Hundreds of URI students have been left in the dirt and considered unemployed overnight due to COVID-19. Student workers that are required to work because of work study or more often than not because they support themselves financially have been left in a state of economic uncertainty. This situation has left hundreds of URI student workers in a state of panic. Will I be able to continue my education next year? Will I be able to put a housing deposit down? Will I be able to buy groceries this week? Will I be able to pay rent? Will I be able to contribute to my family at this time? Will I be homeless come May?

These are all questions that have been racing through the minds of student workers for the past 3 weeks. There is no help coming our way from the state or federal level. We are considered dependents so no stimulus check, we are over eighteen so no extra money to our parents. We cannot file for unemployment because we are temporary employees, part-time, students, out-of-state and most of us dependents. There is no help coming our way. So we are calling on the University of Rhode Island to follow the way of NYU, Harvard, and many other universities. Please pay Student Workers for their weekly scheduled shifts for the remainder of the semester. These students need some sort of economic relief to get them through this hard time and are in dire need of the pay they were expecting for the remainder of the semester. These funds should already be available in allocated budgets for each department, this is not a time for the University to get greedy. Please, help your student workers and guarantee them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This is your chance to help.