Linda Zhou, Pierson '27

I got my first job as a research assistant through Yale Student Jobs. In order to fulfill the expected 10 hours per week, I went from a full day of class directly to the lab, sometimes clocking in on weekends. I felt compelled to work more hours to afford personal and academic expenses, even when school work was overwhelming. In the lab, I often performed maintenance tasks (running gels, assembling master mixes, passaging cells) for other people’s experiments. The level of intellectual demand inherent in research and the unsupervised, after-hours management of other people’s experiments added to my stress. Given the scarce number of lab jobs for work-study students and the effort I put into applying to this job, I felt making minimum wage was inadequate compensation. Although I greatly appreciated my first hands-on research experience, the reason I sought a paid position was to support myself during the school year. A higher wage would match the labor involved in research and support students on financial aid in their academic careers. I'm supporting Norah for Ward 1 Alder because getting more from Yale to support researchers – students and residents – requires a coalition that knows how to organize. Norah will support those organizing to win a fair wages across the city.