Despite legislation passed two weeks ago by the Student Government Association, Tuesday’s boycott of Sodexho-Marriott food services had little noticeable effect.
The legislation requested that the Saint Louis University community observe the boycott on April 4, a day deemed the Day of Action on Student Labor by Jobs With Justice and the U.S. Student Association. Students from more than 400 campuses serviced by Sodexho-Marriott were encouraged not to eat in cafeterias and food courts.
The national student group, Not With Our Money, states that “Sodexho uses part of its revenues to finance expansion of a modern-day slave trade: for-profit private prisons . Sodexho’s holdings . [make it] the leading investor in the world’s biggest for-profit private prison company.”
Private prisons have been criticized for human-rights violations, ineffective rehabilitation programs and medical neglect of inmates.
With Sodexho-Marriott operating SLU’s three residence hall cafeterias, the Food Court and the Billiken Club, students could either opt for the Campus Convenience Stores or eat off-campus.
But according to workers in Griesedieck Hall and the Billiken Club, the boycott did not interfere with normal daily food service operations, nor did they see fewer students than usual.
“I know a lot of people who did not eat in the residence halls,” said undergraduate commuter senator Rich Bergin, who authored the bill.
“I am slightly disappointed that the [lack of attendance] was not nearly what we had hoped.”
Students without meal plans, flex points or Billiken Bucks did not have to worry about where to eat on Tuesday. Other members of the SLU community were unaware of the boycott.
Senior Mary Wabada and Deb Collins, secretary in the School for Professional Studies, ate lunch in Griesedieck Hall cafeteria on Tuesday afternoon not knowing that a boycott had been planned.
“I wasn’t aware of it all,” Wabada said, referring to the allegations toward the CCA.
Both Wabada and Collins added that if they had known about the boycott, they would have eaten off-campus on Tuesday.
Notre Dame Hall senator Chris Coleman was aware of the boycott but chose to eat at DeMattias Hall. “I had already paid for a meal plan,” Coleman said.
“It was more effective for commuters to boycott than the residents.”
Coleman added that, ironically, “The night that we boycott, [Sodexho-Marriott] gave out free stuff” such as candy and chips.
Some students participating in the boycott did find alternatives to on-campus dining, such as sophomore Emily Smegner and several of her friends, who ate lunch off-campus on Tuesday.
“I did it out of principle,” Smegner said. “I believe that even those in prisons deserve to be treated with respect.”
Smegner said that she had heard about the boycott by word-of-mouth several days prior to Tuesday.
