Student Stores rally in the rain: ‘We’re going to fight it every way we can’

The Pit rang with voices of protest Monday afternoon as students and faculty joined the State Employees Association of North Carolina in protesting the possible privatization of Student Stores.

The event coincided with Student Stores’ Mammoth Monday sale and the last day of work for outgoing Director John Gorsuch. It followed a rally in September, when students delivered a letter to Chancellor Carol Folt protesting the University’s consideration of an unsolicited lease proposal from Follett — a company that owns more than 1,000 student stores nationwide.

N.C. Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange, spoke of the dangers of privatizing Student Stores.

“I can tell you that the people in charge in Raleigh are new, they’re inexperienced, they believe that they have the answers and they believe that the answer is to privatize,” she said. “I think that’s a dangerous avenue to take for many public services.”

Elsa Teruel came to the rally to support her family. Her daughter is a UNC employee, and her granddaughter is a UNC graduate.

“I feel that the jobs of all these good people here need to be protected,” she said. “We need to keep Student Stores in the UNC community. I don’t think anybody’s going to do a better job than they’re doing already.”

First-year Ruby McClellan attended on behalf of her stepfather Will Blythe, who wrote a novel about the basketball rivalry between UNC and Duke University. She spoke about the importance of independent bookstores, like Bull’s Head Bookshop, to writers.

“They believe in UNC faculty and local writers,” she said.

McClellan said privatization of Student Stores would result in a more impersonal experience.

“When you outsource management of a local institution like Student Stores to a distant corporation, you end up with a generic kind of store managed in a generic kind of way.”

Ardis Watkins, legislative affairs director of SEANC, expressed the organization’s dedication to keeping Student Stores within UNC.

“The State Employees Association of North Carolina is very committed to this issue, and we’re going to fight it every way we can,” she said.

Katie Turner, an Employee Forum delegate representing a number of Student Stores employees, said University administration isn’t prioritizing its staff and students or upholding its commitment to keeping UNC accessible and affordable.

“We are being distracted by claims that we, the staff, are expensive and lack the expertise to do our jobs,” she said.

Turner said although the current bid from Follett includes a one-year contract for the 49 full-time employees of Student Stores, employees are at risk of losing their jobs and state benefits under privatization.

The protest outside didn’t seem to drive away business for Student Stores. Lauren Gaillard, a graduate student and employee of Student Stores, said the sale was going well.

“We’re doing a ton of sales,” she said. “The protest is bringing more attention to the store.”

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