Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025 @commonwealthtimes @theCT1
VOL. 71, NO. 12 NOV. 12, 2025 THE INDEPENDENT PRESS OF VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
COMMONWEALTHTIMES.ORG
2025 ACP NEWSPAPER PACEMAKER WINNER
Student workers given wrong, limited break policy
Many in Commons have decried conditions at busying dining locations
HECIEL NIEVES BONILLA Assistant News Editor Food service workers at the University Student Commons were confused in October when a notice for a new break policy was posted on an off ice door, contradicting the terms of their contracts. T he not ic e , at t r ibute d to t he “Management Team,” detailed a new policy with three facets — workers doing shifts under six hours do not get breaks, those working longer than six hours get a 30-minute unpaid break, and workers are not allowed any 15-minute breaks, as seen in a post on Reddit. The notice also stated student workers were no longer allowed overtime. “If this is my third year working here, why have they only now implemented this policy?” the author of the post stated. The Commons are notoriously busy and full of long lines, especially at Chickfil-A. VCU Dine’s new in-app ordering feature through Grubhub has allowed students to quickly fill up virtual lines. Both methods of ordering can take up to an hour to move through. VCU has continuously accepted larger freshman classes with each passing year. The class of 2029 has been estimated to
be over 4,500 students, according to a previous report by The CT. Dining workers previously received half-hour unpaid breaks when working five hours or more, and those on seven and a half, eight or 12 hour shifts would receive one, two and three fully-paid half-hour breaks respectively. The terms of those breaks were negotiated between the VCU branch of the UNITE HERE union and the management outsourcing company Aramark, according to Aramark’s local district manager Bryan Kelly. Virginia does not require employers to provide breaks or meal periods at all unless the employee is under 16 years-old. Kelly conf irmed the existence of the notice and said it was taken down within days of the notice on VCU’s Reddit community. “There’s nothing that applies to student workers [alone], everything applies to our employees. Students are our employees,” Kelly said. “They get the same amount of wage — everything. And they work under the same union.” Kelly said he should be considered ultimately responsible for the discrepancy with the break policy posting, and that it was a mistake by a lower-level manager.
K e l l y a c k no w l e d g e d i n s t a n c e s of inconsistenc y bet ween levels of management at Aramark, and said there is an effort to “re-educate and inform” lowerlevel managers in those instances followed by “progressive disciplinary actions” if policy-breaking behavior continues.
The CT spoke to multiple students who work in dining at the Commons, who preferred to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation by their employer. STUDENT WORKERS Continued on page 2
Student workers at Chick-Fil-A in VCU’s University Student Commons preparing and distributing orders on Nov. 10. Photo by Kieran Stevens.
Muslim students ask for more prayer spaces on campus
SPECTRUM
‘Chat, is this real?’ VCUarts exhibition peels back memes, AI and digital diaspora
'Oscillation' artwork. Photo courtesy of Becca Karabin. LELIA CONTEE Contributing Writer Muslim Student Association officers, fourth-year communication arts student Dalal Alghaithi (left) and fourth-year bioinformatics student Eilaf Aljasari (right). Photo by Andrew Kerley ANDREW KERLEY Executive Editor Some Muslim VCU students have said there are not enough prayer spaces on campus to accommodate the high volume of people worshipping throughout the work day. VCU offers two spaces where students of all religions can pray without interruption on the Monroe Park Campus: one in the University Student Commons and another in James Branch Cabell Library.
While students have said the interfaith prayer spaces are helpful, they often become crowded — especially for VCU’s estimated 2,000 Muslim students, many of whom pray at the same five times of day in accordance with their faith. The Division of Student Affairs provides an Interfaith Meditation Room, a space intended for individual quiet ref lection, meditation, contemplation or prayer in room 156 of the University Student Commons.
Cabell Library has a “Reflection Room” on the second f loor in room 212. Both spaces are empty and undecorated to be accessible to all faiths. Fourth-year student Ammaarah Fulani is Muslim and prays five times a day; at dawn, midday, afternoon, sunset and nighttime. She said it would be easier for her to practice her religion if there were more prayer spaces around campus. PRAYER SPACES Continued on page 3
VCUarts students are pulling back the digital curtain to explore the blurred boundaries between authenticity and artifice shaped by AI, livestreams and memes in this year’s juried exhibition, according to the event’s website. The Undergraduate Juried Exhibition will run from Nov. 13 to Dec. 6 at The Anderson and is juried by Anisa Olufemi, director of programs and curator at Hamiltonian Artists. The show will feature the works of 52 student artists. JURIED EXHIBITION Continued on page 8
Julia Rienks feature
Richmond Vampire Ball
Punk isn't dead; you just can't get off your phone
see SPORTS page 5
see SPECTRUM page 7
see OPINIONS page 12