Dear the Greater Stanford Community,

Maria Buenrostro works tirelessly as a custodian here in Lagunita Court to keep the carpet soft beneath our feet and the air fresh for breathing. Maria is always ready with a positive attitude and an unbelievable work ethic. The quality of work she does around Ujamaa is a reminder of our home as a safe clean space for our community to flourish. Each day we come back to a residence that is well cared for that leaves us so grateful for our custodial staff.

Maria is part of our family here in Ujamaa and for surrounding residential communities. She has only been working here a short while as a temporary staff member, but she is already an integral member of our Ujamaa family. We the students want very much for her to remain with us. Right now as a temporary worker, Maria might lose her job here on any given day. Despite this job insecurity, which many of us can hardly imagine, she is still there for us every day. She is being DENIED a permanent position here partially due to her lack of English, but she has taken the initiative to take classes with Habla, a student group that offers free English classes to Stanford staff members. In addition, there have been numerous staff members hired by Stanford Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) who do not speak much English as well, and as a result, translation still occurs among staff meetings, which is important to reduce the amount of information lost in misunderstanding anyway. Therefore, there is NO reason why R&DE cannot hire Maria Buenrostro, as Maria meets all of the other requirements for full time workers.

Maria means more to us than this petition could ever convey. We know how hard she works, and we appreciate her diligence to no end. We therefore demand that she be hired as a full time custodian here, so that she can remain part of our community and part of our family. She is, in every way, extremely qualified for the job, and she’s taking concrete steps toward removing the barriers to her employment. Maria has a beautiful family that she needs to provide for, as well as health concerns of her own. It would mean the world to Maria and us if R&DE could find the sensibility and compassion to consider her for this amazing opportunity.

So please, hire her. Let Maria stay with us. Please sign this petition in your solidarity with our cause.

Sincerely,

The Residents of Ujamaa, Naranja, West Lagunita, and Roble