I finally checked out the quad since the protests started. There are the tents of protesters, and then the tent protesting the protesters, and then the tent protesting the protester of the protest. I'm getting the vibe that local news is characterizing them as stereotypical protesting-to-protest activists, but I'm starting to feel like with all of the debate, they're the only people on campus that've actually done their homework. Someone in the Student Life Forum suggested that their time would be better spent with this swell idea that they just came up with that the SWA teach English to workers that only know Spanish. Well, guess what! They already do, and they have been for years! For all of the people complaining that "oh, those rich Wash U. students, hah, like they're connected to the workers," they're the only group of students on campus I've seen firsthand that have consistently been holding discussions and dialogue with the workers instead of ignoring them completely, and I doubt that many of the critics could say the same of themselves.

I disagree with the stipulation that the current contractors should be dumped (I rather like the current employees, and would like to see them continue to be employed here), and if it's true that people "took turns" hunger striking, that's pretty unimpressive. In general, though, I think the students are projecting way too many misconceptions upon the SWA. I was reading SLU's paper the other night, and a few years ago, with a similar issue at hand, SLU just outright hired all of the employees and ditched the contractors. Their pay, at this point, is superior that of people working at Wash U., and I want to say they have better benefits (and maybe unionability?) as well. SLU gets reviews as a great local employer. SLU set a great local precedent - so what about our fancypants school out west here, eh?

As for people accepting and rejecting offers, the back-and-forth accusations about who did what are way too convoluted to begin making my way through.

As a final word, the new WUnderground's coming out tomorrow, and it's fantastic. I urge every Wash U. student reading this to pick one up.
- posted by Eric @ 6:31 PM