Non-Academic Workers

The largest group of black employees at NC State filled the positions considered unskilled or low-skilled in all of the university’s departments and schools. The definition of this group of employees changed from the traditional positions such as janitor or groundskeeper in the 1960s to include research assistants and some clerical positions in the 1970s. In the ‘60s, a majority of these employees were working-class blacks from NC State’s surrounding communities. As the definition for this group changed, it also included employees that were college-educated and worked in positions that required some formal training. A 1971 Good Neighbor Council report perfectly illustrates the concentration of blacks in the traditional jobs: “only 12 out of 100 persons one might meet on campus would be laborers and service workers. However, almost 60 percent of all blacks on campus are employed in such jobs.”[1] By 1973, a majority of these employees still worked in labor and service positions in the Office of Business Affairs and the School of Agriculture and Life Sciences.[2]

Many of the university's non-academic employees worked in the Physical Plant Division which is now the Facilities Division. These employees typically had some formal education, though it varied from less than an eighth grade level through high school completion, and lived in nearby historically black neighborhoods. Janitor Eddie Davis was representative of many of the black workers employed in service jobs on campus. Mr. Davis worked in Sullivan Hall as a janitor and assistant area foreman. He finished high school but did not go to college and by all accounts showed initiative, demonstrated good leadership skills, and excelled at his job.[3] Another custodial employee, James Dewey Smith, worked as the night crew foreman and lived in the historically black Oberlin neighborhood.[4] Both men lacked a college education, lived nearby, and depended upon their jobs at NC State to feed their families. These characteristics were typical of the university's non-academic workers. Their working conditions were often unequal and many worked multiple jobs in order to make ends meet.[5]