As the first hand-painted banners finally hang from the new University Center, uncertainties about working conditions are starting to boil over. The first Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) general assembly of the academic year addressed these issues on Sunday, hosting union workers from Campus Dining and bringing to the forefront many of the problems that have been floating around campus since Usdan first opened its doors several weeks ago.
The union officially stated several of their needs to food service provider Bon Appétit—including reinstating the working hours for WEShop employee Sandy that would re-qualify her for benefits, and unionizing sushi workers—and suggested ways in which the student body can be of help in its efforts. As the union and Bon Appétit go head to head, the student body is becoming an important player in the negotiations.
While most students would agree that we expected a smoother acclimation of Bon Appétit to University dining and a smoother transition of student space from Davenport to Usdan, problems in workers’ hours and benefits and the functionality of the University Center have fostered solidarity between dining workers and the student body. We approve of how focus has shifted from the arguably pettier debates surrounding food quality and the points system, to the more substantial issue of working conditions and employer-employee miscommunications. Rather than focusing exclusively on our own university universe, we are recognizing broader problems that the new University Center creates outside the student community.
In light of all of these discussions, a student boycott of Usdan is in the works for this Wednesday. We applaud the revolutionary spirit of the organizers behind this motion. However, we think that it can be fine-tuned to create a more powerful message to Bon Appétit and University administration: rather than disengaging with the University Center and eating somewhere else on campus (which would not keep much of the prepaid dining tuition from Bon Appétit in the first place), we recommend a student march on Usdan. At the suggestion of the union itself, we envision a substantial portion of the campus flooding the building during lunch hours on a specified date. The motion would create a louder, more visible and more unified statement to the University and would hopefully begin the reshaping of Usdan into the student space that we need.
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