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Junior Cam Cyr was excited to start working at the Syracuse University Campus Store earlier this fall. He was looking forward to joining a new community and earning money to put toward his degree. But upon arriving, he said he was surprised by the tense environment he walked into.

He said his new colleagues were “depressed and angry,” and he didn’t understand why. After a week on the job, one of his colleagues relayed the news that Barnes & Noble College, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble Education, was taking over the store.

On Oct. 21, Syracuse Campus Store student employees received an email from SU, which The Daily Orange obtained, informing them they would have to reapply for their current positions or seek new employment.

The university announced in an Oct. 2 SU News release that BNC would take over all operations of its campus stores by Jan. 1, 2025. Student employees were encouraged to reapply by Nov. 1 to increase their chances of being rehired, but no student or full-time employees were guaranteed a position.

Under the store’s new management, student employees will no longer be able to use BNC employment for Federal Work-Study awards, according to the Oct. 21 email FWS is a form of financial aid allowing eligible students to work part-time to help pay for their education.

“I could tell that (my supervisors) were upset,” Cyr said. “They were trying to be nice to me, but I could see through it. It was definitely not a good first experience.”

After just a few weeks on the job, Cyr quit.

Roughly 25 of the campus store’s staff members are full-time employees, some of whom have held their roles for decades, said Aislinn Rose Guy, the branch manager of the Slocum Campus Supply store. Under new leadership, many employees are concerned about finding new work.

Jazmin Perkins started working as a cashier in the campus store during her freshman year. Now a junior, Perkins said the takeover caught her off guard. She said the majority of current employees don’t plan on coming back.

The initial Oct. 21 email, which SU Operations Assistant Emma Karpsent sent to all campus store work-study employees, encouraged them to switch their award to a different type of financial aid. Perkins said many of her student colleagues have relied on work-study from the campus store and now feel that finding other places to work will be challenging.

“FWS students have been offered options, including connecting with ‘CuseWorks-Student Employment for assistance finding another on-campus FWS position, or working with the Office of Financial Aid to determine if they are eligible to move their FWS to another form of aid,” an SU spokesperson wrote in a Wednesday evening statement to The D.O.

The statement explained it was necessary to exclude student employees from FWS when Barnes & Noble takes over because the company is an external employer.

“To be on work-study, you have to literally work to stay in school,” Perkins said. “Y’all screwed over our money, but also our education.”

BNED has struggled financially in recent years, with the company’s annual earnings decreasing by 8.6% each year for the past five years, according to Simply Wall St. Despite these financial struggles, BNED has locations on over 1,400 college and K-12 campuses across the United States.

Perkins said she sympathizes with the many adult employees who will lose their current jobs because of SU’s decision. She said she thought it was wrong to spring the news on short notice, and that many of her colleagues have suffered due to the transition.

“They’ve usurped us,” Perkins said. “They’ve taken everything people have. High positions now are back down to being lower positions, even though they worked hard to get up to that spot.”

Perkins said most of the full-time staff members are hoping to find other jobs on campus so they can maintain their university benefits.

Guy shared Perkins’ frustrations but said many people on campus have misconceptions about who’s responsible for the changes. When Guy was first informed about the transition, she said she was initially angry with Barnes & Noble, but has since come to appreciate that the responsibility instead falls on higher levels of leadership — both at SU and BNC.

“(We) are very restrained by time limits and by a push from higher administrative powers to get this done as quickly, as quietly and as fast as possible,” Guy said. “(Barnes & Noble) employees are working incredibly hard.”

Perkins said her new supervisors from BNC are “condescending” to student employees. She said she’s felt pressure from BNC representatives to reapply for the spring semester, even though it won’t qualify for work-study.

In contrast to Perkins, Guy said she felt BNC encouraged her to reapply to the store, and the people leading the transition process made it clear they believe it’s in the store’s best interest to hire employees who already have experience on campus.

“Barnes & Noble has indicated that they would like to retain as many current student employees as possible,” the SU spokesperson wrote.

On Nov. 8, SU announced multiple campus store locations would temporarily close as it transitioned ownership to BNC. Perkins said the closures caused “trivial issues” that could have been resolved with more planning.

She said the new leadership has already begun the transition in recent weeks, contradicting previous information that BNC wouldn’t take over until 2025. She also said she was surprised when the stores suddenly closed earlier this month and called the process rushed.

Cyr said during the closures, current employees were trained under BNC staff, even if they expressed no desire to return under new management. Current employees were also responsible for counting inventory.

“For the people that aren’t coming back, it was kind of like a slap in the face because they’re like, ‘You’re learning this, even if you’re not coming back,’” Cyr said.

Guy also said the rushed transition process has resulted in many difficulties for her store, as inventory has been limited, the store’s computer system has transferred to BNC’s, and one of the Slocum location’s two cash registers has closed.

The Slocum branch of the campus store predominantly serves architecture students, providing them with necessary materials for projects. Guy said many of these students had important deadlines they couldn’t purchase supplies for when the store was closed for inventory-taking.

“It’s been impeding students … in their studies, their academics and their projects,” Guy said. “Very popular items sell out very quickly. If we ran out of something, I couldn’t restock it.”

Guy said there’s a feeling of sadness and lack of recognition as the current staff entered its final weeks together. She said both BNC and SU administrators have primarily focused on the business side of the transition but barely acknowledged the personal difficulties full-time employees are facing throughout the process.

After what she said has been over 100 years of combined service from her colleagues, Guy said the university’s statement was “measly and disappointing.”

“If you go in the campus store, if you see someone wearing the (employee) name tag, please go up to them and thank them,” Guy said. “They’ve made a meaningful impact to this university and this campus, thank them.”

Published on November 21, 2024 at 2:02 am

Contact Duncan: digreen@syr.edu