The Living Wage Campaign held a teach-in yesterday on the steps of the Rotunda after the University ordered the removal of the tents of protesters from Madison Hall by yesterday morning.
The teach-in followed a weekend in which 17 campaign members were arrested for sitting in at Madison Hall.
"I was really pleased with the content and turnout," Campaign organizer Benjamin Van Dyne said.
Topics of the teach-in, which drew approximately 140 people, included speeches from faculty members about the economics, history and moral imperatives of the "living wage." Van Dyne attributed the high turnout in part to the notoriety spurred by the 17 arrests.
The greater visibility of the Living Wage Campaign has also drawn critics.
Fourth-year College student and Market Wage Campaign organizer Karin Agness said the Living Wage Campaign relies mainly on emotional and moral arguments, but that economic theory and practice are against imposing a high artificial wage floor.
"We care just as much about these low-wage workers" as the Living Wage Campaign, Agness said. "In the long run, this campaign, if successful, will hurt the lowest wage workers because the University will no longer be a place of employment for them. The lowest skilled workers will no longer be employed--the University will look for people with $10.72 skills instead of $9.37 skills."
Other teachers who turned out for the teach-in were fully supportive of the Living Wage Campaign.
"This is not a struggle merely for the living wage--this is a struggle for respect for working-class Americans," History Prof. Tico Braun said.
Agness said the composition of the Living Wage Campaign teach-in was representative of the movement.
"I think it's interesting that not one economics professor was part of the teach-in," she said. "It's symbolic of the whole movement that there are no economics professors involved. ... The Living Wage Campaign relies on emotional appeal rather than looking at actual ramifications of what they're trying to implement."
Economics Prof. Edwin Burton hosted a Market Wage teach-in Friday afternoon.
At the Living Wage Campaign teach-in members of the Charlottesville community also showed their support. Meredith Richards, a former Charlottesville City Council member, joined faculty members and spoke at the teach-in about the importance of the establishment of living wage for the city of Charlottesville and the surrounding area.
Also at the teach-in, Jan Cornell, president of the University staff union, spoke about why the Living Wage Campaign is important to University workers. She told those in attendance that the Staff Union endorses a "living wage" fully, and that even though some of the students involved with the campaign will be graduating, the community will not let this campaign fall by the wayside.
"This is only the beginning of a fight for living wage," Cornell said.
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