Hello Dr. Gilley, this is Irucka Ajani Embry. I am a concerned person and a student here at the University of Tennessee and an advocate for the Living Wage not just here at UT, but in Knoxville and worldwide as well. I feel that a Living Wage is vital to having a better UT/Knoxville community. I also feel that all UT workers should have their health protected. I feel that the custodians, housekeepers, and other UT workers who come into contact with bodily fluids and pathogens and other types of microbes should be protected with a vaccination and with equipment as well. Their health should not be a question of money; it should be vital to sustaining a moral university. Something that has not happened yet. We still are lacking in paying all our employees a Living Wage, not to mention that this university like so many other universities functions like a corporation and lacks in morality and respect for all workers. I want UT to provide Hepatitis B shots to all employees, including and especially housekeepers and custodians. I personally live and have lived in the dormitories during my stay at UT, and I have seen the types of bodily fluids that the housekeepers and custodians do have to come into contact with and I definitely think they need protection from those pathogen and disease carrying fluids. Furthermore, I believe that UT should provide these Hepatitis B shots free of charge to all UT employees exposed and/or in contact with hazardous bodily fluids that could lead to personal sickness or to their death. This is not just for their health though, it is for the health of their families, and for the whole community of Knoxville/UT as well. It is imperative that this happens as soon as possible. I would like to reiterate the questions posed to you and the rest of the administration by the CWLW (Campus Workers for a Living Wage): 1. What are routine housekeeping duties? 2. How many resident halls only have routine housekeeping duties? 3. Can the administration tell us the ways hepatitis b is transmitted? 4. What is the housekeeping staff to do if there is an emergency that requires medical assistance?

I support a Living Wage for all UT employees and for all employees in Knoxville and around the world. I support the Hepatitis B vaccine being given to all UT employees free of charge as well.


Sincerely yours,
Mr. Irucka Ajani Embry
Concerned person and student
April 25, 2000