Hello! My name is Adam Schnepf, a proud University Staff United member who is an Admissions Counselor in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions (OUA) in Ann Arbor. I started working for OUA in June of 2023. It was a little over a year after graduating from the University of Michigan and I was excited to help students grow and learn similarly to how I did during my time.
It’s no secret that OUA can be a demanding place to work- just ask any unit with an admissions team of its own. While the travel and high volume of applications to review come with the territory, the compensation just doesn’t fit the importance of the work. Of course, I wish my salary were higher and we all know that the UM benefits package is far from bad. Still, hours of extra work, late drives, and weekend shifts just to be given a couple of hours off (a policy that completely ignores the additional travel time of coming to the office on game days) rather than well-deserved overtime. It’s no wonder why OUA has a high turnover rate. Many of us in OUA would stay there rather than constantly search for other roles at the University if we were treated better and compensated accordingly, but that’s just not guaranteed.
Ultimately, I support USU because when we have a voice we can fight for better treatment while protecting what we already enjoy. Union protection means we are not at the whims of upper management and that we have a seat at the table when decisions about our jobs are being made.
If anything I said resonated with you even a little bit, then I ask that you act on that. Whether it be getting involved to build our union or exploring our website to learn more about our union and what we can accomplish together!
In Solidarity,
Adam