Meredith Aska McBride | No more excuses

As she let herself into her house late last Monday night after being walked home by an escort, a Penn student turned around and was confronted with the guard's penis in his hand. She reported the incident, and the Division of Public Safety and AlliedBarton have since fired the guard and instituted new policies to prevent this from happening again - a necessary step to protect student safety.

The exposure incident was a clear example of inappropriate behavior. As our security team has worked to solve this problem, it has shown that instituting small yet significant changes in the workplace is no hassle.

Some weeks ago I argued that the administration should support AlliedBarton guards in their efforts to unionize and achieve better working conditions. In the past, the administration had said that it can't intervene with the practices of a third-party contractor such as AlliedBarton.

Clearly, that's just not true. Penn has the power to change guards' working conditions and it should use its influence with AlliedBarton to ensure that our security officers are treated well, which will in turn keep our community safer.

"AlliedBarton works for UPenn," wrote AlliedBarton spokesman Larry Rubin in an e-mail. "The policies of the University of Pennsylvania are [our] policies. If they want AlliedBarton to do certain things, then [we] can do what they want us to do."

This was evident last week when the Division of Public Safety and AlliedBarton announced new safety measures, including raising the minimum hiring age to 25, requiring officers to wear photo IDs at all times and increasing the rigor of the interview process before hiring, in addition to the usual training all security officers receive. These changes were effective immediately the Wednesday after the incident.

"There's a daily rapport between AlliedBarton and DPS," said Rubin. "We share these decision-making processes."

It's clear from the events of the past week that Penn can ask just about anything it wants of AlliedBarton. Officers and organizers who have been struggling for a union and improved conditions for the past several years are aware of this - but the University continues to ignore its guards.

"We're really not trained. All they do is tell us . what the job duties are. Once you learn how to use a radio, you're out on the street," said one guard, who wished to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.

Other complaints include a lack of benefits and an abysmally low wage - Penn guards make an hourly average of $10.90, though the federal living wage for their job category is $17.45 in wage and benefits. Guards also fear punitive supervisory practices.

"All they worry about is filling that spot," the guard continued. "We are just bodies on the street."

Another guard added, "In order to help a student you have to defend yourself too . we pushin' them in and pushin' them out and [officers] don't get the proper training."

"[The University] know[s] what's going on, they're not oblivious to it," said Eduardo Soriano-Castillo, a field organizer for Jobs With Justice who has been working with AlliedBarton guards at Penn and Temple.

"They would never treat workers that way publicly themselves."

But whenever officers have called for a living wage, medical benefits, sick days, more training, etc., Penn says that AlliedBarton has its own internal policies over which the University has no control.

Last week's events belie these statements. Furthermore, the five Penn guards who were suspended in 2005 after presenting President Gutmann with a petition in favor of unionization were reinstated (coincidentally, AlliedBarton says) right after the administration made a statement requesting that this happen. Officers gained a limited number of sick days in a similar manner.

Addressing the conditions under which our guards work is just as important as addressing the behavior of guards toward students, both for community safety and in order to respect the workers that help keep our campus running.

Last week, the administration again showed how quickly it can make systemic changes happen when it wants to.

Even if Penn doesn't care at all about respecting workers on this campus - which in this case it doesn't seem to - it should recognize that in order to protect students and its public image it must take action here.

President Gutmann and DPS need to insist that AlliedBarton increase guards' wages and benefits and overhaul their training and supervisory procedures.

Change happened last week - it can happen again.

Meredith Aska McBride is a College sophomore from Wauwatosa, Wis. Her e-mail is mcbride@dailypennsylvanian.com. Radical Chic appears on Wednesdays.

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