Mara Dingman was a seasoned student-employee at Campus Dining and Shops.
She started working at C3 in 2019 to make some extra money. Dingman served other students, washed dishes and wiped tables for most of her undergraduate career and all throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. And when she lived in Red Jacket, she didn’t even have to leave the building to start a shift.
But after the 2021 spring semester, she called it quits — and not just because she wanted more time to study.
“There’s so many better jobs that I could get that are going to either give me better benefits or pay me more than minimum wage or just require me to do different work that isn’t that type of food service,” Dingman, a Spanish major who graduated last semester, said of her thought process at the time.
In the wake of COVID-19 and the “Great Resignation,” Campus Dining and Shops, the organization that operates UB’s dining halls and food service operations, is “continuing to rebuild from pre-pandemic employment levels” and increase staffing at night and on the weekends, according to Ray Kohl, director of marketing and communications for Campus Dining and Shops. That effort led CDS to start offering $16 per hour to student employees who work after 7 p.m. on weekdays or on the weekends, a $2.80-increase over the $13.20 per hour, New York State’s minimum wage, that student workers normally make.
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