Update 11:30 a.m. Two anonymous sources that spoke with The Orion reached out and shared that their hours were reinstated following a meeting with Director of ITSS Amandeep Grewall. Grewall told a source that the situation was the result of a “miscommunication.” According to Vice President of Division of IT Monique Sendze they are working to insure that any employee who wishes to continue can remain working in the department through the end of the semester.

The Orion is still pursuing the details of this story and will have further details as they are received. 

Correction: name of DoIT Administrative Support.

Student employees in IT Support Services may see a significant reduction in hours, and some seem to be facing termination in the coming days. According to multiple student IT employees who spoke to The Orion on condition of anonymity, changes were announced in individual meetings with their supervisor, Kelli Trnka, following a mandatory meeting Tuesday morning.

The impacted students in ITSS, who spoke with The Orion, chose to remain anonymous due to fear of repercussions. The students said that in individual meetings with Trnka they were told that rather than working for the rest of the semester, and potentially into the summer, their last day with ITSS would be Wednesday.

The students The Orion spoke to were told that any scheduled shifts after Wednesday were being cancelled and the abrupt change was specifically due to budgetary concerns. The Orion was forwarded documents confirming that scheduled hours later in the week were cut for some employees. Students asked Trnka in their individual meetings whether their termination was in any way performance related. They were assured that their work had nothing to do with it, and the decisions were solely budget related.

This is in contrast to what university communications has told The Orion. Interim Chief of Staff Ashley Gebb said directly that, “Student hours were not reduced.”

In a conversation Tuesday afternoon, Gebb characterized the meeting as an “unfortunate miscommunication.” According to Gebb, the Division of Information Technology periodically reevaluates staff to make sure services are being met and DoIT is maintaining its budget responsibly. Gebb said the only students having their employment terminated are those planning on ending their employment soon, due to plans to move on after the semester.

However, this was refuted by two student workers who have been in the department for multiple years. The students had no previous communication with a supervisor suggesting they were planning on self-terminating employment, or that they were open to being let go early due to budget concerns.

The students told The Orion that nothing resembling the process, described by Gebb, of regular reassessment of employee structure within the IT Department has happened during their multiple years working there.

“I think that the attention that you’ve given this grew our awareness to the fact that some clarifying communication needed to be done, and ITSS is working right now to try to clarify that with the student employees,” Gebb told The Orion. 

Students received a follow-up email on Tuesday at 2:35 p.m. from Director of ITSS, Amandeep Grewal explaining that “… there is no immediate need to reduce student hours.” The email also stated that DoIT was happy to support students’ plans to conclude their roles in early to mid-May because of other commitments.

“Students in good standing with ITSS who wish to continue working through the end of the semester are welcome to do so. Any changes in scheduling have been based on individual circumstances and preferences,” Vice President of Information Technology Monique Sendze said in a response to an email.

However, two student workers confirmed as of 5:27 p.m. Tuesday that their previously scheduled shifts remain cancelled. They also noted that they had no previous intention, or understanding, that their last day would be Wednesday.

One student employee has told The Orion that their access to internal Slack communication and their building access had already been removed as of Tuesday morning. The student had not received any type of written notice of termination as of 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

In the attempt to find clarifying information regarding the concerns of student workers, The Orion spoke with multiple officials in the IT department including; Director of ITSS Amandeep Grewal, Manager of Communications Jatinder Sandhu, Administrative Support Malie Medeiros and Division Budget and Operations Director Teresa Miller. Each person either declined to comment or expressed they had no knowledge of the matter.

It is unclear why none of the officials who spoke to The Orion on initial inquiry noted that this was a result of the routine staffing reassessment practices that Gebb had referred to. 

The Orion was specifically referred to Sandhu multiple times Tuesday. The Orion was finally able to speak with her when The Orion ran into her at an event on campus where she was giving out free pizza and promoting the rollout of ChatGPT EDU.

When asked about concerns from student employees, she said, “I’m not even aware that happened, because it never came to my desk.”

IT officials also repeatedly referred The Orion to Sendze. Sendze, due to being at a conference all day, was only able to be reached by email. 

“… our student workers are extremely important and valuable to the work we do in service to students, faculty and staff, and I am committed to making sure we do the best to give them employment opportunities within the Division. Like I said earlier, this was an unfortunate mis-communication that resulted in unintended outcomes,” Sendze said. 

Sean Shanks and Chris Hutton can be reached at [email protected]