As 17 student protesters from the Living Wage Campaign continue to stage a sit-in at Madison Hall, administrators have restricted outside access to the building and are cutting off the protesters' access to a continued supply of food, homework and an Internet connection.
University President John T. Casteen, III also met with the participating students late Wednesday evening in order to distribute a written statement as well as a letter from Virginia Attorney General Robert McDonnell.
The students' presence in the building "has been disruptive to those who work in the building and has diverted the time of many people who have other business they need to attend to," University spokesperson Carol Wood said.
After Madison Hall closed at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, wireless Internet service to the building was turned off, Wood said.
Wood also confirmed that no one is allowed to bring food into the building for the students. University officials did not comment on which particular administrators were responsible for these decisions.
Dean of Students Penny Rue, one of many administrators who is monitoring the situation at Madison Hall, said her goal is to preserve students' freedom of expression while also ensuring that the University functions without obstruction.
Religious Studies Prof. Peter Ochs went to Madison Hall yesterday to deliver matzah, grape juice and prayer books to students participating in the sit-in but was prevented from distributing the items.
Ochs said an administrator explained politely to him that he was not allowed to hand out the items but was told that students prepared before they came to the sit-in and had brought matzah in order to celebrate Passover.
Campaign members inside Madison Hall said yesterday they had enough food for approximately one day but said they remain optimistic.
"The food issue won't keep us from being here," sit-in participant Sam Kroiz said.
Another student participating in the sit-in, Teresa Daniels, said there are other restrictions on students' activities.
Daniels said students are not allowed to approach the windows in Madison Hall and are not permitted to receive visitors from outside except members of the press, who can enter only one at a time.
Daniels added that restrictions have hampered participants' attempts to transport homework assignments to professors.
"Nobody can take anything out," Daniels said. "It's gotten to the point that we can't turn in our assignments; we can't send them through the door."
Campaign member Benjamin Van Dyne said many of the professors of the protesting students have been accommodating, noting that some professors even came to the site of the protest to get the cell phone numbers of their students inside Madison Hall.
Van Dyne added that campaigners are still energetic, despite the circumstances.
Van Dyne noted, however, that he was dissatisfied with the Campaign's recent interaction with Casteen, which occurred Wednesday evening.
Wood confirmed that Casteen delivered a written statement to participating students explaining the administration's perspective on the issue. The statement was also made available to the public via the University's Web site.
The letter stated the University's lowest hourly rate of $9.37 is "dramatically higher" than the state's lowest wage rate of $6.83 per hour and is also higher than the lowest hourly wage paid by the City of Charlottesville.
"We believe that our schedules are fair, that they do not constitute what you have represented to the public as poverty wages and that they represent the highest comparable wage schedules in this region, including those paid by the City of Charlottesville," Casteen's statement read.
Casteen added that the University studies wage schedules and makes adjustments to wages when the cost of living changes.
Casteen's statement also included a description of a letter from McDonnell which states that the University has no authority to set the wages of contracted employees and explains that living wage methodologies adopted by other Virginia localities were actually adopted beyond lawful power.
Daniels said she believed McDonnell's opinion was a "very narrow interpretation."
Wood added that the restrictions the administration has imposed on the sit-in are not likely to be lifted soon.
While Rue said the University has not exercised its legal right to remove the students from Madison Hall, she does not think it is her role to make it convenient for students to stage their protest.
Wood added that the students are free to leave at any time, "to resume their daily activities, including attending classes."
Wood said University police and a representative from the Office of the Dean of Students have been present at Madison Hall around the clock since the protest began and will remain until the students leave.
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