By the time this comes to press, the Student Government Association, (SGA) citing a lack of student particpation in administrative decisions is executing a boycott on food service provider Sodexho, the food services contractor for NEIU. The company sent a representative to the SGA’s last meeting on September 13 to declare that a price hike would take effect on October 1. The reason for the hike was to keep up with inflation and the need to be competitive in the marketplace. Sodexho, which provides food services to many schools and other institutions in the state, is a multi-national firm that generated 6.5 billion dollars in revenue.
The boycott was spearheaded by Chair of the SGA’s Finance Committee Paul Harris, who said in an e-mail message. “We ask that students, faculty and staff to stop purchasing food and drinks from the cafeteria and Cafe Descartes. We ask that you take your business to any of the local businesses surrounding our campus, many of which offer student discounts. We ask that you bring your lunches from home. We are organizing an effort to provide donated food and drink to the students in village square at no cost to encourage student solidarity.”
A special meeting was called on Thursday, September 20 to address whether a boycott should go through. The Senate went into closed session to vote on the boycott where it was resolved to go through with the ban. “I think Sodexho really highlights a problem on campus. We can focus on this issue, we can use it to galvanize the student population because it [the price hike] affects everyone, it affects all of us,” Said Keenan Arnold, SGA President, at the meeting. He went on to say that Sodexho was part of a much larger issue. “The administration doesn’t just exclude us in terms of Sodexho. We’re excluded on all frontiers in terms of tuition increase, parking, Beck’s Bookstore.”
Arnold didn’t stop the finger pointing at the administration, “It’s easy to say it’s the administration…the reality of it is the administration is not totally responsible. We are responsible just as much with our apathy and non-involvement.”
Many of the terms of the contract are covered under a confidentiality agreement, but it was disclosed to Senator Harris that Sodexho has an exclusive contract with the school to provide food services to the University as well as obligating student organizations to purchase food from the company when using the Student Union. “We live in a consumer society and we are approaching this from a consumer’s point of view. We aren’t getting the product we’re paying for in food service, in our university and we want the attention brought back to the customer, the student,” said Harris.
All the complaints against Sodexho are not the primary issue but, as Arnold stated with the administration’s commitment to student involvement. “We’re going to use the Sodexho issue to really shed light on the systemic problem here on campus and that’s lack of student participation on what’s going on administratively. We’re not focusing so much primarily on Sodexho but use it as a launching pad to bring awareness to much bigger issues: Beck’s bookstore, parking, tuition, the U-Pass all these issues we don’t have any voice in and we want to have access or at least brought to the table to have dialogue…we want to change the way things work, it [the price hike] is one issue of a much larger issue.”
When Sodexho Campus Services was asked for comment, they referred all questions to Felecia Keelen, Director of the Student Union, who could not be reached at press time. The boycott starts today with a rally and protest in Alumni Hall where free food will be available as an alternative to purchasing from the cafeteria.