A Wednesday night vigil service honored the life of Vincent Davis—a bus driver who passed away during winter break.
Davis worked at Duke Transit for nearly two years before he died in a crash while driving a Duke passenger van. The vigil service—hosted by Duke United Students Against Sweatshops—provided an open space for members of the Duke community to write down parting words and light a candle for the deceased bus driver.
"We wanted to have a space where students can commemorate any memory they have with him," said sophomore Amanda Lewellyn, vice president of Duke USAS.
Right after the accident, a small vigil service was held in the Duke Chapel for close family and friends. The service, however, took place before the majority of Duke community members returned to campus from winter break.
"We are working toward labor equity and just being able to appreciate Duke workers especially in any way that we can," Lewellyn said. "This is just a small thing that we could do to support and show solidarity with everybody at Duke."
USAS—the nation's largest student-led labor campaign organization—works toward economic justice and fighting against companies that exploit the people who work on university campuses.
The Duke chapter of USAS first started in the 1990s but became dormant a number of years ago. Duke USAS was revived last fall by the efforts of a few students.
"Workers' rights has been an on-going dialogue in the United States, so it's really important that we keep this going," said sophomore Zoe Willingham, president of Duke USAS.
The vigil service serves to bring Duke together as a community, Willingham noted.
"When we talk about community at Duke, we often focus on the community of students, faculty and researchers," she said."But really there's a lot more behind Duke. The school would not function without the staff at Marketplace, the Penn Pavilion or behind the wheel of the C2. Bringing larger cohesiveness as a community would make Duke a more welcoming place for everybody."
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