President of the University of Tampa’s International Student Organization, Nicole Robinson, recently sat down with assistant Dean of Students, Stephanie Russell Holz, and two Sodexo representatives to discuss student grievances against the food supplier.
The discussion addressed issues dealing with both employee treatment and exorbitant catering prices for student-run events.
Robinson stated that her four years of interaction with mistreated Sodexo employees at UT and her experience as organization president lead to her frustration in both areas.
Robinson told how she and other concerned students had personally witnessed a lack of respect shown to Sodexo employees by company officials and how she understood the reluctance of such persecuted individuals to stand up for themselves.
She pointed to national instances where Sodexo has terminated employees who have attempted to unionize and voiced her opinion that the student body was best suited to represent such a cause.
“In a university setting, everyone tries to cater to the students,” said Robinson, “If we work together we have power.”
In the matter of relations between the food supplier and UT students, particularly organizations, she also expressed her dissatisfaction.
She related incidents wherein Sodexo officials had been impolite and aggressive in event settings and blatantly overcharged for the food they provided.
This is reportedly due to the fact of the monopolizing nature of the company within UT.
“If seven hundred dollars goes towards corn dogs alone, how can we be expected to run an event,” Robinson said.
She is clearly not alone in her views.
Conferring with other club leaders and students across UT, Robinson was able to secure over three hundred signatures on a petition protesting the policies of Sodexo.
“Just to put that in perspective,” Robinson said, “only fifty signatures are needed to run for the position of SG president.”
Word of the protest spread via Facebook to the dean and was related to SG president, Chris McCarthy.
OSLE wasted no time in arranging a meeting between Sodexo representatives Wade Burghardt, Amy Truong and Robinson herself.
“As mediator, my role was to schedule the meeting and and help facilitate the discussion,” explained Holz.
“The goal of the meeting was to give Nicole an opportunity to voice her concerns, to give Sodexo an opportunity to respond and to create an action plan for moving forward together.”
The meeting addressed specific examples of employee mistreatment and set forth some guidelines for the Sodexo training program.
Truong also displayed her openness in reviewing and amending the food waiver policy for catering events, asking that Robinson and fellow organization leaders to compile a list of choice event foods and competing price ranges.
Robinson, in turn, requested that Sodexo provide student organizations with a list of tips on how to reduce food cost in general.
As a sign of good faith and continued partnership, Burghardt extended an invitation to Robinson to attend the upcoming Student Board of Directors meeting.
Robinson stated that despite her initial worries about a meeting with Sodexo, she found the company’s representatives extremely approachable and accommodating.
She expressed her satisfaction with the discussion and her optimism at the prospect of improvement.
“Sodexo was very nice, very friendly and very helpful in addressing the issues,” said Robinson. “I believe progress was made.”
Wade Burghardt, unit marketing specialist for Sodexo, expressed the company’s openness to student feedback and criticism
“We encourage the UT community to share with us any questions or concerns they may have, and they do so on an ongoing basis.”
Robinson intends to follow up on the agreements reached with Sodexo in another meeting after Thanksgiving and is making headway.
Jeffery Palmer can be reached at jeffrey.palmer@spartans.ut.edu.
Bruce, funny you should say that they have a horrible attitude; it totally turns out that if you’re nice to them they’ll be nice to you in return. Just because they’re serving your food doesn’t make them beneath you…how would you like a bunch of trust fund babies coming in day in and day out and treating you like dirt? As for subpar food…welcome to college. I haven’t been to a campus not over-run with chains that doesn’t have it. (Though I agree it’s not right that Sodexo has monopolized the campus completely) I’m glad that this issue was brought up…so many times I’ve seen the managers walking around the Caf with scowls on their face…never laughing, never interacting with their employees in a positive manner…always talking animatedly and upset. I’d be pissed off if I worked under people like that too.
I agree that most of the Sodexo employees working at UT are a disgrace. Horrible service, negative attitudes, and laziness, are just some examples of the mistreatment Sodexo exercises and promotes. Why does UT/Sodexo hire such trash to serve us food?
Not to mention how reprehensible the following are: hours of service, quality of food, quantity of food given to a student at one time, prices, and procedures regarding to-go boxes.