We see them everyday, yet we probably don’t give them too much thought. They are in fact everywhere — in the hallways, the basements and the dining halls. They silently make our residential college complete; our lives, both in quarantine and out of it, liveable, without any need for gratitude.
When we think of our daily interactions these days, we usually restrict the idea to our suite or a group of friends we grabbed a meal with. It is easy to forget another category of people that is different from us in a lot of ways, and one that faces a much higher health risk than us — college workers.
Amid the weekly cycles of tests and the array of restrictions put in place for our safety, it can be difficult to perceive our living experience as more than just living with other people from the same age group — a group that is arguably at the lowest risk of dealing with serious consequences from catching the coronavirus. It’s natural, therefore, to see these faces daily without thinking too much about them, or the fact that they have entire worlds of their own that they put at risk for us.
Speaking with some of the custodial staff at Benjamin Franklin and Pauli Murray residential colleges helped attach names and stories to people I had only passed by the hallways till now.
One of the staff members I had the chance to interview was Ashton Johnson. Born and raised in New Haven, Ashton has been working with Yale Facilities for the past four years. When asked about his work, Ashton continued to express his dedication to making sure he can provide the safest environment possible for all students on campus.
“We have to take care of ourselves outside [of work] to make sure you guys are safe when we come in here,” said Johnson. “There are kids that are hundreds of miles away from their families, and we want to make sure that their families have the sense of comfort knowing that their kids are safe.”
Ashton, like the other workers I spoke to, believes in treating the college as his home, in keeping it as clean as possible. Over the summer, the Benjamin Franklin and Pauli Murray residential colleges were used to house first responders for COVID-19. At that time, the college workers were given the option to either stay at home or come in and work. The custodians I spoke with, including Ashton, choose to work tirelessly throughout the summer, making sure that the colleges provided a safe and sanitized environment for their occupants.
Lawrence Washington, a custodian at Benjamin Franklin college, spoke about how different his work environment has become, despite most of his work having remained the same. He expressed how difficult it was to not interact with his co-workers the same way as he had done earlier. When asked if he felt that Yale had done enough for its workers, Washington responded affirmatively.
“I do not feel scared, for I know that precautions are being taken,” said Washington. When asked about whether he felt that the students were being responsible enough on their part, Washington responded, “not always, but they are students, and it can be difficult for them to see the seriousness of the situation, and I understand. That’s the parent in me that lets me understand that.”