As Colleges Reopen, Higher Education Workers Are Organizing for Their Own Safety
A sign alerting people that masks are required on campus seen at Bloomsburg University, in Bloomsberg, Pennsylvania, on February 6, 2021.
Paul Weaver / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
By
President Biden included $35 billion in funding for higher education in his American Rescue Plan. If this aid makes it into the final Covid relief law, college and university employees across the country will no doubt applaud.
The pandemic has hit this sector hard. Around 260,100 university employees (14.6 percent of the total workforce) have lost their jobs since February 2020. Staff also make up most of the Covid-19 deaths on college campuses.