Women at Carolina: Work
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Overview
"Work" refers to the work of women at UNC-Chapel Hill, primarily staff but also students and faculty.
Organizations Addressing Employee Concerns
The Employee Forum of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was established in March 1992 by Chancellor Paul Hardin to advise him and other administrators about the interests and concerns of the university's non-faculty employees and to assist in fostering open and effective communication among all levels of employees, students, faculty and the administration.
Status of Women Committee, 1972-1997, in General Faculty and Faculty Council of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1799-2015
The Status of Women Committee, created in 1973, is a standing committee of the university's faculty. It is appointed by the chair of the faculty and is responsible for investigating and making recommendations on problems affecting women faculty members. Records of the committee, 1973-1997, include correspondence (some regarding affirmative action), minutes of meetings, annual reports to the Faculty Council, and various surveys and studies concerning issues affecting women at the university, particularly salary and benefit inequities and child care.
Women's Concerns Coalition of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1988-1996
The Women's Concerns Coalition formed in the summer of 1988 in preparation for the installation of Chancellor Paul Hardin. Its purpose was to allow leaders from various campus organizations that dealt with issues of concern for women to present their views and priorities to the new chancellor with a unified voice. Following Chancellor Hardin's installation, the group regularly discussed university reports and policies pertaining to women. Meetings and discussions on such topics became the basis for coalition statements and recommendations that were presented to campus administrative leaders. These statements dealt with issues ranging from child care to faculty development to harassment policies.
Housekeepers Association
Women of color formed the Housekeepers Association and led associated labor organizing on campus in the early 1990s.
Marsha Tinnen's Housekeepers Association Collection, 1991-2003
Marsha Tinnen's collection of photographs, publications, signs, articles, and newspaper clippings relating to the Housekeepers Association's efforts to organize for better working conditions, pay, and benefits at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 1990s and 2000s.
John Kenyon Chapman Papers, 1969-2009
John Kenyon Chapman (1947-2009), known as Yonni, was a white, life-long social justice activist, organizer, and historian who focused his academic and social efforts on workers rights and African American empowerment in central North Carolina. In 1980, he helped organize the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Housekeepers Movement and was active in various other campaigns in and around Orange County, N.C., including those of the Welfare Rights Organization and the Chapel Hill Tenant Organization. During the mid-1990s, Chapman was an expert witness in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Housekeepers Association lawsuit, and was instrumental in organizing and presenting the housekeepers' history.
Alan McSurely Papers, 1928-2003 (bulk 1960s-1980s) see Series 7
Lawyer Alan McSurely of Chapel Hill, N.C., was born in 1936 in Dayton, Ohio, and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During the 1960s and 1970s, he and his wife, Margaret McSurely, worked with a number of organizations endeavoring to eliminate poverty, bring about an end to segregation, and organize workers in labor disputes. The addition of September 2016 contains materials related to McSurely's work representing members of the UNC Housekeepers Association in Tinnen et al. v. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a legal battle that sought better working conditions for housekeepers at the university.
Chancellor Hardin's records include correspondence and other files relating to the administration of, and academic programs at, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Of particular interest are files on the observance of the university's bicentennial and the associated fundraising campaign; long-range planning, especially land use planning; development activities; expansion and improvement of human resources programs; and campus race relations, including the class-action lawsuit by the university housekeepers and the controversy over the establishment of a free-standing black cultural center (Sonja Haynes Stone Black Cultural Center).
We are all housekeepers. Chapel Hill, NC : UNC Housekeepers Association. North Carolina Collection (Wilson Library) Cp378 UE128 v.1:no.4(Sept. 1992)
20th anniversary of the historic UNC housekeepers' agreement. [Chapel Hill, North Carolina] : The Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, November 29th, 2016. North Carolina Collection (Wilson Library) Cp378 UE129
Food Service Workers' Strike
There were two food service workers strikes in 1969 and they were led by Mary Smith and Elizabeth Brooks.
Women Behind the Lines. [1990] Video/DVD North Carolina Collection (Wilson Library) DVD C378 UE4
Historical view of 1969 strike of food service workers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Includes original news footage. Strikers Mary Smith and Elizabeth Brooks look back from a 1990 perspective.
Joseph Carlyle Sitterson was the chief administrative officer for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 16 February 1966 until 31 January 1972. Searching this Finding Aid for "strike" or "food service" will lead to materials about the event.
John Kenyon Chapman Papers, 1969-2009 particularly Series 5
John Kenyon Chapman (1947-2009), known as Yonni, was a white, life-long social justice activist, organizer, and historian who focused his academic and social efforts on workers rights and African American empowerment in central North Carolina. From 2005-2006, Chapman founded and directed the Campaign for Historical Accuracy and Truth, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill-based social justice organization, and focused much of its efforts on commemorating the Lenoir dining hall cafeteria workers' strike of 1969.
Billy E. Barnes Photographic Collection, 1959-1996
Black and White Film Box 21: Scenes during Food Worker Strike on the campus of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, February 1969
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1789-1991
SOHP Interviews
Interview with Rebecca Clark, UNC-Chapel Hill worker in the campus laundry.
University of North Carolina: University Faculty and Diversity, 1960-1990
Relating to an SOHP-coordinated and Association for Women Faculty (AWFP)-initiated project commemorating the AWFP's 30th anniversary, these interviews were conducted in 2007 and 2008 with professors, activists, and other community members. Founded at UNC Chapel Hill in 1978 by leading women faculty and administrators, the AWFP seeks to advance the status of women on campus. The interviews address changing hiring practices, tenure and promotion policies, department cultures, discrimination and affirmative action, and the role of minority and women faculty on campus between 1960 and 1990.
An additional four interviews (L-0384 to L-0387) were conducted in 2012 by Brooke Midkiff, PhD candidate at the UNC School of Education, as part of her research on women faculty's discourse about feminism, themselves, and their professional experiences as scholars in the current higher education environment.
In summer 2014, SOHP field scholar Katie Womble conducted four additional interviews with female faculty members hired in the 1970s and 1980s at UNC Chapel Hill.
University of North Carolina Foodworkers' Strikes
Interviews focus on the UNC Foodworkers' strikes against the UNC Food Service in February-March 1969 and against SAGA Food Service in November-December 1969. The respondents include food workers, members of the Black Student Movement, members of the Southern Student Organizing Committee, and other students, mediators, lawyers, faculty members, and university officials. The interviews establish the role of each respondent in the events and address issues of race, class, and gender that were raised by the strike. Other topics that are addressed include student protests in the 1960s, university-town relations, and the university's position in state government. These interviews focus on the University of North Carolina foodworkers' strikes against the University of North Carolina Food Service, February-March 1969, and against SAGA Food Service, November-December 1969. The participants in the strikes were primarily African American women, although many university groups ultimately became involved.
