care of them so that they want to stay. We’re constantly looking at ways in which we can do that better.” 

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