A glimpse into the lives of New School staff who work behind the scenes.

When thinking of New School employees, faculty members are typically top of mind for students. However, when truly envisioning the hard work that goes into making The New School run smoothly, one should not neglect the many security guards, line chefs, food production managers, cashiers, janitors, librarians and more who work tirelessly to help the university run smoothly.

The New School had around 400 faculty members in 2019, according to Data USA, along with 473 employees in management, 132 in service and 109 working in business and financial operations.

Everyday, over 700 staff members, aside from faculty, help make the school run.

Jared Hampton, a security guard at The New School, is freshly out of college himself and said he considers the students who pass him everyday to be like family. One of his favorite things about the job is the diversity in the student body.

“Obviously, it’s interesting in a good way, interacting with all these students from wherever they come from, just to get a feel from everybody and where they’re from and what culture they bring,” Hampton said.

The director of dining at The New School, Anna Moriarta, has been employed at the New School for six years. She spent 18 years as a chef in restaurants all over the United States, including Atlanta, Georgia and Hoboken, New Jersey before becoming the director of production where she supplied the New School kitchens for three years. She stepped into the job of director of dining services in 2018. Her role involves overseeing everything from production, to quality control, staffing, financial responsibility and overall guest satisfaction. Since COVID-19 hit, her job requirements shifted.

“I feel like last semester was a little bit of a challenge to get back in the saddle,” she said. “We’re really coming to terms with the challenges that we’re experiencing with the supply chain. I know we hear about it every day with other businesses, but it really has been a tough struggle for us to keep products coming in, as well as products that we like to procure here within the school.”

Moriarta hopes for a light at the end of the tunnel as fall draws closer and the supply chain begins to balance out. 

“We are constantly changing menus, paper goods, schedules — you name it, we have struggled,” she said. “We are all hoping this fall will return to a slightly normal picture regarding the supply chain.”

The cafeteria in the University Center features many new, highly-requested food options like sushi, ramen and acai bowls, Moriata said.

“If there is ever something you guys are looking for, we are an open book here,” she said. 

The New School’s decision to lay off employees during the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many positions being filled by recent hires. The university said it was financially affected by the pandemic, resulting in a $130 million budget shortfall that they referred to as “a cumulative loss from the pandemic” in an April 2020 statement regarding the university’s finances. In October 2020, The New School laid off 122 employees, the majority of whom were employed as non-instructional staff and clerical workers. 

Ashley Rosario has been a cashier and runner at the UC cafeteria for just over a month. Her job consists of ringing up students, bringing meals from the kitchen to the serving area, as well as bringing Grubhub orders to their designated pickup spot. 

Rosario said that the job has its perks, but can also be a lot of work.

“Sometimes we’re understaffed, so it’s a little bit overwhelming,” she said. “I’d say the students are pretty good with us.”