How many students stay silent about mistreatment because they cannot afford to lose their income, housing, or education?

When a university is both your school and your employer, the people controlling your job can influence nearly every part of your life. For students who depend on their wages, reduced hours or termination can mean struggling to pay rent, buy groceries, or remain enrolled.

Speaking up should never mean putting your future at risk.

I have personally witnessed how workplace mistreatment and the instability that followed disrupted coworkers’ lives and undermined the progress they had worked hard to make. I have seen people lose stable housing, leave the city, and become focused on immediate survival. Under those conditions, students can struggle in classes, fall behind, or have to interrupt their education.

These consequences make the power imbalance between universities and student workers impossible to ignore.

When reporting mistreatment feels like risking your ability to survive, silence can feel like your only option. Students may feel pressured to accept unfair treatment, hide parts of themselves, or stop advocating for others to protect their livelihoods.

A university’s reporting systems should give people a credible path to protection and accountability. That requires examining how authority is exercised, how complaints are handled, and whether the people responsible for responding are themselves contributing to the harm.

My experience is one example of why that scrutiny matters.

My name is Xavier. I’m a University of Arizona student and a former employee of the Campus Store’s Technology Department. In early September 2026, I was terminated after nearly a year of documenting and reporting what I believe was discrimination, retaliation, and ongoing mistreatment.

I spoke up about my own treatment as a gay employee. I also reported behavior I personally witnessed toward coworkers. Over time, I observed patterns of targeting, public humiliation, inconsistent enforcement of rules, and escalating conflict that raised serious concerns about how employees were being treated.

After raising concerns, I experienced disciplinary escalation, warnings about dismissal, reduced hours, and scheduling problems. Eventually, I lost my job.

My former manager, Mike Wang, Manager of Technology Services and Procurement, sent my termination email and copied Alli J. Howard, Assistant Director, General Merchandise.

I have preserved dated communications, schedules, disciplinary records, and other documentation for review. I am now trying to continue my education without the income I depended on.

Since sharing my experience publicly, I have received comments from former employees and people who worked in other areas of the University describing concerns of their own.

Their accounts deserve to be heard and examined. Alongside what I personally witnessed and documented, these responses raise a serious question: how many people have experienced similar treatment, and how many have stayed silent because they could not afford the consequences of speaking up?

I want my decision to come forward to help others feel less alone. People deserve a meaningful opportunity to share their experiences, participate in an impartial investigation, and receive protection from retaliation.

The impact of this petition can reach beyond one campus.

This petition calls for accountability at the University of Arizona, with a goal that reaches students across the country: everyone should be able to report mistreatment without risking their livelihood or education. Meaningful action here can set an example for how universities protect people who speak up and hold those in power accountable.

We call on University of Arizona leadership and the Arizona Board of Regents to:

1. Commission an independent investigation into the reported pattern of mistreatment and retaliation. 
   
   Examine my complaints and termination, the treatment of other Campus Store employees, and related concerns raised elsewhere in the University. Review both individual conduct and the institutional response. Investigators should be independent of those whose actions or handling of complaints are under review.
   
   
2. Create a credible, accessible process for current and former employees to come forward. 
   
   Provide a reporting route outside the supervisory chain involved, explain confidentiality protections and their limits, and establish concrete safeguards against retaliation affecting employment or education.
   
   
3. Examine how power over student employment is being used. 
   
   Review scheduling, reductions in hours, discipline, and termination decisions for inconsistent treatment or retaliation after employees report concerns or support a coworker.
   
   
4. Provide meaningful remedies when wrongdoing is established. 
   
   Address the employment, financial, and educational harm experienced by affected workers, and hold responsible individuals accountable through appropriate corrective action.
   
   
5. Protect students’ ability to remain housed and continue their education. 
   
   Establish accessible emergency support and academic assistance for student workers facing disruption while serious workplace complaints are being reviewed.
   
   
6. Commit to a written response and a public timeline for action. 
   
   Preserve relevant evidence and publish findings and corrective measures to the extent possible while protecting individuals’ privacy.

A university’s responsibility to its students extends to the workplaces it controls. Its commitments to fairness and student success must be reflected in how it treats people who raise uncomfortable concerns.

Every student has a future they are working toward. Mine includes finishing my plant sciences degree, restoring land, growing food, and teaching others. Students deserve the opportunity to pursue those futures while remaining themselves and speaking honestly about their experiences.

I am asking for justice for myself, for coworkers whose lives were disrupted, for people who felt unable to speak, and for those who will come after us. I want students and employees to see that speaking up can lead to meaningful accountability, and that institutional authority does not place anyone beyond scrutiny.

Please sign and share this petition to demand an independent investigation, protection for those who come forward, and meaningful accountability at the University of Arizona.

Your signature helps show affected students and employees that their community is listening and that their futures matter.