Morgan State University, in Maryland, has ended the practice of hiring contractual staff in an attempt to "address employee inequity in a profound and meaningful way" at the largest historically Black institution in the state, officials announced this week. The public HBCU in Baltimore is also giving certain existing contractual workers full-time status with benefits and is raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour. The conversions are "the moral thing to do," especially given many contractual employees served on the front lines in the height of the pandemic, the university's president, David Wilson, said in a statement. It appears to be the first institution to make such a move during the pandemic.
