Thu Apr 23 00:45:40 CDT 1998
When I was in the Army, we went over to Chemical Corps on weekends to eat.
The food there was nasty - runny jello, brown lettuce ... on day, I think it
was First Sergeant McGee who ate over there with us. He became upset, and
gathered us together later to ask about the food. Is it always like
that?
Turns out the weekend staff at Chemical was different from the
weekday staff, and those who were in training over there were able to eat
elsewhere on weekends. First Sergeant McGee though had us all write letters
to some authority or another, and threw some weight around, and the next
weekend and thereafter, Chemical Corps was a much better place to eat.
In another time, there was a group of students who had a grievance against
the system. After compiling a list of these complaints, they held a petition,
and in two days at dinner time collected over two hundred signatures of other
concerned students. The woman who had done most of the work here was called
to meet with a director. She asked if I, one of the agitators, could come
along ... meeting with administrators is a scarey business around here,
especially since it seems that they tend to hold students in contempt, and
have a lot of power to bring to bear on trouble-makers. I feel like I
might be going in front of a firing squad,
she confessed.
So today I skipped CS 321 and showed up at a meeting that the Allen Resident Director, Andrea Caldwell, had called with Rache. It had been intended as a meeting between Andrea and Rachel, but me and deebee showed up, as well as a number of people from Dining Services.
We recently compiled a list of grievances against the Allen Hall Cafeteria, and Rache started a petition outside the cafeteria which over two hundred people signed on Monday and Tuesday. Now, we've seen how the Board of Trustees responds to the issue of student input on the damned Athletic Fee. I'm well-acquainted with the kind of contempt with which the Graduate Employees Organization has received by Chancellor Michael Aiken. I've seen the Native American Student Organization call off future Pow Wows until Chief Illiniwek is removed, and the double-handedness with which they were promised a Dean for Native American students and later told that one had never been in the budget. I'm aware of the gentrification of historic, low-income housing around UIC, and the end of Maxwell Street. Last semseter, I was flamed by a Dining Services employee for my complains about their web site. The University of Illinois does not exactly have a reputation for sharing or even considering the concerns of its students, or the public. Understandably, we were wary going in.
But things went rather well. I can't recall whoall was there, but a lot of
the big-wigs from Dining Services, including the lady in charge of Allen,
were there. And they listened. And the feeling I got was that these folks
were generally interested in student concerns and soliciting
feedback. Don, better known as Fat Don
after a specialty
restaurant of the same name, said that they had tried getting comittees
together and other stuff from time to time, but that student interest was kind
of inconsistent and lackluster, but that they did have a group of students
with whom they met down at FAR, and some other pockets. For the big guys, it
was the first they'd heard or been aware of the troubles here at Allen.
Andrea too, was concerned that our issues had not been brought to Hall Council Livability Committee ... frankly, none of us had thought of that. Student Government, for a large part, just simply is not something that garners any respect on this campus. I have my pretty obvious opinions on why this is. Andrea responded after the issue was raised, I gather, by Rache at Hall Council, which meets on Mondays. So, student government wasn't completely removed from the picture.
Anyways, today at dinner, the food was of a better quality. The silverware was still dirty, but there were employees swarming around the place, there was a second soup pot out, from which I ate two bowls of chili ... an employee I spoke with later said that things had come down hard on them ... I think that we will see changes in coming times, but I worry that perhaps Allen is not being managed very well at the top. If the big guys are aware of the issues here, eventually they may rectify wherever the crux of the problem may lie.
I ran into one of the Dining Service meeting attendees, who was sampling the cafeteria. I told her that it was a pretty good day. The reassuring response I got was that if today was good, then things are indeed bad. Yes, they're on the issue.
But the big thing for me is, somebody in the echelons of the University, particularly Housing and Dining Services, actually caring and moving based on the concerns of students. I felt very good as the meeting progressed, and had a glow inside of me the rest of the afternoon because of the meeting. For a brief moment, some faith in Housing returned ... I still think the whole place is pretty rotten, but to see folks in the system working for good ... that's what makes a spiritual difference, and can mean a lot for morale.
Well, it's going on 0130h here. 'tis time I got to sleep. Perhaps later I shall speak of the busy times at work this week in preperation for Alliance '98 next week, and how today I drove a car for the first time ever - Jon Dugan's car! For now though, I bid you fair readers good night.
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