Return to Index of Campus Dining News Articles Return to Campus Dining Homepage Source: The Wesleyan Argus Date: September 23, 2003 Byline: Brooke Lloyd USLAC Shows Dining Limitations Members of the United Student Labor Action Coalition (USLAC) spent the weekend informing parents and alumni about the current dining controversies on campus. The group passed out two informational flyers at the scheduled events of “Wesleyan Today,” a weekend designed by the Office of University Relations to showcase the current operations of the University for parent and alumni volunteers. Several students gathered outside Downey House on Friday night as well as on Saturday morning to hand out flyers before visitors entered to eat the catered meals that formed part of the program. “Having pressure from the alumni and from the parents is really important. It’s important that we educate those people,” said Rachel Lax ‘06, who attended the Friday evening rally. Lax stood outside of Downey House holding a sign reading, “Wes and Aramark: Cutting student services and hurting workers.” “For us as students, it’s ridiculous that we’re paying all this money and that dining is so difficult. We’re here to study, we’re not here to worry about food.” Lax said. “For the workers, it’s hurting them and they’re not being heard. They also want better quality and better service for us.” One of the flyers outlined this year’s cutbacks in dining services, which include an adjustment of the freshman meal plan. On Saturday morning, USLAC attended the “Wesleyan Today” breakfast and workshop, highlighting the problems that freshmen have encountered as a result of the revised plan. In past years, incoming freshmen have been given the option of 19 meals a week and 175 points, whereas this year the most inclusive plan offers only 14 meals a week and 275 points. With five fewer meals a week, the extra 100 points is designed to cover the 70 meals lost, giving freshmen approximately 1.43 points per lost meal. As parents and alumni entered Downey House, members of USLAC displayed an example of a 1.43-point breakfast: one-quarter of a bagel, one-quarter of a small box of cereal, one-quarter of a carton of milk and one-quarter of a banana. Breakfast is not served at MoCon, and meal equivalencies are no longer accepted at the Campus Center where morning service is provided, so breakfast is the meal that must be covered by the point supply. The second flyer distributed by USLAC addressed the group’s concerns regarding the potentially negative effects of implementing off-campus points on University dining workers. The Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) has responded to the issue by putting the debate over off-campus points to a student referendum. Before students vote, they will have the opportunity to read statements addressing both sides of the issue, which will be posted in the Argus and on the voting website (www.wesleyan.edu/wsa/voting). Sohana Punithakumar ’04, WSA president, is excited that the student body will be included in the decision. “The WSA is designed to do what the students want,” Punithakumar said. Punithakumar said she hopes that the referendum will allow the student opinions to be heard and will act as an indicator of where the student body currently stands. Justin Harmon, Director of University Communications, agreed with the decision to put the referendum to the students. “Certainly, not all students agree about how their board dollars should be spent. Perhaps a vote will give us a clearer picture,” he said. After the vote, the WSA will have a defined response from the students themselves. Punithakumar added that the WSA has worked hard to develop dining alternatives for the students and has taken into consideration the changes that off-campus points could bring. “The WSA has a strong history of backing union labor when they are being victimized.” said Punithakumar. “But we don’t see a direct threat of points off-campus [to] worker jobs.” She added that if union jobs were lost to the off-campus points plan, the WSA would re-examine the initiative. USLAC member Joanna Lawler ’05 said she feared that the referendum was not clear in its mission, and would therefore mislead students who might not know what they are getting when they vote for points at Giuseppe’s. “Most students like the idea of being able to eat at Giuseppe’s,” Lawler said. “They’re likely to vote in favor of that option without getting a full understanding of both sides of the issue.” This website copyright ©2003-2004 by the Wesleyan University Student Assembly Wesleyan University's student governing body. For questions regarding the website and its content, please email our webmaster.