The Furman chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) held a teach-in rally at Joseph Vaughn Plaza on February 21, the first event in their semester-long Wage Justice Campaign.
58 students and staffers turned out for the teach-in, which featured messages from student Edwar M. Ventura ‘27 of Furman YDSA and Dr. Akan Malici of the Politics and International Affairs Department, along with students and faculty who shared their experiences working at Furman during an open-mic portion of the event. Other speakers included Dr. Carmela Epright of the Philosophy Department, Dr. Mary Craig of the Politics and International Affairs Department and many Furman student workers.
The group is advocating that Furman employees be paid a living wage according to the living wage calculator developed by MIT. This online tool takes county data and determines how much money a person needs to make per hour to afford basic necessities. It puts the living wage for one adult with no dependents living in Greenville County at $22.72/hour.
“We are here showing support and agitating around the state of wages at Furman. It’s pretty dismal. We’ve heard from workers across campus who are getting paid substantially below a living wage, all while top executives are taking massive pay raises. We know [Furman] has the money, and they are choosing not to spend it here,” Michael Adolf ‘27 said.
Furman YDSA votes on a cause to campaign for each semester. The Wage Justice Campaign kicked off in December 2024 with anonymous flyers, one of which said: “Do you work at Furman? Rent and groceries are going UP. Tuition and fees are going UP. Admin salaries are going UP. If your pay isn’t going up too … Take our anonymous survey.”
Through the campaign, Furman YDSA hopes to put pressure on the administration to raise wages for all workers on Furman’s campus. Since its kick-off, Furman YDSA has accumulated over 500 student signatures on a petition that demands regular, guaranteed pay increases to account for the rising cost of living and pay transparency for all workers on Furman’s campus.
Michael Ross ‘26, co-chair of Furman YDSA, believes the goals for the Wage Justice Campaign extend beyond higher pay.
“I think long-term the sense of community that is formed between students, faculty, and staff is nothing like I’ve seen before. Our goal is a stronger tie between the people who make this community what it is, and I think we are already seeing that,” Ross said.
“There is a reason why we are not doing [the petition] on Change.org. You see a lot of petitions on there, but it is all just numbers. Every petition signature we get is a conversation, a face. It’s someone we’ve established a connection with. That is why we have to table so much,” Will Sander ‘26, co-chair of YDSA said.
Furman YDSA representatives report they have heard “radio silence” from the administration but are in the process of setting up a formal meeting with President Davis.
“It’s kind of crazy that we can get this much student support around one thing and hear nothing from administration. We had a meeting with President Davis last semester about the Palestine issue, but at that point we had not built this mass student support. We weren’t coming to the table with anything. So it’s important for us to be able to show up and say we have proven that this is something that’s important to people,” Sander said.
The Paladin published an article in September about faculty pay concerns after the circulation of a ProPublica report revealing President Davis’s 73% increase in salary for the 2023-2024 year. The report came out after the Dean of Faculty Jeremy Cass stated that faculty would likely not be receiving their annual merit bonuses and cost-of-living bonuses for the 2024-25 academic year.
For Malici, one of the faculty speakers at the teach-in event, this disparity between the administration and other employees was discouraging.
“Yet, more important to me than faculty compensation, is compensation for our working class staff. For people who make very little. For whom an absence of increase [in pay] is much more significant,” Malici said. “Everybody deserves to live a life with dignity.”
While Sander is unsure how the campaign will play out, they have already developed a stronger sense of solidarity with the Furman campus.
“We are Democratic Socialists. That is a word that a lot of people are afraid of. But when we are out there, fighting for things that make people’s lives better and engaging a mass group of students in that fight, people’s barriers come down. That gives me hope,” Sander said.
