CON V ERGING CA MPUS & COMMU NIT Y
NORTHWEST MISSOURIAN
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2026
MARYVILLE, MISSOURI
NWMISSOURINEWS.COM
VOL. 114, NO. 12
@THEMISSOURIAN
NW provost talks plans, experience going into new position HANNAH CLAYWELL Editor-in-Chief | @Hannah_9504
SOURCE: MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
INFOGRAPHIC BY ANNA CASE DESIGNER
Student minimum wage increases
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ANNA BAILEY News Editor | @AmBailey16
ue to the recent raise in student employment minimum wage, there is a 30% decrease in the number of student positions available. Beginning Jan. 1, the Missouri minimum wage was increased to $15 per hour, according to the Missouri Department of Labor. Public employers, including universities, are typically exempt from state minimum wage changes. This time, it was specified in law that universities are required to comply, according to the Missouri Senate. Northwest students were all notified of this change Feb. 16 in an email written by Vice President of Culture Krista Barcus and Vice President of Finance and Administration Stacy Carrick. Barcus said the main concern that has evolved from this increase is Northwest’s budget. “The impact, obviously, is an increase from $10.30 per hour to the $15 an hour, and so that’s a positive impact,” Barcus said. “We also have to just look within the budget and, trying to figure out, making sure that we don’t impact employees financially, but also have to meet the current budget that we have.”
In order to fit within the budget, all campus departments must decrease the number of hours and/or student employees they have in operation. There is no specified date by which this must be completed; Barcus said the decisions have been left to these leaders. Most departments are implementing changes as soon as possible. Barcus said it is important to minimize the amount of student impact these adjustments will have. She said it is a priority to keep students from receiving less earnings; rather, the hope is that the wage increase and the decrease in hours will balance out, and students will make at least the same amount as they did previously. “Right now we’ve asked our leaders to go back and look at the students and what they’re currently scheduled for, and what that looks like,” Barcus said. “At this point, we’re just letting our leaders go and look at that and see; see what the impacts of the minimum increase looks like for their areas.” Office of Student Involvement Student Manager Jaeda Hasam said she lost two hours of work. She said in the OSI, the decrease is particularly upsetting because there are a lot of students employed, and there are only so many hours available each day. Regardless, she said the minimum wage increase does make her happy.
“I don’t really know how they got away with paying us so little in the first place,” Hasam said. Due to the effects on the budget, the Career Pathing Program has ended, effective immediately Feb. 16. Students were notified of this in the same email sent by Barcus and Carrick. Barcus said in the email that any incremental pay associated with Career Pathing will be replaced by the required minimum wage increase. “Participation in the program (Career Pathing) has remained low, and as a result, resources are being redirected to other student employment initiatives,” Barcus said. Barcus said once Northwest was notified of the minimum wage increase, the senior leadership team gathered to discuss the impact. She said the main points of discussion were how to prepare for the change and what the most productive way to communicate this information across campus is. Barcus said the challenge seen within this increase is finding a balance between complying with the budget and also taking care of the Northwest student body. “Our student positions are very important; they’re just very important to the livelihood of our campus, and we need them,” Barcus said.
Rose Marie Ward officially started her time as the next provost for Northwest Feb. 16 and is ready to connect with students. Ward is one of nine children and is no stranger to smalltown life, even after coming to Northwest from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. While working at her previous institution, Ward said she commuted an hour from Oxford, Ohio, which has a population of around 22,000 people, so the transition to Maryville isn’t as drastic as it may seem. “I’ve always grown up in a college town, whether it was Penn State (Pennsylvania State University) or being in Oxford for the last 23 years,” Ward said. “I just love that small town kind of feel, where everybody knows everybody.” Ward attended Juniata College in Huntington, Pennsylvania, and she said she was heavily involved there, which made it easy for people to know who she was and what she did. She said because of her involvement, she could do interesting things, such as ask people to see their wallets. “As an undergrad, I was a little feisty,” Ward said. “I would ask people all the time, I was like, ‘Can I see your wallet?’ and you do that enough, and people hand over their wallets…People would hand it to me, and I’d just start going through it, and they’re like, ‘Why are you doing that?’ I’m like ‘Oh, I’m doing a study correlating personality constructs to wallet contents.’” She said claiming that it was a study would make people interested in what she was gaining from looking at their wallets. Ward did this to one of her professors, and it turned into her senior thesis project, which she eventually presented nationally. “Those are the type of the formative experiences that made me the leader that I am — that tries to recreate that kind of environment all the way, but also just knows that when you make a decision, and whether it’s asking somebody for a wallet or what major to be, it impacts more than just you,” Ward said. “It impacts an entire family system, and so I wanted a place where I could do that.”
SEE PROVOST | A4
Campus Chick-fil-A to close at semester due to license changes ANNA BAILEY News Editor | @AmBailey16
The Chick-fil-A at Northwest will close operations May 1 after nearly 23 years of service on campus. Chick-fil-A Inc. announced it will be switching nontraditional locations — specialized, usually smaller restaurant units located inside other buildings — to an “Owner-Operator led” model, in a press release published Dec. 3, 2025. This operational model requires each location to be owned and operated locally, rather than by third-party licensors. Northwest’s location does not qualify to remain open because it is licensed through a third-party provider, Sodexo.
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1914.
Northwest Sodexo Food Service General Manager Casey Benton said he is not yet sure of all the specific details included with this change. “The CFA (Chick-fil-A) group looked at their business model for the future and the pieces of business within contracted food service; so Sodexo, Aramark, Chartwells, all the big companies that are serving Chick-fil-As now will be impacted, with the stores closing, and unfortunately, ours close.” Across the U.S., nontraditional locations are seen in university campuses, airports, hospitals, theme parks and many other places, according to the Chick-fil-A website.
SEE CLOSING | A4
EMILIA RAMANAUSKAS PHOTOGRAPHER
Northwest senior Gracie Brendle waits for her drink from Chick-fil-A employee Gemma Murray Feb. 17. The campus location will close May 1.
PLEASE
RECYCLE