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Source: The Wesleyan Argus Date: September 30, 2003 Byline: Brooke Lloyd On Friday, Sept. 26, the student referendum on off-campus dining closed, yielding a victory for all students in favor of using points off-campus. The election is yet another development in the debate over whether or not to allow an off-campus location such as Giuseppe’s to accept student points. The referendum followed protests by many Wesleyan dining services workers who are against off-campus points use, arguing that it will decrease demand for their labor. Such a shift would give Aramark cause to reduce worker hours for these workers. Amanda Robinson ’04, member of the United Student Labor Action Coalition (USLAC), contends that the referendum was inconclusive and unfair. She explained that USLAC and the workers’ union were unable to prepare for the referendum due to the lack of warning from the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA). “Instead of having time to create a well-worded argument [against using points off-campus], a couple of food service workers had to throw something together at the last minute…having been given less than twenty-four hours to write it,” Robinson said. Sharon Wade, a Wesleyan Aramark worker, agreed with Robinson, saying that the workers were caught off-guard and were thus unable to pull together a strong message for the referendum statement. Wade said she believes that the students were not given the proper information to make an informed decision and instead opted for the choice that appeared to be the most enticing. “If somebody offered me a thousand dollars, and I didn’t know it was hurting someone else, I would take it,” Wade said. “I wouldn’t know the ramifications of my decision.” Rebecca Solow ’04, chair of the WSA Student Affairs Committee, said the referendum was a fair way of determining what the student body wanted. “The majority of students are in favor of off-campus points and we are here to represent what the students want,” she said. Robinson, on the other hand, does not see a strong correlation between the results and what the student body wants, pointing out that the referendum was decided by a margin of only 50 votes and attracted 20 write-in votes that cannot be counted as direct “yeses”. “When one counts the write-in votes, only 51 percent of students who voted in the referendum voted yes,” Robinson said. “That’s hardly a mandate to go ahead with the program.” Robinson pointed out that the voter turnout was only 1,206, which is approximately 38 percent of the students, compared to the at-large representative election that ran at the same time, which received more than 1,760 votes. Robinson believes that the disparity in voter turnout can be attributed to the lack of information available regarding the off-campus points issue. While Solow agreds that the campus dining situation is complex and needs to be looked into further, she said that students are currently in desperate need of more food options. Sandy Cole ’04 illustrated Solow’s point. “Most of the time the food here is awful,” Cole said. “All I want is something that won’t have me running to the bathroom in between classes.” Solow added that the sooner off-campus points can be implemented, the more value they will have to the students this semester. At the same time, she said that the policy is open to adjustment. “This is a one year program and a temporary thing,” Solow said. Tim Reiss, director of Dining Services, was contacted after the referendum but was unavailable for comment.
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