Agenda
Addressing the RFP for contracting of Aramark for the food service at The Evergreen State College and informing the public of current state.
Topics of interest include-
1-identification of contract timeline 2-who is making the final decisions 3-what is generating these decisions, nutrition or financial feasibility 4-participants from staff and public (Evergreen Community) 5-how informed is the community 6-other concerned stakeholders 7-potential for petition 8-sustainability factor 9-other solutions for food service 10-facalty involvement 11-possibility of forum or community panel
past TESC discussions
Open Letter to the Evergreen Community
This letter is in response to an email sent to the evergreen community on May 1st, 2012 regarding the dining services Request for Proposals (RFP) Committee. The email, with the subject "Developments in Residential and Dining Services", announced to the community that the current dining services contract will be ending in August of 2013.
The email contained a document that listed the various stakeholders represented on the committee, as well as presenting a tentative timeline for the process of drafting a RFP, reviewing submitted proposals from food service contractors, and recommending Evergreen's next dining services provider.
As concerned students and Evergreen community members, we are unsatisfied with the time allotted to the gathering of community feedback and opinion of dining services, which under the current tentative timeline is meant to take place this quarter (Spring 2012).
Considering that this announcement was not made until half way through the quarter, and provided no organized framework in which community feedback should be gathered, we request that this timeline be modified to allow for the community to respond in an organized and thoughtful manner.
The question of where our food comes from is an important one for the Evergreen community, and we propose that this process should be as transparent as possible to allow for all stakeholders (which includes all members of the community) to be meaningfully involved in the process.
As students engaged in the study of food systems and community activism, we would be more than willing to assist with the RFP process through research, helping to create an inclusive process for gathering of community feedback, and raising of community awareness on this important issue.
All interested members of the community should attend our interest meeting on ??? where we will identify key concerns and next steps.
Survey Questions
Messages
Looking at what services are available for food is important to any school but how do we make effective decisions that are informative? Are we as a community welcome to participate or are we subjected to decisions made by others due to financial incentives? Today in a changing global ecomomy it is ever so important to understand what is local, sustainable, feasable, and healthy with consideration of what we eat. Nutrition should always be at the forefront of the minds of all students and the opportunity to participate is imperative. This is especially important for new students since the actions we take today will affect future students more than it will affect current students. This means that the foresight necessary to make these decisions must be selfless, informed, and practicle at the very least. What do you know about your food and how it is prepared, served, selected, purchased, disposed, cleaned, and delivered? Would you like the opportunity to participate in this process?
