About 30 Georgetown University students occupied part of Healy Hall Dec. 2 to protest the university’s proposed plan to subcontract Georgetown University Transportation Shuttle (GUTS) drivers.

During the approximately eight-hour sit-in from 9:15 a.m. to 5 p.m., the protesters wrote letters, delivered speeches, made posters and listened to statements from GUTS drivers. The student protesters condemned a university proposal that would shift GUTS drivers to a third-party vendor, local charter company Abe’s Transportation, which drivers have said would reduce their benefits.

Fiona Naughton (SFS ’27), who participated in the sit-in, said the protesters sought a formal university commitment that it would not proceed with the subcontracting plan.

“Our demand today was very simple, which is just that we want a written commitment from the university that GUTS drivers will be kept as university employees,” Naughton told The Hoya. “The reason that this campaign has extended for so long is because the university has not given a clear or definitive answer to the drivers themselves about whether or not their jobs are going to exist.”

At an Oct. 23 meeting, Georgetown’s Advisory Committee on Business Practices (ACBP), a committee making recommendations on the ethics of university labor decisions, advised the Office of the President against the subcontracting plan. Since then, university administrators have not finalized a decision or publicly taken a stance on the ACBP recommendation.

A university spokesperson said the university has sought feedback from GUTS drivers and community members to assess the proposed plan, including in meetings with the ACBP and town halls for GUTS drivers.

“From those conversations the University heard that the areas most important to drivers included pay, benefits, seniority, holiday schedules, job security, vehicle safety, and the ability to remain GU employees,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “While the vast majority of these items were topics understood and reflected in the initial request for proposals for a third party managed transportation provider, in the time since receiving additional feedback, the University has worked to further explore transition options that may be feasible.”

“Based on feedback from our community, the University continues to work diligently on a contract structure that would provide our GUTS drivers the choice to remain as GUTS bus drivers employed by the University,” the spokesperson added.

University administrators did not address the protesters, though two Georgetown University Police Department (GUPD) officers monitored the protest throughout the day.

Juan Campos, a GUTS driver who gave a speech during the sit-in, said both students and drivers will continue to protest the university’s plan so the university understands students support GUTS drivers.

“They know you guys haven’t forgotten about us and will keep fighting until they make the decision for us to be Georgetown University employees the way we are right now, and keep GUTS bus,” Campos told The Hoya. “GUTS bus is not just a transportation, it’s a community that started with the students. If they give it to another company, it’s going to lose that essence about being a GUTS bus driver.”

Naughton said hearing about Campos’ time working at Georgetown was deeply moving and reinforced her belief that the university’s treatment of GUTS drivers contradicts its values as an institution. 

“Listening to Juan talk about how long he’s been at Georgetown, how much care he has for the students here, I was almost crying,” Naughton said. “I think the GUTS drivers care so deeply about this school and about the safety and well-being of every single member of this community, and it would be heartless to not care for them in return.”

“That would be antithetical to everything that Georgetown stands for,” Naughton added. 

Noel Tiongsen, a GUTS driver who attended the protest between shifts, said he and many of his colleagues have remained with Georgetown long-term in large part because of university benefits.

“At Georgetown, the drivers for GUTS stay here for long periods of time because it’s a real job — it’s something we were proud to be part of,” Tiongsen told The Hoya. “It’s something that doesn’t really pay that much, but it has benefits. It has medical, dental benefits that include your family.”

The Hoya reported in September that Abe’s Transportation could change many drivers’ benefits to more limited offerings, including switching off the university’s more expansive healthcare and retirement packages. Drivers have said switching from the university’s health care plan to Abe’s Transportation’s plan would reduce their overall coverage, particularly for preexisting conditions.

Ariana Hameed (CAS ’26), who participated in the sit-in, said the university’s proposed plan to subcontract workers would affect the entire Georgetown community, not just drivers. 

“Every student is affected by the fact that they’re being outsourced,” Hameed told The Hoya. “Not only do I think it’s the right thing to do, but I also think that every part of this university is affected by this decision.”

Tiongsen said he has formed a deep connection to the university community throughout his long tenure at Georgetown. 

“I didn’t go here for academic studies, but I observed, I learned,” Tiongsen said. “I somehow participate in their own journey, and absorb the kinds of personality that people that are studying here bring into my bus. So the interaction, the social observation, it gives you a bit of a reflecting window or mirror to who we are as an educational institution.”

Roy Linton, another GUTS driver, said it was empowering to see the student advocacy.

“It was really good to see such a large turnout today to know that there’s so many students that’s rallying behind us, so we know we have the backing of the community,” Linton told The Hoya.

Ted Bergman (CAS ’27), who also participated in the sit-in, said the protest displays the increasing solidarity between drivers and students. 

“This action really demonstrates how much the students care about this, how much the drivers care about this, and this action demonstrates how we are stronger together,” Bergman told The Hoya.

Tiongsen said he is advocating on behalf of younger GUTS drivers whom he hopes have a long future at the university.

“I’m already old. I can move on, but I’m thinking about the rest of the guys,” Tiongsen said. “That’s why I’m speaking for them — the ones younger, they know me. I’ve been here 25 years now, so they want to go through the same path that I went through.”

Naughton said the Georgetown community must continue to protest the suggested plan.

“We made it very clear to the university how the community feels about this decision, which is condemnation,” Naughton said. “So I think that all that we can do is keep pestering them, keep calling their offices, keep sending emails. We have to make sure that the administration knows the community is wholeheartedly against the outsourcing of the GUTS bus service, and that’s what we can do right now, is just keep applying that pressure.”

Nora Toscano, Ruth Abramovitz, Sofia Thomas and Opal Kendall contributed to reporting.