Student workers from the St. Olaf Student Workers Union (StUW) delivered a petition Tuesday, April 21 to the office of President Susan Rundell Singer, calling on the College to reverse a new policy which limited work award extensions, and to include student workers in future decisions.
The petition was received by Chief of Staff Kathryn Lohre.
Organizers of the delivery said the petition gathered signatures from student workers, as well as several faculty and staff members in solidarity. Their central demand: reinstate work award extensions through the end of the academic year and guarantee students are consulted before similar policy changes are implemented in the future.
“We hope that they understand that it’s not okay to make big decisions about student work without consulting student workers first,” said StUW member Roxi Wessel ’26 in an interview with The Olaf Messenger. “This was a decision made without warning in the middle of an academic year, which did not give any student workers time to plan.”
The policy, announced Feb. 12 by Director of Financial Aid Steve Lindley in an email to the student body, enforces a previously unenforced cap on student work earnings by preventing students from working beyond their awarded amount.
Lindley said the change is intended to distribute campus jobs more equitably, noting that some students had been exceeding the typical three to eight hours per week tied to work awards, hence limiting opportunities for others.
For many students, however, the timing of the enforcement has been disruptive.
Wessel, who is a graduating senior working multiple campus jobs, said they are on track to reach their work award limit just weeks before graduation.
“I’m saving for apartment application fees and leases, and now I’m losing that income right at the end,” they said.
Other student workers also pointed to logistical challenges created by the policy. Elias Hanson ’26, who works at the IT Help Desk, spoke on the issues arising as more experienced student employees reach their cap.
“We’ve had to hire a whole bunch of new people in the middle of the semester, just as everyone who’s able to train them is forced out,” Hanson said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger. “That means we’re losing the quality of training we’d usually have.”
The petition also emphasized that the impact is especially severe for international students, who are often legally restricted from working off campus.
“It was really sudden, and I had no idea what to do,” said an anonymous international student, who authored the petition, in an interview with The Olaf Messenger. “If I don’t have a work award, I’m unable to work.”
The student, who was granted anonymity due to fear of retaliation, said that their wages largely go toward tuition and other required expenses, which leaves little left over. They reached out to ask for an extension, but after being denied, ultimately took out a loan to cover costs.
According to the student, international students are especially vulnerable. In addition to visa restrictions that prevent them from working off campus, the student said they have experienced increased anxiety about leaving campus in recent months due to nearby Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) presence.
“I have no hope anymore,” the student said.
Three days after students delivered the petition, Lindley and General Counsel Carl Crosby Lehmann announced in an email to the student body that an employment information session would be held on April 28 to “provide an overview of the goals of our student employment program.”
The Olaf Messenger reached out to the President’s Leadership Team for a comment and did not receive a response.
As of now, St. Olaf has not indicated any plans to reverse the policy.
