Exhausted, I get on the bus home as the sun comes up, knowing I have to sleep through most of the day to be ready for my next overnight shift at Duke University. On my commute, I see other workers like me. Most of us are Black and brown. Everyone is quiet, everyone is tired. I wonder how many of them are also saving up for a car like I am.
I’ve lived in Durham since I was five years old, went to school at Hillside High near McDougald Terrace. I’m twenty-five now, and I’ve gotten to know and love Durham: the people, the food, the culture, and the spirit of the city. I work in housekeeping at Duke where I do most of my work alone—cleaning offices, refilling supplies, mopping floors, wiping down windows, sanitizing the bathrooms. My $18 an hour pay is not enough for the amount of work I do, and it’s certainly not enough to cover food, bills or my portion of the rent that I split with my uncle. In contrast—according to MIT’s living wage calculator—$25 an hour is the minimum needed to get by in Durham.
Meanwhile, my employer is one of the richest institutions in the country, sitting on an almost $12 billion endowment, an extreme amount in addition to the nearly $200 million profit they made in 2024. It is clear that Duke has the ability to make long-term investments into its workers and the city we share. However, instead of making these investments in our futures, Duke is threatening our jobs.
In response to federal funding cuts, Duke has announced plans to cut jobs, benefits, and employee programs in order to protect and prioritize its own financial interests. Yet, Duke has more than enough resources available to not only weather the storm of attacks from Washington but to support Durhamites in our effort to build a brighter future for our community. During this critical moment, Duke cannot turn its back on the working people of Durham. It has a responsibility to the community to step up.
Billionaires and politicians in Washington don’t know Durham. They don’t know the cost of my rent or groceries. They don’t know the experiences of me and my neighbors. They don’t know what it’s like to take the GoDurham bus to work every morning. It’s easier for them to sit in Washington and dictate budget cuts because they will never feel the impacts. Working people like me have always borne the brunt of their bad decisions. Right now, Duke is heading down this same, familiar path, but it has an opportunity to chart a different course. Our region depends on it.
Duke can work alongside the people of Durham as we stand up to Washington’s attacks on academic freedom, free speech, and critical programs. Workers, public educators, students, and clergy are uniting together in a new coalition, Durham Rising, to hold Duke accountable to its responsibility as the largest employer in the region and show national leadership in this moment of crisis for higher education.
We are demanding a living wage of $25 an hour and that Duke takes bold action to protect higher education and raise standards across the region through good, union jobs and investments in the workers, neighbors, and families who keep the university system running. It means contributing to funding for public schools, affordable housing, public services, and city worker wages. It means implementing strong labor standards for Duke and its contractors that protect against wage theft and unsafe working conditions. Duke must respect the right of its workers to organize so that every job at the university and health system can be a good, union job.
Duke exists in every corner of our city and has profited from our labor for the past hundred years. This moment is challenging and uncertain, but it is also an opportunity to repair a broken system that has historically let so many of us down. Durham needs change, and it’s going to take all of us uniting together, lending our voices, and fighting back. Duke, we are calling on you to join our fight, support our communities, and be a model for universities across the country.
Nahshon Blount is a 25-year-old Durham native and housekeeping worker at Duke University.
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