All four head coordinators said that their search for additional Yale funds has been unsuccessful. They said that conversations with Dwight Hall administrators and Associate Dean of Student Affairs Hannah Peck have yielded no additional sources of Yale funding, with administrators suggesting the organization begin applying to local grants or fundraising externally. 

The lack of options leaves the head coordinators at a crossroads: compete with New Haven nonprofits for grant money or create “slide decks” to appeal to future donors. For the head coordinators, who managed a tight budget last semester, neither option seems like a viable long-term strategy. 

“Our biggest fear, with all these obstacles and loopholes we’ve had to go through this past year, and the genuine stress of oh my god, are 250 people not going to be able to have dinner because we can’t find money? We don’t want that stress for the future to continue,” Enkhjin Gansukh ’25, one of the head coordinators, said.

Gansukh also said she feared that future head coordinators may “give up” due to the financial stress of the role, jeopardizing the longevity of YCK and the services it provides to the community.

Odessa Goldberg ’25, another head coordinator, said that costs have increased in recent years due to the added expense of take-out boxes and utensils, rising food prices and higher demand for meals. When Goldberg began volunteering at the YCK two winters ago, Yale students served around 50 New Haveners, she said. Now, she said, the number of people in one night has tripled. 

“I greatly admire the work of the students running YCK,” Peck wrote in an email to the News. “With the growth of their services and expenses, they are in a difficult position—to support their core mission, they are needing to develop a new funding model. I and my colleagues are available to help as they take on this new challenge.”

Steve Werlin, executive director of the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen in New Haven, said this speaks to rising food insecurity in the area, which has also resulted in a higher number and frequency of people seeking DESK services. He described YCK’s work as “critical” in the effort to provide free meals to New Haven residents, many of whom are unhoused. 

YCK, which has 27 coordinators running shifts and 963 students receiving volunteer sign-ups, falls under the umbrella organization of Yale Hunger and Homeless Action Project. According to the YCK head coordinators, YHHAP receives between less than $1,000 and $3,500 in funding once or twice a semester from the Yale College Council’s Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee. As a Dwight Hall Member Group, YHHAP also receives up to $1,500 per semester in funding from the Dwight Hall Campus and Community Fund. 

Gansukh said that while YCK uses the majority of YHHAP’s budget, the umbrella organization also funds 12 other student organizations. 

Goldberg noted that these two sources of funding fall short of YCK’s ideal budget of $5,200 a semester. She also said the funding is inconsistent across semesters, making it difficult to preserve quality offerings to residents. 

“What we’re frustrated by is that [the funding] is inconsistent,” Goldberg said. “We don’t want that inconsistency to be offloaded to our guests and the quality of the food they can receive. So whether it is that the Dwight Hall cap is higher, or there is an exception made for YCK, or it’s through the YCC, or there is a non-variable amount that YCK receives every semester, or it is through the administration, we argue that the YCK provides a real service to the University, not just our guests, in terms of preserving Yale’s relationship with the residents of New Haven and community partners.”

Goldberg additionally noted that YCK reduces Yale’s food waste, citing YCK’s use of leftovers from Yale’s dining halls.   

With $5,200 a semester — or $300 per weekend of operations — YCK would not only be able to continue to provide nutritious meals with fruit and sweet and savory snacks but also other goods that YCK guests have expressed a need for, such as space blankets, Goldberg said. 

Mark Fopeano, director of programming and evaluation at Dwight Hall, wrote to the News that it is unlikely that a single funding source at Yale will be able to fund and guarantee $5,200 a semester on a long-term basis. He also said that it is rare that a student organization or Dwight Hall Member Group would have that amount of expenses unless they have previously secured funding, such as an endowment, or “unique relationships” with several offices or departments. 

However, Fopeano said that Dwight Hall reconsiders their funding policies every year in an attempt to better serve Yale students and New Haven partners. Dwight Hall can also provide advice and strategic support to student organizations thinking about their organizational structure, long-term sustainability and financial model, Fopeano wrote. 

“We support any student organization that is building strong relationships in the community and providing pathways for other Yale students to do so,” Fopeano wrote. “Change usually doesn’t happen overnight, so I hope that YCK continues partnering with our office and others!”

Goldberg questioned the University’s lack of available funds to fund YCK, citing the $40.7 billion endowment, and expressed concerns that applying to grants would take away funds from New Haven nonprofits. Hugo Wang ’25 said he believes there are avenues to increase caps on Dwight Hall and YCC funding and that it is a “question of priority” whether Yale chooses to expand funding options for service organizations. 

Wang said that even if YCK takes administrators’ advice to continue cutting costs, the long-term sustainability of YCK is ultimately still dependent on additional funding. 

“More broadly, there is a question here that we want the administration to think about, and hopefully answer, which is how do they fund organizations that have a big impact on the local community but in order to achieve that would need funding that goes beyond the traditional limits on available funding for student clubs and organizations?” Wang said. 

The head coordinators said that last semester, YCK cut costs by shopping at Costco instead of Stop ’n Shop and started relying on snacks and water from DESK. In the past weeks, they also met with Yale Hospitality to pursue the option of ordering bread and containers through Hospitality.

Although Goldberg described YCK’s budget situation as “urgent” last semester, the group received two grants from local foundations this semester, temporarily easing the coordinators’ financial worries. Fopeano wrote to the News that Dwight Hall assisted YCK in grant applications by serving as a lead applicant. 

However, Goldberg said that grant applications and fundraising efforts are a time-consuming and stressful responsibility for head coordinators on top of the four-person job of coordinating logistics for YCK. 

She said that YCK head coordinators have held off on formally creating a grant and fundraising arm of the YCK in hopes that future head coordinators can rely on some form of steady funding. 

Taking on grants and fundraising would fundamentally change the role of head coordinators, which has historically been to “keep the kitchen running,” according to Goldberg. 

“Because YCK has been around for 20 years, we’re cited as a food resource [by New Haven organizations],” Gansukh said. “When people come to us on Fridays and Saturdays hoping for a full nutritional meal, we have to provide that service … We have a duty to a lot of our guests we’ve established a relationship with and … we hope that relationship won’t be compromised because of this funding issue.”

YCK hands out their meals outside 323 Temple St.

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The protest comes as The Hartford, MDF’s insurer, prepares to challenge the workers’ compensation case of Edgar Becerra, according to Tyrese Ford, Becerra’s housing court attorney. Becerra, a Guatemalan migrant and former employee of MDF, says that he suffered lower spine injuries after falling from a 32-foot ladder and a two-story window. Becerra claims that MDF did not provide workers with safety training or equipment. 

MDF founder Mark DeFrancesco also moved to evict Becerra and Josue Maurcio Arana, another tenant-employee awaiting a workers’ compensation case, on Feb. 11, according to Ford. The eviction is DeFrancesco’s second attempt, his first blocked by the Connecticut Superior Court on Feb. 5. This time around, DeFrancesco used the grounds of “right or privilege terminated,” or the fact that Becerra and Arana have not paid rent, an approach suggested by Judge Walter Spader in his Feb. 5 decision.

Becerra said he will continue to fight for compensation for his injuries and lost time, not only for himself and his family but for other migrant workers who have encountered an “American nightmare.” 

“One of the things that has motivated me is not only to win compensation for the harm and physical damages that I’ve been living with but also in my heart, I have a wish to leave a precedent before the American people and before the conscience of many companies that are laborally, cannibals,” Becerra said in Spanish.

Glen Formica, Becerra’s workers’ compensation attorney, described Hartford Insurance’s decision to contest Becerra’s claim as “unusual.” Formica said that about 90 percent of the cases he has worked on go uncontested. Formica added that he didn’t understand the motivation behind contesting. 

“You get a golden ticket, you have authorized workers who are going to work their hardest for you and show up for work, happy to be there every day,” Formica said. “Why would they be putting all this in jeopardy over one guy that gets hurt on the job?”

After multiple requests for comment, MDF directed the News to John Walsh of Licari, Walsh & Sklaver, their legal representation. Walsh did not immediately respond to the request for comment. 

Approximately 20 members of Unidad Latina en Acción, including Becerra on crutches, protested in front of MDF offices in North Branford on Thursday. ULA had previously held a protest on Feb. 23. Chanting “Shame on MDF!” ULA members charged MDF with exploiting and intimidating their workers. 

About ten minutes into the protest, an MDF employee called the police. Four Branford Police Department officers arrived and eventually left once they confirmed that the protestors were not blocking the road, according to BFD Sergeant Christopher Romanello. 

ULA members also condemned what they called an “act of intimidation” against Becerra outside of 200 Peck St., where he lives, on Saturday. Becerra said that an unknown man followed him, told him he had a message from “the boss,” and said that if he did not drop his workers’ compensation complaint, he would “return to [Guatemala] in a wooden box.” 

The News was unable to independently verify these claims.

“I protested to support [Becerra] because he doesn’t have a job or money for food,” Alexandra Rodriguez, a ULA member at the protests, said in Spanish. “[Becerra’s situation] could happen to any of us. We need to support others and make sure people who don’t have family in the area feel supported so that this group is their family.” 

Roselia Aquino, another ULA member who attended the protests, said that, like Becerra, her brother-in-law suffered a workplace fall when fixing the roof of a house without safety equipment. Aquino condemned the boss’s practice of making workers buy their own safety equipment, saying that it should be the boss’s responsibility. Two years later, Aquino said that her brother-in-law still needs surgery. 

Becerra’s “labor torment” 

Becerra said that MDF eroded his dignity as a worker on his first day of working for the company in July. When he first arrived in New Haven on a working visa sponsored by MDF, Becerra said he was shown his accommodation for the next several months: an approximately 8-by-8-foot room to be shared by three people, with mattress pads on the ground as the only furniture. 

Between July and September 2023, Becerra, along with other migrant workers, painted and remodeled houses for MDF. Becerra told the News that throughout these months, MDF transported workers “like animals and tools” to work sites. On top and among construction tools, workers would wait in the back of a van among construction tools with no seats for up to two hours, according to Becerra. 

This was before Becerra suffered two serious workplace accidents: a fall from a 32-foot ladder in August and another fall from a two-story window in September. Becerra said that when he originally reported his ladder fall to MDF in August, the company disregarded his injury and left him with the choice of continuing to work or returning to Guatemala. Using house remedies and pills, Becerra self-medicated his leg pains. 

But after seriously injuring his lower spine during his fall out of the second-story window on Sept. 12, the pain became overwhelming. Although Becerra continued working on MDF projects on paper, under the guidance of his supervisor, he paused any substantial labor to rest. 

He completely stopped working on Sept. 22. After he ended up in the hospital on Sept. 26, Becerra reported the accidents to MDF, expecting workers’ compensation. He was instead fired and given a plane ticket back to Guatemala. 

“MDF itself, generally speaking, is not interested in the moral status, spiritual status, or how workers are physically or morally treated,” Becerra said in Spanish. “What they are interested in is that workers produce for them.”

Becerra also noted his priority in fighting for compensation is not about creating a precedent for migrant workers but instead about his family and three kids in Guatemala. Becerra said that while his family is currently being supported by friends and other family members, his lack of salary since September has put a strain on his household. 

Becerra said he was grateful for the support of nonprofit groups and Iglesia Cristiana Betania Asambleas de Dios, a local evangelical church, who have assisted him with food and medical expenses. But with no income, Becerra said he felt restricted in his transportation and everyday expenses. 

“We have to touch the conscience of the law, of justice so that they can order the company to quickly pay for all of the harm and injury,” Becerra said in Spanish. “Because there is a family in Guatemala. There are mouths in Guatemala that wait for bread and here, without a salary, I can’t help.”

Usually limping or using crutches, Becerra said that his lower spine injuries will need several months of rest to see progress, according to his doctor. Becerra currently attends physical therapy and has medical appointments lined up until July. 

Although Becerra is considering options to earn legal immigration status as his temporary H2-B visa expired in November, he said he was discouraged by the fact he will never physically be the same. 

“There are moments, believe me, where I’ve had to kneel and throw myself on the floor and talk only with God and ask him ‘What will happen?’” Becerra said in Spanish. “I have had to summon strength in weakness, and I say to God ‘What is happening? The law is sleeping.’ Anyone can say ‘Tolerate, bear, you’re enduring, keep on enduring.’ But they don’t know my personal family situation. And that is what most costs me morally.” 

Becerra’s next informal hearing for his workers’ compensation case is scheduled for March 15. 

In their protests, ULA called on MDF to pay injury compensation and Becerra’s medical treatment, pledging to continue their weekly protests if their demands are not met. 

Ford, Becerra’s attorney in housing court, said that MDF’s second attempt to evict Becerra and Arana has not formally entered the court system yet, as they must still serve summons and complaints to the former employees. 

“Serving a new eviction notice, despite all of the allegations, despite the proof we provided in court — they’re still moving forward with the new eviction because they do not believe the court is going to hold them accountable,” Ford said. “It is just going to enable them to continue their bad behavior, their oppressive behavior, their predatory behavior.”

MDF offices are located at 100 N. Branford Rd. in North Branford. 

Maggie Grether contributed reporting. 

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The pathway, intended to fully pedestrianize the street, will restrict vehicular traffic with the exception of emergency vehicles, similar to the pedestrian-friendly walkway — Alexander Walk — which runs from the Humanities Quadrangle on York Street to College Street.

While New Haven retains public ownership of High Street, Yale will fund and design the project, subject to the approval of the City Plan Commission and the city traffic authority and with the guidance of the High Street Conversion Advisory Committee. The University and New Haven cemented the plan on Nov. 17, 2021, when Salovey joined New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker to announce an increase in Yale’s voluntary payments to the city and the High Street project, along with other initiatives, at a press conference. 

“We’re gonna get back to that this spring,” Salovey said. “It’s time to make that a beautiful entryway to the campus for everyone — the campus community, the New Haven community and visitors from faraway places.”

Jack Callahan ’80, senior vice president for operations,  told the News that he anticipates that the programming and design phase of this project will commence sooner than in the spring. He added that the University is currently discussing requests for proposals with seven design firms.

Callahan also said that the work is more complicated than previous pedestrianization projects, such as the one to convert a portion of Wall Street into Alexander Walk in 2021. Callahan specified that on this particular portion of High Street, the presence of Skull and Bones’ tomb and the U.S. Post Office pose “accessibility concerns.” These accessibility concerns, Callahan said, include a lack of parking spots for any food deliveries, as well as the ability of maintenance and utility repairs to access buildings.

However, Callahan said that another consideration for the project is beginning a major construction project during the academic year in 2025.

At the time of the announcement, New Haveners compared the plan to pedestrianize High Street to the city’s controversial 2013 decision to sell sections of Wall and High Streets to the University for $3 million. Those sections now comprise Alexander Walk and an adjacent walkway between the Law School and Beinecke Plaza. In 2013, protesters at City Hall, along with multiple aldermen including Elicker, denounced the permanent sale of a public asset to the University and expressed concerns over Yale’s power to close streets off to the public. 

During the 2021 announcement of the High Street plan, New Haveners and Yalies questioned what the difference was between giving Yale the power to design the street and just selling the street to the University, according to the New Haven Independent. In response, Elicker noted that the street will remain permanently open to the public and that the design will be subject to the approval of the city’s planning and traffic officials.

Laura Brown, Executive Director of the City Plan Department, said that although Yale will play a substantial role in the design of the pathway, city officials and New Haven residents on the advisory committee will remain active in the selection of a design firm and the final design. Brown said that over the past few months, she has helped identify resident priorities with the project and incorporated those in the request for design firm proposals.

“It will still be important that [High Street] is still a city street that is welcoming for residents,” Brown said. 

Despite the continued public ownership of High Street, Max Chaoulideer, member of Safe Streets Coalition of New Haven, said that New Haven is still ceding much of the control of the project to Yale, continuing a precedent of yielding public authority to the University.

While Chaoulideer supports Yale investing in “safe and beautiful places” for New Haven residents and its students, he said that the University should make a more active effort to welcome New Haven residents into its public spaces. 

“I think the question will be whether pedestrianizing this block will invite reasons to spend time on High street for anyone other than Yale affiliates or if it will just solidify the use pattern already in place, which is Yale-dominated,” Chaoulideer wrote in an email to the News. “Though Yale has many buildings, events, and spaces that are technically public, they are rarely welcoming or widely advertised. Pedestrianizing the street on its own won’t change that, though it could be an invitation to do so.”

Brown characterized pedestrianization projects as “good for everyone,” emphasizing that the safety of pedestrians and cyclists as they navigate downtown is a priority for the High Street project. 

Chaoulideer views pedestrianization efforts as a way to decenter cars, which have oftentimes been prioritized over pedestrians and their safety, and a way to strengthen the role of streets as a place to gather with others. He distinguished streets, a place to be in community and linger, with roads, which are more rooted in transportation purposes. 

“When we ‘pedestrianize’ a street, what we are essentially doing is reclaiming it as a place to spend time, whether to shop, play, eat, receive care, or anything else,” Chaoulideer wrote. “In doing so, we also reprioritize safety, accessibility, sustainability, equity, and beauty. And, if parking is removed, we usually are reclaiming an enormous amount of very valuable public space.”

Yale completed landscaped pathways on the stretch of Wall Street between York Street and College Street, and on the section of High Street between Grove Street and Wall Street in 2021.

Correction, March 1: This article has been changed to include language clarifying that the design for the High Street pedestrianization project is set to begin, not the construction.

The post Yale to begin design for High Street pedestrianization appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Suffering from hip pain and spinal injuries, Becerra says he reported his workplace injuries to MDF Painting. Instead of providing worker’s compensation, MDF fired him and tried to send him on a flight back to Guatemala days later. 

Since his arrival in New Haven, Becerra has been living at 200 Peck St. in Fair Haven, at a house owned by his boss, Mark DeFrancesco, along with at least 19 other migrant workers who had come from Guatemala on H-2B visas sponsored by MDF. While still living at 200 Peck St. Becerra filed a workers’ compensation complaint on Oct. 23; two weeks later, his boss and landlord, DeFrancesco, served him and another tenant-employee, Josue Mauricio Araña, an eviction notice. 

Becerra and MDF have been embroiled in two legal disputes: Becerra’s worker’s compensation case and DeFrancesco’s eviction claim. On Monday, the Connecticut Superior Court denied the eviction, but left the door open for DeFrancesco to evict Becerra and Araña through a different method. Becerra is awaiting his worker’s compensation hearing next week. 

The News spoke to two experts who said that obstacles to reporting make it difficult to quantify workers’ compensation abuse, but cases like Becerra’s are part of a wider pattern of thin protections for migrant workers.

Tyrese Ford, Becerra’s housing court lawyer, said he hopes Becerra’s case raises awareness about the ways migrant workers in New Haven remain vulnerable. 

“Hypothetically, if Edgar had never reached out to us and let us know the situation, would the public have known about their situation?” Ford said. “How would we have known that was going on around the corner on 200 Peck St.?” 

Becerra suffered multiple injuries, allegedly slept on the street after eviction 

MDF’s website advertises a close-knit team, urging workers to join a company that’s like an “extended family.” But Becerra’s experience with MDF, as he described it, paints a different picture. 

Becerra arrived in New Haven in July 2023 on a temporary work visa sponsored by MDF, slated to expire on Nov. 30. When Becerra arrived at 200 Peck St., he discovered at least 19 other MDF workers from Guatemala already living in the house, according to documents filed by his attorney. According to Becerra, no bed was available and he slept on the floor of a third-floor bedroom. DeFrancesco denied this at trial, saying he provided the tenants with mattresses. MDF paid Becerra almost $17 an hour; DeFrancesco set rent at $75 a week. 

In August, Becerra fell from a 32-foot ladder while painting for MDF and suffered leg and hip injuries, according to documents submitted by his attorney. Becerra said he reported the injury to MDF, who required him to continue working. 

MDF and Mark DeFrancesco’s attorney did not respond to multiple requests to comment. 

In September, Becerra said he fell head-first from a second-floor window while working; MDF again allegedly ignored his injury and told him to return to work. 

At the trial, Becerra claimed that MDF did not provide safety equipment, such as helmets, gloves or cable, to its workers, according to the New Haven Independent. 

The documents introduced by Becerra’s attorney claim that on Sep. 26, Becerra, “unable to manage the pain,” was admitted to Yale New Haven Hospital and diagnosed with a lower spine and hip injury. The next day, MDF allegedly told Becerra they would fire him and send him back to Guatemala if he did not return to work. When he did not return to work, Becerra was fired.

On Sep. 30, Lisa Hollingsworth, DeFrancesco’s sister and a principle of MDF, texted Becerra telling him DeFrancesco had bought plane tickets for him back to Guatemala the following day. 

“Great news. Mark approved to pay for your flight,” the text read, instructing Becerra to “pack and have your things ready,” according to the court decision. The next day, Hollingsworth texted Becerra the flight confirmation code. Becerra did not board the flight. 

Becerra alleges that in October, MDF changed the lock code to the Peck Street residence. Unable to access the house, Becerra and Araña slept outside for two days before contacting New Haven Police, who ordered MDF to allow Becerra and Araña back into the house. During the trial, DeFrancesco claimed that the lockout was purely accidental, according to the New Haven Independent. 

Becerra filed a report of injury with the Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Commission on Oct. 23; his workers’ compensation case is still pending. Around this time, Becerra was hospitalized for over a week for work-related injuries. 

On Nov. 6, MDF served Becerra and Araña an eviction notice, ordering the men to leave 200 Peck St. within the week. In late November, DeFrancesco and his attorney Joshua Brown filed an eviction complaint against Becerra and Araña in court, officially beginning the legal dispute that culminated in Monday’s decision. 

Housing court denies eviction, for now 

The eviction dispute was heard first on Jan. 11 and again on Jan. 16. DeFrancesco claimed that both tenants were bound by weekly, oral lease agreements. 

On Monday, Judge Walter Spader issued a decision siding with Becerra and Araña, ruling that MDF had not proved the existence and terms of a week-to-week oral lease.

However, the decision noted that Becerra and Araña have not paid DeFrancesco for the continued residence in the house, leaving open the opportunity for MDF to file another eviction claim under “right or privilege terminated.” 

A footnote in the decision stated that there was nothing to suggest that MDF’s eviction case was retaliation against Becerra’s workers’ compensation claim — a major part of Becerra’s defense. 

“Did this decision inch us toward justice? I would say yes,” said Ford, Becerra’s attorney at New Haven Legal Assistance Association. “Did it do enough? No. But it did provide us with more time and opportunity to seek justice.” 

Becerra’s case example of limited migrant protections

According to Glenn Formica, the attorney representing Becerra in his workers’ compensation case, workers’ compensation can be one of the most expensive components of a construction job, and construction companies often use undocumented migrant workers to skirt those costs. Formica said he has encountered many undocumented workers who fear deportation if they file a workers’ compensation complaint against their employer. 

While Becerra came to New Haven on an H-2B visa, Formica estimated that around two-thirds of the workers he represents are undocumented. Becerra stands out from other cases of migrant workers injured on the job because he has gone public with his case and is pursuing legal compensation, Formica said. 

Professor Sheila Hayre, who teaches immigration law and serves as the faculty advisor for the Human Trafficking Prevention Project at Quinnipiac University School of Law, said that the protections for undocumented workers compared to those with temporary working status are like “night and day.” 

However, she emphasized that workers with legal working permission still face hurdles in reporting workplace injuries, and oftentimes, return back to their own countries to receive care before receiving compensation. 

“You can imagine yourself [suffering a workplace injury on a temporary working visa], and just feeling like I just want to go home,” Hayre said. “Situations like that, where you feel like the employer has provided housing and a job and everything else, the logistics of ‘how do I even survive while I’m fighting this case?’ I think it is a really huge issue.”

Hayre noted that difficulty in switching employers, who sponsor the visa, can prevent migrant workers from leaving exploitative or problematic employers. She also said that employers can “blacklist” workers from future work visas in the U.S., enabling employers to hang this potential ban over workers’ heads. As a result, many workers “put up” with unfair working conditions because they feel like they lack other options, according to Hayre. 

A lack of awareness among migrant workers of their labor rights additionally reduces reporting and obscures the extent of migrants working in unsafe conditions on a national scale, according to Hayre.

“What I’m proud of Edgar about as a client, is that he’s standing up and saying, ‘hey, I’m every bit as human as the next guy. I’m injured, and I’m taking advantage of it,’” Formica said. “I think in a general sense, Edgar is just trying to stand up and assert his own humanity. By example, he’s trying to assert the humanity of all foreign workers.” 

Becerra’s workers compensation case hearing is scheduled for next Thursday, Feb. 15. 

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Marcone, who is five months pregnant, said that she hopes the contract provisions Local 33 UNITE HERE, Yale’s graduate and professional worker union, secured in December, will make the choice to become parents easier for Yale’s graduate workers. 

“I will get emotional talking about [the contract],” Marcone, who served on the union’s bargaining committee, said. “I think it’s industry-leading. It’s fantastic … I feel really proud to have been part of the team, and part of a movement that has put together this amazing contract in good faith negotiations. And then I can say that I also did this for my daughter.”

Beyond salary raises that make Yale’s graduate workers the highest paid in the Ivy League, the union’s first contract with the University secures expanded health and dental care, increased protections for international students and guaranteed union recognition until 2031. 

Jake Thrasher GRD ’24, a graduate worker in the Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry Department who also served on the bargaining committee, reiterated the substantial impact the raises will have on his life. Coming from a working-class background, Thrasher said that the raises will ease financial pressure and allow him to concentrate on his research. 

Paul Seltzer GRD ’25, a graduate worker in the history department, told the News that he is most excited about the contract’s free spousal health care. When Seltzer began studying at Yale, his partner underwent sudden medical issues, forcing the two to consider getting married in order to add her as a spouse to his graduate worker health insurance. However, he said that the cost to add her, in the thousands of dollars, was too expensive for the couple. 

“I am really proud that now we have a guarantee for grad workers with spouses that they can be on it for free,” Seltzer said of the insurance. “I think it is going to make living and working at Yale a lot more affordable and accessible.”

Seltzer also pointed to the strength of the national graduate workers organizing movement, noting that the new generation of graduate workers will know what it feels like to be “empowered” at work. 

Benjamin Sanders GRD ’26, a graduate worker in the interdepartmental neuroscience program who organizes with Local 33, told the News that he is “very excited” about the contract’s affordable dental care plan, especially considering that most of the time students are cut off from their parents’ dental insurance at the age of 26.

Marcone also praised the new grievance procedure outlined in the contract, which guarantees a union steward throughout the complaint process. She said that the new procedure will make her feel “safer” if she asks for pregnancy accommodations. 

For Christopher Lindsay GRD ’26 and John Gonzalez GRD ’24, who serve as the Graduate Student Assembly chair and vice chair, respectively, the contract will improve workers’ lives, but also reveals a tension in graduate workers’ simultaneous role as students and workers.

“My most basic feelings on unionization, and what I imagine are the feelings of most Ph.D. students and graduate instructors, are that ‘unionization is good because we get paid more,’” Lindsay wrote in an email to the News. “If I were thinking more about what this means for the future of graduate education at Yale and other universities, I think my feelings, particularly for graduate students doing research, are more complicated.”

Lindsay explained that the role of graduate and doctoral student workers has changed greatly over the past few years. 

He said that he believes there is a “balance” that can be achieved with being both workers and students, but that it will take effort to “figure out what that balance is.”

Lindsay wrote to the News that Ph.D. students have always been both workers and students, but that in previous years this role was more of an “academic apprenticeship,” with the understanding that Ph.D. students go into careers in academia. Nowadays, Lindsay wrote, with graduate school admissions becoming more selective, the students who are admitted to Yale’s doctorate programs are already strong researchers. Instead of focusing on training, Lindsay explained, students focus more on producing research for their advisors, shifting the advisor-student relationship into more of a manager-worker one. 

“In recent years, though, the role of the graduate student as a worker has become more top of mind and through this change, the push for unionization made more and more sense,” Lindsay wrote. 

Gonzalez wrote to the News that he believes the agreement is “a huge step forward” in fair treatment of graduate student workers at the University. 

Gonzalez also acknowledged some concerns with the contract. He said that one graduate student, for example, told him that they were unsure of how much of their time would be considered labor and how much of it would be protected for their student training. Student training, Gonzalez explained, includes working for a teaching certificate and using the office of career services. 

Gonzalez told the News that the GSA plans to discuss such concerns with the union and with deans.

“The biggest lesson for all of us – faculty, administrators, and students – now will be to better understand and give space to the duality of graduate students as students and workers,” Gonzalez wrote.

Local 33 and the University reached an agreement on the contract after nine months of bargaining. 

Correction, Feb. 6: This story has been corrected to reflect that Paul Seltzer is not the co-president of Local 33.

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After 13 years in the role, Zucker retired last Thursday, with Alexandra Daum, the former state Department of Economic and Community Development commissioner and a New Haven real estate entrepreneur, taking her place as one of the key players in town-gown relations.

“Lauren’s been passionate. She’s a connector,” said Patricia Melton, who has worked with Zucker on almost a daily basis as president of New Haven Promise, a scholarship program for New Haven students that is partially funded by Yale. “She has brought us resources that help us to do our job better to strengthen us and connect us to other nonprofits. I really can’t think of a better partner.”

Daum inherits an Office of New Haven affairs that has become increasingly intertwined with the city and its residents, but nevertheless has received criticism over the University’s control of retail districts such as those branded as “The Shops at Yale.” 

After the University’s purchase of 59 Broadway in November, Yale’s residential property management company notified non-Yale tenants that they would have to leave at the end of the year in accordance with Yale’s affiliate-only leasing policy. A petition calling for Yale to make an exception to this policy has amassed over 630 signatures with signees condemning the University’s “takeover,” which the petition calls “disrespectful.”

Zucker did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the affiliate-only policy. 

Carol Lopez Horsford, founder and broker at Farnam Realty Group in New Haven, also foresees Daum facing difficulties attracting business to the University’s retail properties post-pandemic. Lopez Horsford said consumers are now more interested in instant shipping than shopping in person, posing challenges to the bottom line of Yale’s retail tenants. She said that balancing student needs with New Haven demand will add another layer to this dynamic. 

“The University just has to figure out what they want to do,” Horsford said. “Are they for our students or are they for New Haven or are they going to try to do both? That’s for them to decide.”

Farnam Realty Group, Horsford’s company, has previously managed properties in New Haven for Daum. Hosford described Daum as a “dynamic leader” with an “entrepreneurial spirit.” 

Daniel O’Keefe, commissioner-delegate for the Connecticut DECD who previously worked for Daum when she was commissioner, also praised Daum’s leadership. O’Keefe said that Daum possesses a “fundamental understanding of how to support a community’s growth” with a focus on creating vibrant spaces of both residential and commercial use. 

“Part of what [Daum] really led was a balance between economic growth and lifting up communities that have suffered from structural inequity,” O’Keefe said. “[Her departure] was a loss for the state. I would have worked for her forever. She showed authenticity, great judgment, leadership and empathy.” 

Since joining the DECD in 2020, Daum fostered community development initiatives such as the Community Investment Fund 2030, which provides up to $875 million to projects focusing on economic development in “historically underserved communities” in Connecticut. Another initiative Daum headed, the Connecticut Communities Challenge Grant program, awarded a $6 million grant to New Haven to implement public safety and traffic improvement on Grand Avenue in the Fair Haven neighborhood.

Prior to her tenure as commissioner, Daum founded Field Properties, a real estate investment firm in New Haven. Daum, a New Haven resident, has also worked in real estate development at Trammell Crow Residential in Northern California and served as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company. 

“Living in New Haven has illuminated for me just how much potential Connecticut cities have,” Daum told the News in 2022, following the announcement of her appointment as commissioner. “It just illuminates how important it is to have these dense, urban centers where you have academia, culture, retail, office, residential all in one place, all accessible by foot.” 

Daum declined to be interviewed for this article, citing her newness to the role.

Yale’s official announcement of Zucker’s retirement listed the Office of New Haven Affairs’s support of New Haven’s booming biotech industry, close partnerships with community organizations and millions in aid to nonprofits supporting New Haveners during the pandemic, including over $700,000 to combat food insecurity, as some of Zucker’s biggest accomplishments. 

In order to ensure the survival of their retail tenants during the pandemic, Yale University Properties paused and reduced rents for its tenants, Zucker wrote to the News. She said that no tenants were forced to close. 

“That being said, it has been a true team effort and any achievement would not have been possible without the great work of my colleagues in the Office of New Haven Affairs, and the strong support of and engagement with our community and our civic partners,” Zucker wrote in a statement to the News. 

Zucker declined to comment on her future plans or the challenges she faced as associate vice president. 

Melton, the president of New Haven Promise, said that Yale has been “wonderful” and supportive of the organization’s mission to make college and a stable career accessible for New Haven public school students. Melton specifically noted an annual internship fair hosted at the Schwarzman Center, Yale’s hiring of dozens of New Haven Promise scholars as interns and a University-funded scholarship for students seeking a degree at a historically Black college or university. 

Mayor Justin Elicker told the News that Zucker played a role in the 2021 negotiations between the city and the University that resulted in a $52-million increase in Yale’s voluntary contribution to New Haven over the course of six years. The 2021 agreement also established the community development-focused Center for Inclusive Growth and a new policy requiring Yale to offset tax revenues lost by the city when switching properties to tax-exempt uses. 

“Over the past 4 years, the relationship between Yale and the city has dramatically improved,” Elicker said. “Much of that is because of [University President Peter Salovey’s] willingness to really take a significant step forward in Yale’s engagement and contribution with the City. And I mean that not just because of financial contribution to the city and the other components of our understanding, but in general, about the communication and better understanding that we need to be partners.”

Looking toward the future, Elicker said that he sees potential in Yale’s investment in historically underserved communities and affordable housing. Elicker added that he was “heartened” by the appointment of Daum to associate vice president, who he knows through her work in the city, noting that she “deeply cares” about New Haven. 

The Office of New Haven Affairs expanded to include University Properties in 2014. 

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But because Rivera is not affiliated with Yale, he must leave his apartment by the end of the year. 

After Yale purchased 59 Broadway in November, the handful of apartments in the building, as well as retailers like Campus Customs, came under new management: Elm Campus Partners, a property management company that manages Yale’s residential assets. 

For Rivera, a new landlord meant the threat of yet another move. Under Elm Campus Partners policy, Yale’s rental properties are for Yale students and staff only. Elm Campus Partners notified Rivera and another non-Yale tenant via email on Dec. 12 that they can continue to stay in their apartments until 2025, but come the new year, their leases will not be renewed, according to initial reporting by the New Haven Independent. 

“I’m a person, and I wish [Yale] would see me as one instead of an asset to move out,” Rivera said. “The policy doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, especially when they’re buying up buildings that people already live in. I’m mad for myself, but I would be mad for anyone who is in this situation because a home is important to someone, it’s a foundation.”

Following the email, Rivera created a petition and called on Yale to make an exception to its affiliate-only policy until the non-Yale tenants could either choose to leave or commit a legitimate tenant violation. The petition has since amassed 590 signatures. Signees condemned the University for pushing out New Haven residents, characterizing Yale’s “disrespectful” behavior as a “takeover” and an example of “gentrification.” 

Rivera said that a month after he created the petition and his Yale and non-Yale neighbors raised concerns with the new management, he still has not heard back from Yale, leaving him “frustrated.” 

“When the purchase of 59 Broadway was completed, the two non-Yale affiliated tenants were given the option of renewing their lease for one year in order to give them ample time to find new living arrangements,” Peart wrote in a statement to the News. “In order to provide these two residents additional flexibility, they also have the ability to terminate the lease at any time within that window if they find a better opportunity earlier.”

The University did not respond to a question about the reasoning behind the affiliate-only housing policy or about the alleged lack of response to the tenants’ concerns.  

After its $7 million purchase of 51 and 57 Broadway, Yale now owns eight of the nine buildings on the north end of Broadway. In December, Lauren Zucker, the University’s associate vice president and director of New Haven affairs, told the News that Yale would honor all existing leases with the current tenants. 

Yale’s dominance on Broadway, replete with a sign reading “The Shops at Yale” on the street island, dates back to the early 2000s, when the University began acquiring several properties in the area, according to Elihu Rubin ’99, associate professor of urbanism at the Yale School of Architecture. 

“It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Yale has sought to acquire these Broadway properties,” Rubin wrote. “It is part of a clear, long-term strategy to control as much of the district as possible. Doing so reduces the risk of multiple property owners making decisions that Yale does not agree with or that do not fit its image for the Shops at Yale.”

Rivera was originally drawn to New Haven because of its vibrancy as a “walkable college town.” Although Rivera is willing to fight to stay at Broadway, he said that he is also realistic and currently looking for a new apartment in New Haven. 

Rivera also said he was surprised by the number of signatures his petition has collected and touched by the support of both the New Haven and Yale communities in the comments on the petition and the New Haven Independent article. In at least this way, Rivera has avoided what he classified as the worst-case scenario: being kicked out of his apartment and no one caring. 

“I would assume that Yale would want to attract different kinds of perspectives instead of just being a bubble,” Rivera said. “They’re pushing people out that aren’t in Yale, and you’re going to get a bubble with that.” 

Yale purchased 51 and 57 Broadway on Nov. 17.

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During New Haven Rising’s annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day event, leaders of Yale’s politically powerful UNITE HERE unions and elected officials, including Mayor Justin Elicker, described Local 33’s win as a testament to the power of the labor movement in New Haven and beyond. Graduate workers voted to ratify their first-ever contract with the University in December, securing the highest pay in the Ivy League. 

“This was no easy task,” Adam Waters GRD ’26, a member of Local 33’s bargaining committee, told the crowd. “We had to overcome decades of opposition and misinformation by the leadership of Yale University. We had to overcome fear and uncertainty in ourselves and in our co-workers. And we had to overcome the cynicism and divisiveness of those that said that graduate teachers and researchers have no reason to organize alongside other unionized workers at Yale or the wider New Haven community.”

At the “Unity in Action” event held in the Trinity Temple Church, Local 33 organizers shared the stage with Connecticut State Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers and leaders from Local 24 UNITE HERE, which won a landmark contract with the MGM Grand Detroit casino in December after a 47-day strike. 

Calling upon King’s historic push for workers’ rights, speakers emphasized the importance of collective organizing in tackling national and local threats to economic justice. New Haven Rising’s Pastor Scott Marks, who emceed the event, specifically named the rise of gentrification and the lack of affordable housing in New Haven. 

“MLK’s mission of economic justice: understanding that without jobs, fair jobs, good-paying jobs, without people being able to support themselves and their family, there is no equality,” Erick Russell, Connecticut State Treasurer, said. “We have concrete evidence of this work coming to action. You look across the country right now, workers are standing together, giving new life to the labor movement. We’ve seen that in New Haven with Local 33 ratifying its first contract.” 

Marks cited union wins like that of screenwriters and actors in Hollywood, autoworkers in Michigan and Ohio and casino workers in Detroit as evidence of a national wave of labor activism. 

Members of UNITE HERE 217, the Connecticut hospitality workers’ union, and Local 34 UNITE HERE, the union for Yale’s clerical and technical workers, also represented local labor at the event. UNITE HERE 217, which according to Marks, has grown the number of union hotels in New Haven by 200 percent in the past year, is currently organizing a union drive for workers at Connecticut College. Avani Mehta, an organizer for Local 34, recounted how union organizers held department meetings to discuss staffing shortages and increasing job opportunities for New Haveners from historically redlined neighborhoods. 

In their speech, Waters and Arita Acharya GRD ’26, another member of Local 33’s bargaining committee, gave thanks to New Haven’s sprawling network of labor activists and supporters. Acharya said that the “struggle and sacrifice” of generations of graduate workers and the solidarity between the union and New Haven were foundational to Local 33’s success. 

“Let’s find the commitment to organize, organize, organize and hold vast coalitions together in spite of the repression and the fear,” Marks said. “Let’s fight our freedom, and when we fight…” 

“We win,” the crowd chanted back. 

New Haven Rising was founded in 2011. 

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With an immediate 17.7-percent raise for stipended PhD graduate workers next semester, Yale PhD workers will be the highest-paid PhD workers in the Ivy League with a minimum $48,330 stipend. 

Of over 3,200 workers eligible to vote, according to an estimate from the New Haven Independent, 1,705 members voted in favor of ratifying, with 10 dissenting. 

“I feel incredibly proud,” said Adam Waters, a member of Local 33’s bargaining committee. “This is a really amazing contract that’s going to be transformative for me. And I know it’s going to be transformative for a lot of other graduate workers as well … [Yale] is going to be among the best places to work as a graduate worker in the country.” 

The landslide vote for ratification follows last week’s announcement of a historic tentative agreement between Local 33 and Yale which was reached after nine months of contract negotiations, the culmination of 33 years of graduate worker activism. Graduate and professional workers voted in favor of forming a union in early 2023, garnering 91 percent of the vote. 

The newly-approved contract promises a 30-percent raise for stipended PhD grad workers over the course of the five-year contract, an annual $300,000 fund for out-of-pocket dental and health care expenses and guaranteed union recognition until 2031. Waters said that this recognition protects against a possible reversal of graduate workers’ union-eligibility by a second Donald Trump administration. 

The contract also establishes a clear grievance procedure that includes a union steward and states members’ right to a workplace free from discrimination, harassment and retaliation. 

“[The grievance procedure and fair treatment language] is really incredible language that is going to make sure that graduate workers are empowered and have the power to, in a transparent and timely way, ensure that they have a safe work environment,” Waters said.

Spanning just nine months, Local 33’s negotiations with the University took far less time than peer institutions. 

Harvard University’s graduate student union took almost two years to settle an initial contract, while negotiations at Brown University lasted 17 months. Waters credited the quick turnaround to the strong working relationship between the union and Yale. 

“This new contract reflects negotiations between Local 33–UNITE HERE and Yale that were conducted with collegiality and respect,” Provost Scott Strobel wrote in an email sent to Yale community members Monday morning. “Throughout the election and negotiation processes, the university has been guided by its commitment to the educational and research mission and to the well-being and success of all its students and graduate workers.”

Waters additionally expressed gratitude for the solidarity shown by Locals 34 and 35 in Local 33’s push for a fair contract. Local 34 is Yale’s clerical and technical workers union, and Local 35 represents Yale’s service and maintenance workers.  

In his email, Strobel said that the University will provide more information in the new year, including details on where to direct questions and resources to support faculty in the implementation of the contract. 

“In the coming days, Local 33 and the university will each reach out to those affected by the contract with further details,” the University and Local 33 wrote in a joint statement to the News. 

The product of graduate student organizing that initially began in 1990, the ratified contract will expire on July 31, 2028.

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The agreement secured higher pay, expanded healthcare and increased protections for international students. It promises an immediate 17.7-percent raise for stipend PhD grad workers next semester and a 30-percent raise over the course of the five-year contract, an annual $300,000 fund for out-of-pocket dental and health care expenses and a clear grievance procedure that includes a union steward. 

Eligible graduate and professional student workers will vote on ratifying the tentative agreement on Dec. 15 and 16. If a majority of voters support ratification, the contract will go into effect immediately and expire on July 31, 2028. 

“On December 8, Local 33 UNITE HERE and the university reached a tentative agreement on a five-year contract—an important milestone in our relationship,” Local 33 spokesperson Ian Dunn and University spokesperson Karen Peart wrote in a joint statement to the News.

The University and the union told the News that they will not give further comments to the press before the agreement is ratified. 

In the tentative agreement, Yale agreed to recognize the union until 2031, even if changes in federal labor guidelines void the status of graduate students at private universities as union-eligible workers. Although the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, ruled in 2016 that private school graduate workers have the right to unionize, policy experts have long theorized that a Republican-appointed NLRB might attempt to overturn that ruling.

The tentative agreement protects the right of Local 33 to exist for the next two presidential administrations. 

Graduate student workers at Yale have fought for union recognition since 1990, organizing protests, unauthorized elections and a virtually unprecedented 2017 hunger strike after Yale challenged the validity of eight department-based elections that the union won in 2016. Organizers often faced a “hostile” administration, according to former NLRB chairman William Gould in 2018, and drawn-out legal challenges by the University. 

After President Donald Trump appointed a conservative member to the NLRB, Local 33 and other private university graduate unions withdrew their petitions to unionize in 2018, fearing that the Republican-majority board would overturn their right to unionize. 

Local 33 began a new recognition campaign in the fall of 2021, a resurgence that would eventually lead to a landslide election in early 2023 with 91 percent of voters in favor of forming a union. 

“Now, after nine months of intensive bargaining, we have a tentative agreement that raises the industry standard for graduate teachers and researchers,” Local 33 wrote in a summary of the tentative agreement emailed to members. “This document reflects all of our collective efforts; we would not be at this point without the dedication, energy, and organizing that so many Graduate Workers contributed.”

In their announcement of the tentative agreement, Local 33 celebrated “major wins” in five policy priorities as identified by a survey taken by over 2,200 graduate workers: better pay, quality health care, fair treatment and a grievance procedure, support for international graduate workers and support for graduate workers with families and dependents. 

Over the course of the contract, PhD graduate workers with stipends will see a 30-percent raise. Students with salaried teaching positions in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Professional Schools will see their wages increase by 49 percent over the five-year contract. The tentative agreement includes cost-of-living adjustments for salaried positions in years with abnormally high inflation rates. 

The agreement establishes three additional staff positions to improve graduate student workers’ access to health care services, particularly mental health resources. Spousal and dependent coverage will also expand. 

The tentative agreement further provides international graduate workers with immigration assistance, allowing workers days or weeks off to resolve immigration issues and establishing an annual $40,000 fund to assist workers with legal expenses. Yale also agreed not to demand proof of immigration status or share worker information with United States or foreign government agencies. 

The agreement outlines avenues for future University support for Local 33 organizing, including the provision of union bulletin boards and the concession that Local 33 workers will not be forced to cross the picket lines of Yale’s other unions. 

Local 33’s  reached its first tentative agreement far faster than graduate unions at peer institutions. Harvard University’s graduate student union took nearly two years to settle a first contract. At Brown University, negotiations took 17 months, and Columbia University reached an agreement with their union after three years of negotiations and a two-month strike by the union.

With the tentative agreement in hand, Local 33’s bargaining committee — a group of 16 graduate student workers — is planning to hold eight meetings between Dec. 11 and Dec. 14 with union members to discuss the agreement.

In the summary of the tentative agreement, the Local 33 bargaining committee recommended that graduate student workers vote to ratify the contract.

“As the bargaining committee, we enthusiastically recommend voting Yes to ratify this tentative agreement and begin next semester with a contract all of us can be proud of achieving,” the committee wrote. 

The union will hold the contract ratification vote at 425 College St, UNITE HERE’s office in New Haven. 

Nathaniel Rosenberg contributed reporting.

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