Student Employment at Safe@Weber
Pros
Working in the Safe@Weber department is amazing. It allows a lot of flexibility with scheduling, as they believe academics come first. The staff at Safe@Weber is friendly and welcoming. They provide an overall positive experience. It's decently paid for the work you do and allows a lot of free time to work on school assignments. It also provides students with a lot of professional development. I can easily say it is one of the best jobs to have as a student. My supervisors have been incredibly supportive. I couldn't ask for a better work environment among coworkers.
Cons
Some of the topics we cover as peer educators are heavier and sometimes taxing, as it related to sexual/domestic/dating violence. However, you are trained to confidently speak on these topics and are encouraged to take care of yourself as needed. There are a lot of resources for things like healthcare by being a student, but none are provided through the employment. So no sick time, PTO, etc. Especially with it being a part-time job. Since the job is part-time, holidays often affect your schedule. You are able to make up hours, but only if it's within the pay-period and within the working hours. So, sometimes you aren't to make them all up. Another con is losing hours on sick days or days off. The biggest con is the bureacracy. WSU administration has been making a lot of changes with the recent passing of HB261 in UT. Safe@Weber is one of the departments that has been most affected. We've had to make a lot of changes to our programming and have to censor our presentations and workshops to avoid words like "intersectionality" "diversity, equity, and inclusion," "marginalization," "opression," etc. This complicates the work, as marginalized populations are more vulnerable to violence. It's very frustrating and keeps you on alert to who you can freely express yourself with while on the clock. These are the main reasons I give it 4/5 stars. Otherwise, it would have 5.
