Social work administration responds to pupil requires improved area hours, pay fee throughout protest

Over 100 individuals with the UT chapter of FED UP — Area Training and Growth Undergraduate/Graduate Placements — rallied in entrance of the Steve Hicks Faculty of Social Work Tuesday morning, persevering with calls for pay fee and area hours enhancements for social work college students.

“Our work is essential; we’ve to reside. And we should be paid for what we do,” FED UP organizer Beth Wagner stated through the protest. 

A number of organizers, college students, Austin locals and Social Work Dean Allan Cole spoke in entrance of the Social Work Faculty. Cole and administration hosted a neighborhood dialog with organizers afterwards. 

Throughout the neighborhood dialog, Cole stated he has no intentions of dissolving the working group between FED UP and social work administration; as a substitute, he needs to create a brand new working group with a wider array of voices whereas having extra conversations with FED UP organizers. 

Organizers stated they hope the varsity will create a fund to pay them for his or her area hours at charges of as much as $20 an hour. Cole stated social work businesses are answerable for paying college students for his or her area work — not the College. 

“We can’t pay college students for academic expertise, which is what area work is,” Cole stated. “We are able to (proceed to) strongly encourage businesses to pay as a lot as they will … we are able to encourage college to submit manufacturers which have funding parts for college kids in (the) area.”

Throughout the rally, FED UP organizer Miranda Greatest Campos stated the group can be advocating for the passage of Texas Senate Invoice 1796, which would offer honest pair stipends for all social work interns.

In an announcement emailed to the Every day Texan, a College spokesperson stated the College helps college students amidst the rising price of dwelling in Austin through monetary help, scholarships and pupil help funds. 

“There are many FED UP people graduating this spring, however that doesn’t imply that FED UP is completed,” stated Greatest Campos, a social work graduate pupil. “We’ve had numerous wins, however we’re not going to cease till everybody has a common honest pay stipend.”