Alexandra Hill
Laurentian Pact Ambassadors: But Why?
On Feb. 5, the new paid positions of Laurentian Pact Ambassadors [LPAs] were announced. These student leaders, who began work Feb. 15, would go on rounds around campus, fostering conversation and education in regards to health and the Laurentian Pact.
Now, in concept the idea of this position sounds like an amazing way to aid in the battle against COVID-19 and foster a safe and healthy campus community. My concern comes from the fact that this role of going on rounds, encouraging safety and the following of the Laurentian Pact is a job other student workers already fulfill, and who have been requesting further compensation from the university due to this increased responsibility in their job.
The university even acknowledges this overlap, specifically in regards to Community Assistants [CAs], Hagi Bradley, VP and Dean of Student Life, stating that the LPA position is intended to “help our CAs who are greatly currently overwhelmed.” There is a distinction made between the two roles: that CAs officially write up students for their violations, while LPAs would be providing reminders and education. But this distinction does not imply an improvement in the workload of CAs. Are reminders truly going to make students adhere to the Laurentian Pact better?
From a university perspective, it may sound so, but being a student myself, I hear the student reaction. I hate this is the way our student body has reacted, but the response has not been hopeful. I have heard a range of negative reactions, especially regarding LPA’s lack of authority and how their role is not to get students in trouble.
Thus, if students will not respond as hoped to these new LPAs, it will provide no aid to CAs. An anonymous CA source discussed their opinion on the funding that went towards this new role (each of the 15 LPAs make $8.50 an hour for a considerable amount of rounds every week).
The anonymous CA said, “SLU has acknowledged the immense pressure put on CAs due to the enforcement of the Laurentian Pact, and yet this additional funding is going towards a new role that is only doing a small fraction of what we as CAs already do and have been appealing to the university for additional compensation for. I don’t understand why this decision for the LPAs was made instead of compensating for the greater responsibility of CAs and the time commitment and most importantly safety risk put on CAs who are required to do rounds and dedicate so much time towards the Laurentian Pact.”
An anonymous safety and security student worker also discussed their opinion on the new LPAs: “People enforcing the pact is important, but some roles under safety and security receive significantly less money. If the school truly sees the LPA position as necessary and beneficial, there should at least be consistency in the compensation.”
In regards to EMS, the payment rate is the same as all safety and security workers, $8.50 an hour; however, the workers for EMS are paid for only a fraction of their time on duty and even then they are only paid for weekend shifts — weekday shifts are considered ‘volunteer’. The new LPAs have more guaranteed paid shifts and ultimately will be paid more in the end despite the various training, certifications, and dedication already put in by EMS and similar safety and security student workers.
Overall, the concept of LPAs is a great idea, but I do not believe the implementation will be successful, and the funding put towards these new roles would have better served the already overworked student leaders currently working hard to keep our campus safe.