Following demonstrations by Ithaca College students, community activists and public officials, the school announced Thursday all hourly employees of its campus dining service will receive at least a “living wage” of $11.11 per hour. The change effects about 40 of the estimated 120 dining workers for Sodexo, an outside contractor. Sodexo, based in Gaithersburg, Md., had paid the 40 dining workers as low as $8.19 per hour. The increased wages brings dining employees on par with Ithaca College employees $11.11 per hour plus $0.50, specified as a “living wage” in Tompkins County. The figure comes from Ithaca’s Alternatives Federal Credit Union. Sodexo has provided dining services at the college since 2000. The dining contractor “has now stepped up to the plate to meet our request to provide a living wage to its employees at the college,” Ithaca College president Tom Rochon said in a statement. The wage adjustment came as a result of “questions and concerns raised by members of the campus and local communities,” he said. In March, a group of Ithaca College students protested the different pay for campus versus contract employees. The students teamed with the Tompkins County Workers Center to create a “Week of Action.” Actions included protests where IC students, dressed in blue and black dining service uniforms, linked arms in the IC Square. Tompkins County Legislature Chair Martha Robertson also became involved, helping draft a letter to Rochon which called on the school to support a living wage for Sodexo employees. Robertson said the lack of a living wage put a burden on the county taxpayers.