Workers in the Brew coffee shops around campus have been wondering where their tip jars have gone.

The tip jars at the four coffee shops — the Brew Bayou in the Alumni Memorial Union, the Brew at the Bridge in the John P. Raynor, S.J. Library, the Brew in Straz Hall and the Brew in Cudahy Hall — have recently been removed by AMU administration.

Alyssa Lilly, a College of Arts & Sciences senior and Brew Bayou employee, said Brew employees were told the tip jars were tacky. She said she was disappointed because the jars added close to a dollar an hour to their pay.

"All of a sudden, they just took the jars away," she said. "Every other coffee shop has one, but not us."

Lilly said she has heard rumors of a pay increase, but that nothing has happened so far.

College of Arts & Sciences junior Laura Koelling, a Brew student manager at Cudahy, said she was told the tip jars were taken away because of the need to tax the money and the Sodexho policy of "no open money by the register."

"Of course we want them back, but I don't see it happening," said Koelling. "It's a policy change and there's nothing we can really do about it."

Marilyn Bugenhagen, director of the AMU, said the removal of the tip jars was purely based on Marquette's business policy for all of its university dining hall services. She said having extra cash around the register that cannot be accounted is a concern to audit.

Once employees make a certain amount in tips, the money needs to be taxed. Bugenhagen said all tips must be reported as income, and the short hours students work makes it hard to divide tips equally.

"While the staff said they'd be willing to divide up the tips themselves, it adds another task that takes them away from the customers," she said.

Bugenhagen said the rumor of a pay increase was a misunderstanding. Her office, after hearing employee concern about the tip jars, issued a letter to explain the situation. The letter had an improperly worded sentence that could have been interpreted to mean Brew employees would be receiving a raise to compensate for the tip jars' removal.

She said the sentence stated something to the effect of, "the pay will be reviewed to account for the discontinuation of the tip jars."

The letter was taken down and qualified.

All AMU student employees have gotten spring pay raises, as part of the AMU's new policy. Student workers requested an overhaul of the old system where employees received merit increases at the end of each semester based on performance ratings.

Now, a performance review each year determines the amount of the yearly raise, depending on how long the employee has worked for the university.

Bugenhagen has heard the concerns of the Brew staff and said all of the pay of student employees, not just in the Brews, will be looked at in the near future.

"None of us really understand it. We don't get paid much as it is," said College of Health Sciences junior Kristine Schlachter, a Brew at the Bridge employee. "We still accept excess change and we've been encouraging people to fill out comment cards to help get the jars back."

After removing the tip jars, a separate AMU decision resulted in the installation of a security camera installed in the Brew at the Bridge in March, Bugenhagen said.

The camera was installed solely for security purposes, she said, emphasizing there are cameras at all campus buildings. The camera is meant to monitor the safety of Brew employees and of the safety of everyone in the bridge because there are no other cameras there.

Bugenhagen cited a few thefts on campus as reason for the camera's installation. But Department of Public Safety reports have not reported any thefts on the bridge this semester. Part of an art exhibit on the first floor of the AMU was recently stolen but the camera angle did not identify a suspect.

She said cameras were able to identify who stole the Marquette logo imprinted rug on the AMU second floor, a multiple occurrence over the past two years.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 12 2005.