Letters to the Editor | Vassar-run food service preferable, but not possible

While reading the last issue, I was pleasantly surprised by the quote by Heather Lewis ’10: “What we would want is not to have another food corporation take over operations.”

At first, I wondered if someone had finally come up with a plan for Vassar to efficiently and effectively run its own food service, thereby cutting out the corporate middle-man. However, upon reading the rest of “SAU, Union Leader to Protest Aramark,” (2.21.08) I was gravely disappointed.

I wrongly assumed that the Student Activist Union had a plan for weaning Vassar off of its dependence on outside food suppliers. I also wrongly assumed that they had put some research into the costs of “organically” creating a Vassar-run food service department.

Let’s get the record straight here. Vassar does not have the best college food out there, but it certainly doesn’t have the worst. It doesn’t have the most local, organic or vegetarian options, but it has a lot more than many of its competitors. Under Aramark, Vassar’s dining service has garnered accolades from animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and has received excellent marks for sustainability.

Far be it for me to defend “the man,” but, to its credit, Aramark listens to student concerns. Director of Campus Dining Maureen King holds office hours, and they even entertain our outlandish comment cards. They may not be solely motivated by their compassion for us or local farmers—but then again, why should they be? Aramark provides a service and we must assume that they are trying to turn a profit. How cunning of them.

My point is that making profit-seeking and cost-minimizing companies like Aramark bid for Vassar students’ business is a responsible way for Vassar to do what it does not think it can do well for itself.

Sure, we pay for the service and we constantly have to battle to ensure quality— but Aramark, if far from perfect, is everything but complacent. Even if Vassar were to manage its dining facilities independent of an outside contractor, it would still make decisions with financial responsibility as primary motivation.

Furthermore, I do not believe that the administration is cutting deals with corporate food suppliers that are against the interests of its students. But then again, I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist.

Ultimately, Vassar is in the business of providing an education to its students. We are reminded of this on a daily basis when we see how it fares when managing housing departments and construction ventures. Keeping this in mind, it would be a gargantuan task to add a food service department to Vassar.

While I agree that it is possible and perhaps even desirable to do so, it is imperative that the merits and costs of this change are analyzed very carefully, in a manner which the SAU has not done, and may be incapable of doing. It is paramount that we are well-informed before we get up on a soap box to advocate for ill-timed and ill-supported change.

—Andrew Utas ’09