Duke Student Government served ARAMARK Corp. a 24-12 vote of no confidence Wednesday night, following a lengthy debate about the company's "excellence" in the dining program it offers at its five on-campus locations.
Duke Student Government served ARAMARK Corp. a 24-12 vote of no confidence Wednesday night, following a lengthy debate about the company’s “excellence” in the dining program it offers at its five on-campus locations.
Senior Lindsey Mazzola Paluska and junior Dave Gastwirth, Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee co-chairs, gave an extensive presentation revealing survey results from a Nov. 1 to 11 poll of 436 students. The survey revealed that during the past year 93.4 percent of students felt that quality has remained the same or has gotten worse at the Marketplace, where freshmen are required to eat 12 meals a week; 72.7 percent responded in kind concerning the quality of the Great Hall. Students gave the two dining halls mostly C grades for quality.
ARAMARK also operates Trinity Cafe, Subway and Chick-Fil-A, but those venues were not discussed in DUSDAC’s survey.
DUSDAC recommended that the Senate deliver a no-confidence vote based on a lack of improvement in quality since DSG previously voted “no confidence” last February. The chairs described a failure to provide promised employee training sessions, a lack of innovation in menu development and offerings, a disregard for nutritional concerns and a failure to provide its “branded” specialty offerings.
Kim Davis, resident district manager for ARAMARK, spoke following the DUSDAC presentation. “As far as a wake-up call,” said Davis, who has been at Duke for four months, “I’m awake.”
Davis did not shy away from accepting responsibility for the mishaps that have occurred in ARAMARK’s three-and-a-half-year tenure with the University. Despite his desire to make Duke a showcase school for ARAMARK, said he knew what he was “getting into” when he came to Duke.
While some senators said DUSDAC’s statistics were not significant and complaints over dining options were exaggerated, the majority who spoke at the meeting decried the lack of tangible change since February, especially in the area of employee training.
Senators insisted that merely “fair” or “good” dining options are not acceptable and that excellence must be expected because of the impact dining has on students’ lives. “We don’t have confidence that they’ve satisfied our definition of excellence,” said senior senator Matt DeTura.
Davis did not pressure the senators to express confidence in ARAMARK, only stating that he saw it as a question of whether the vote concerned the past or the future of ARAMARK’s relationship with the University. “I think you should vote what you think,” said Davis.
The paramount distinction between Wednesday’s vote and the vote last February is that DSG eliminated the clause regarding ARAMARK’s future ability to serve the University’s needs. Last night’s vote judged only its current quality. This omission reflects the recent change in ARAMARK management, which according to the rationale for the legislation is a source of “cautious optimism in the current management’s ability to meet the standards of excellence we have laid out.”
A somber Jim Wulforst, director of Dining Services, said despite disappointment about the University’s “roller-coaster ride” relationship with ARAMARK and personal feelings of accountability stemming from his responsibility for its five-year contract with the University, he believes “we’ve got a new guy at the helm.”
“My confidence in him is very, very high,” Wulforst said. “ I think we have a team that will get us were we need to be, and after three and a half years, we’re moving to where we need to be.”
Wulforst noted that change would not be “overnight,” but he said there is “no reason why they shouldn’t be able to break even with this account.” ARAMARK, a $9.4 billion corporation, has claimed millions of dollars of losses with the Duke account.
Members of the Senate and Wulforst also acknowledged that some students are losing money under the required freshman board plan. Wulforst and members of DSG are considering ways to correct the freshman plan and replace it with a less restrictive seven-meal-a-week option. Paluska said DUSDAC is already in the process of exchanging some students’ breakfast meals for lunch options.
Members of the Student Affairs and Athletics and Campus Services committees, who presented the resolution for no confidence, insisted that it would not immediately affect ARAMARK’s contract with the University, which expires at the end of next year.
In other business:
Junior Jesse Longoria, vice president of athletics and campus services, presented the committee’s projects in campus safety, parking, transportation, dining and facilities. The presentation, which described Longoria’s communications with members of University security administration, praised reactions to incidents earlier in the year that included a ramp up in security.
Longoria also relayed improvements in dialogue between students and police manifested in the addition of Duke University Police Department office hours, a formal code of conduct and events to foster communication. Longoria said DUPD will release their formal report of an incident at Cafe Parizade from earlier in the year.
The committee also highlighted the addition of the Kilgo fire lane as a sight for after-hours and weekend parking, a new message board for students to communicate with the committee, planned improvements to equipment and amenities at student gyms and investigations of University transportation such as Safe Rides and the buses.
DSG also approved charters for the groups Rural Health Clinics for Humanity and the Duke Women’s Mentoring Network.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.