Though moving into the newly renovated Booth Library began on Jan. 3, student workers who were hired to move the books are instead on the sidelines watching like the rest of the campus.

The student workers, who were hired by Meyer Book Moving Co., were scheduled to begin moving books after finals and continue through the end of break, finishing the move during the spring semester, Ken Bauer, one of the student workers hired for the job said.

Bauer said in the beginning of October, Meyer Co., who was contracted by the university, hired the 60 Eastern students to move the books for $8.25 per hour, 54 hours per week for four weeks.

He also said the students were informed they could make a total sum of approximately $2,000

On Dec. 5, Meyer Co. notified the workers via e-mail that their services were not needed. Bauer said the notice left the student workers jobless just days before winter break and the holidays.

Students then turned to the university for answers and compensation for their abruptly lost opportunity.

Although Eastern is seen to be at the brunt of the library situation the university is “somewhat limited in what we can and cannot do in (construction) projects,” interim President Lou Hencken said.

“The building of the library is a project not between EIU and the contractor but between the Capital Development Board and the contractor,” he said. “(The board is) good enough to keep us informed.”

The Capital Development Board is a state agency that oversees the contracting of large construction projects for Illinois’ 12 public universities.

Despite the university’s claim of distance from the library project, student workers feel they have been shafted by the university itself and “used like pawns,” Bauer said.

“The whole thing has been handled very badly, certainly not by professionals, definitely not by people who are supposed to be role models for the student population,” student worker Robert Dunn said.

In the past several weeks the plan to reopen Booth Library on Jan. 7 has unraveled.

Redesigning the library’s south entrance caused the delay, pushing back the completion date. Hencken said the library may be finished at the end of January or in February.

Negotiations of the south entrance started in June between the contractors and the Capital Development Board. The negotiations delayed work for months inevitably delaying the completion of the south entrance, said Jeff Cooley, vice president of business affairs.

After being told last month their services were no longer needed, the student workers banded together to be awarded some compensation from the university for their losses, Bauer said.

Hencken agreed to three of the four options brought to him by the jobless students in order to receive compensation for the money they could have made over break. The students were offered intrest-free loans, the university allowed some students who owed money to register for classes and students who remained in town over break were offered part-time jobs, Hencken said.

A fourth option of academic leniency in final grades was presented to Hencken by student workers because they lost their jobs so soon before finals, on Dec. 5. This option was denied because of university policy, Hencken said.

“We can’t do that,” Hencken said. “We have not and never will tell faculty members to change grades unless for medical reasons.”

Bauer and four other students accepted part-time jobs cleaning the library for minimum wage, under the belief they would begin moving books on Jan. 3 for $8.25 per hour, Bauer said.

He also said no student workers had been contracted through Meyer. Co. to move books. However, book moving began Thursday.

Hencken said the university only employs the book moving company but has no control over who the company hires. He said the compensation offered to the students was all the university could provide.

“The university tried to help in any way we could,” Hencken said. “That does not mean telling the book moving company who to hire. I certainly would have hoped that they would have hired students.”