For almost two years, students at Kenyon College have organized to improve working conditions and win a union on their campus. They say that at each step of the way their administration and board of trustees have retaliated.

In March 2022, Kenyon College unilaterally announced a change in workers’ payment models and the closure of its student-run farm program. In response, 205 student workers participated in a one-day strike alleging an unfair labor practice — which they say is the largest strike by undergraduate workers in American history. Now, community advisors, teaching assistants, Library and Information Services (LBIS) workers, Career Development Office student workplaces, Writing Center consultants, and farmers are on indefinite strike.

Kenyon student workers’ militancy is part of an explosion in undergraduate student worker organizing across the country. Undergraduate workers at Grinnell, Dartmouth, Wesleyan, and Hamilton Colleges have won union recognition.