Outwardly, it sounds as though the administration has met to address the protester’s concerns. Right or wrong, it also sounds like they’ve come to the conclusion that there aren’t any abuses going on that warrant changing food service providers. Universities do reallocate money in budgets all the time, but the key word there is budget. The University goes through a budgeting process each year, and it’s not always as easy as it sounds to simply reallocate in mid-stream.

I would also encourage you to consider the working conditions of regular Emory employees as well. I would point you, specifically, to the custodial staff at Emory. These individuals are often underpaid, work long hours, do not have enough staff on hand (there were large layoffs in campus services several years ago), and deal with hazardous and nasty working conditions all the time. Budget cuts from previous years have left some employees to do the jobs of three or four people. Some employees have not received even a cost of living increase in three years.

There are injustices of all kinds everywhere in the world. Do I think that Sodexo’s wrongs rank highest on that list? No, I do not – not by a long shot. But, that being said, I encourage you to always direct your energy and intelligence toward making the world a better place.

The number one condition of any change in policy is that the workers currently employed through Sodexo do not lose their jobs. Ideally, Emory would bring food services in house and hire the workers back themselves.

Whether and to what extent terminating the Sodexo contract would result in higher costs to Emory is an open question. The contract is not public, and the relevant information necessary to make that determination is probably known only to the Emory administration.

I think you are correct to identify this as a problem, and I think it is at the core of the dispute between those who support terminating the contract and those who do not. However – and I think this is the key point – the administration has not been engaging in discussion on those terms. The administration’s position is not “it would be too expensive to terminate the contract.” It is “subcontracted workers are not Emory employees.”

Students and workers have voiced concern about the working conditions for subcontracted workers on campus. If we take those concerns at face value, there are three questions that must be answered. First, would terminating the Sodexo contract increase expenses; second, if so, by how much; and third, what are we willing to sacrifice to cover the extra cost?

The solution may be higher tuition, or it might be cutting costs in other areas. Universities constantly make decisions to reallocate money to various parts of their budget based on what they value. Consequently, we as a community should have a frank and open discussion about what we value, and prioritize spending accordingly. That’s not happening now, because the Emory administration has not seriously engaged in the discussion. If they did, they would be raising the same concerns you are raising. But the conversation has not even reached that point, and that’s why there’s student protest.