By Nick Ubels (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: September 19, 2012
Dodging lackadaisically-thrown frisbees and foam darts fired from ardent Humans vs. Zombies organizers, amid throngs of incoming new and returning students occupied with plotting beer runs between classes, The Cascade staffed a booth of our own alongside other UFV clubs and associations at last Monday’s Student Life Welcome Back Barbecue.
Student Life’s event on the green promised students one last chance to enjoy the summer’s fleeting warmth before hunkering down for the coming winter and its scholarly demands. Though successful on most counts, the barbecue was missing a key ingredient: a barbecue.
In this week’s issue, Dessa Bayrock investigates this absence. According to Student Life, the costs were “prohibitively expensive” and they decided to go in a new direction with the event. The barbecue has long been a staple of Student Life’s welcome back events, so why the sudden change in direction? Just how much does it cost to put on a barbecue for students, anyway?
The University’s funding crunch is certainly a factor. UFV is currently operating at 105 per cent of its funding capacity.
Evidence of cuts is everywhere. One passerby at the welcome back event pointed towards an abandoned table, where a plain white sign labelled “UFV Athletics” dangled carelessly on a piece of twine and joked, “Times must be tough, athletics is hanging on by a single thread.”
Events like the welcome back barbecue are the first to suffer in order to save essential services.
Last year, Student Life hired Sodexo to handle the event’s catering. Sodexo has a contract with UFV to be the University’s sole provider of “Food Services” according to the Section 3.2 portion of the document obtained by The Cascade last year. That means that the Roadrunner Café, Tim Horton’s, and the cafeteria are all owned and operated by Sodexo. It also means that events require special permission from the corporation in order to serve food not provided by Sodexo.
For years, Sodexo allowed the welcome back event’s barbecue portion to go ahead without interference, but that all changed in September 2011. Suddenly, the prospect of a single day of diminished profit was unacceptable. Student Life took Sodexo up on their agreement to cater the event last year but apparently this year’s tightened budget made the cost insurmountable.
Today’s economy is making things difficult for universities and students alike. The burger deficiency points to bigger problems with funding, but the question remains whether Student Life would have been able to afford the barbecue if it were not for Sodexo’s exclusive food service contract with the University.
