Moved indoors to Newcomb Hall due to chill and threatening weather, the planned rally had to move again from a meeting room to the vast Ballroom, as hundreds of students, faculty and other interested parties piled in. Mark Lane, noted New York lawyer and outspoken advocate for racial equality and social justice, spoke first. "If this University says that social justice is not a part of the agenda [for a living wage] then this University has no agenda."

He was followed by Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, which studied the plight of the working poor in America. "I have been happy to live in Charlottesville these past five years. But today, for the first time, I'm proud that I live here."

Both speakers were frequently supported with cheers and prolonged applause. Ehrenreich told of speaking with a woman working the checkout counter at a supermarket one evening. "I learned that she works days cleaning rooms at the University but needs to work a second job to support her family ... I think we should acknowledge the philanthropy of these people, who work for the betterment of the University by donating time beneath its worth. Their names should be on the plaques."

For more, see Advocates Words Stir Protesters and UVa Living Wage.