C/O The Poor Farm, Middlebury, Vermont

Author: MICHAEL R. GLIDDEN

For almost 20 years, our household electric bill arrived addressed to "The Poor Farm," Middlebury, Vt., even though our family was not impoverished. Both my parents worked diligently to provide a home with food on the table.

Yet in the 1970s during the OPEC oil embargo, my father, irate with the electric rates, used his trusty Smith-Corona manual typewriter to inform the electric company that if electric rates continued to increase our next bill should be sent to the "Poor Farm" because that is where we would end up. His letter contained enough adjectival insertions to warrant attention, and thereafter our bills arrived addressed to "The Poor Farm," Middlebury, Vt.

Surprisingly, until 1948 some Vermont towns maintained "Poor Farms" as a community's method to meet the basic needs of its poor. In exchange for some labor the poor were provided with warm shelter and food. This illustrates one way Vermont communities have seen fit to take care of their own.

This history, however, seems lost on the Middlebury College community. As a member of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, Middlebury College espouses the ideal of "fostering a work environment and economic climate that enables every worker to earn a fair income safely..." Even though the College, as promulgated by College Treasurer Robert Huth, "provides many resources to alleviate poverty in Addison County," it fails to acknowledge or examine the direct impact it has on low-wage earners.

Admittedly, there is not a single uniform "livable wage" that applies to all jobs . However, the challenge of determining a fair income for all College employees is not beyond the reach of an institution noted for its exemplary "higher" education. In fact, credible research on this subject already exists.

The State of Vermont Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) has, since 2001, estimated the cost of basic needs and the equivalent livable wage. Indexing the JFO's 2005 figures to the Consumer Price Index, the Vermont Livable Wage Campaign has determined that in 2006 a single person living in rural Vermont needs to earn at least $13.14 per hour ($27,331 a year) to meet their basic needs.

Additionally, a single parent with one child must earn at least $18.84 per hour ($39,187 a year), while a two-person household with two incomes and two children needs each wage earner to make at least $15.04 per hour ($62,566 a year) to meet their basic needs.

In February of 2006, the Vermont Housing Council and the Vermont Housing Awareness Campaign released their publication "Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Housing and Wages in Vermont," which bears these numbers out. To afford the median purchase price of $182,000 for a home in Vermont requires a household to have an income of approximately $65,000.

Further, to afford a modest two bedroom apartment at the fair market rate of $723 a month a household must earn at least $28,903 a year. Thus, when the College alleges development of affordable housing with a median asking price of $230,000, it is easy to discern these are not affordable to Addison County's low-wage earners.

Against these figures, the College also fails to "enable every worker to earn a fair income…" Excluding faculty positions, there are 582 "Job Titles" on the College Human Resource Web page. These titles, however, do not represent individual positions. For example, "Custodian" is one "Job Title," which covers over 60 individuals.

Of these "Job Titles" nearly 39 percent have had a hiring minimum of under $13.00 per hour (less than $27,040 a year). Furthermore 22 percent of these low-wage "Job Titles" require sustained employment for at least 12 to 16 years before receiving a wage that approximates $13.50 an hour. While individually, each person in these positions may not be vital to achieve the "Strategic Mission" of the College, collectively they are people vital to the daily operation of a functional campus. As such, each individual in these positions should be granted the dignity to exchange his or her devoted 40 hours of work each week for a warm home with food on the table.

Clearly, this is moral argument. But, just as the College has made the moral decision to divest from Darfur, so to it can meaningfully discuss how to provide a "fair income" to its employees. Anything less would be, in a phrase attributed to the College President, "intellectual laziness." Consider this - the people who prepare each meal on campus; the people who begin their day at 3 a.m. to ensure you needn't search for toilet paper in any restroom you use; the people who deliver you safe to the Health Center or even the hospital after a night of debauchery, are the same people who may not earn enough to house and feed their own household on the 40 hours a week they spend keeping the College alive.

As the College community considers its compensation package, I hope it finds a solution that does not necessitate my paycheck being mailed to The Poor Farm, Middlebury, Vt.