Fair food for MIT: Get Aramark off campus
Suzy Nelson, Vice President & Dean for Student Life
Aramark serves more than 380 million meals at more than 500 prisons and jails. The company has been the subject of complaints about maggots and rotten food, foot shortages, sexual harassment, and drug trafficking in jails and prisons around the country. Aramark also has the 2nd largest dining contract at MIT. A new MIT Dining request for proposals will be put out for the summer, and this is our chance to demand that Aramark-- that profits from prisons and exploits incarcerated people-- is banned from our campus. There is a lot at stake, and now is the time to make our voices heard for more just food options on campus. Please sign to add your name to this petition that will be delivered on May 18 to Suzy Nelson, the Vice President and Dean for Student Life, who makes the final decision about dining contracts at MIT.
Sponsored by
To:
Suzy Nelson, Vice President & Dean for Student Life
From:
[Your Name]
We know that your responsibility of overseeing dining at MIT is important work, and we are eager to help you in making the best and most informed decisions moving forward.
The Aramark Corporation has the second largest food contract at MIT, serving food across campus including Steam Cafe (building 9), Bosworth (building 7), and Cafe Four (building 4) among others.
Aramark is also one of the biggest profiteers of the prison industry, delivering poor quality food to more than 500 prisons and jails around the country. The company has been the subject of numerous human rights complaints about maggots [1], rotten food [2], food shortages [3], sexual harassment [4], labor exploitation and drug trafficking in jails and prisons. Aramark has a vested financial interest in the continuation and expansion of mass incarceration. As black and brown men are disproportionately imprisoned across the country, Aramark serves only to gain. This cannot be left unchallenged.
The Ordinary People Society (TOPS), an organization that advocates for incarcerated people, recently announced a boycott of Aramark [6] to protest the human rights violations that the corporation commits every day. We stand with them in calling for action. National awareness and outrage against the company are growing.
MIT has the opportunity to be a leader in encouraging academic institutions, many of which have large Aramark contracts, to think deeply about social sustainability and to stand firmly against injustice. As MIT’s dining contracts come to an end this summer, we are uniquely positioned to set a precedent we can truly be proud of.
We—MIT students, faculty, and staff—join criminal justice reform advocates around the country to demand that MIT end its relationship with Aramark.
We ask that the administration deny Aramark the opportunity to bid, and firmly refuse any future contract on campus. MIT can and should act on its values to make a bold statement: We will not affiliate with companies that profit from mass incarceration, and benefit from the plight of people behind bars. This will also open an opportunity to advocate for food that is fresh, locally and ethically sourced, affordable, and prepared by people who are paid living wages. We demand that MIT reinvent its approach to dining on campus, beginning with the boycott of Aramark.
Sincerely,
The MIT Community
[1] http://michiganradio.org/post/aramark-contract-air-after-more-maggots-found-prison-food
[2] https://thinkprogress.org/corporation-served-prisoners-cake-contaminated-by-rats-covered-over-evidence-with-icing-b7c91b22c0d5
[3] https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2015/dec/2/aramarks-correctional-food-services-meals-maggots-and-misconduct/
[4] https://cmr.berkeley.edu/blog/aramark.html#fn7
[5] http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2014/10/23/third-aramark-prison-food-worker-fired-suspected-drug-smuggling/17784655/
[6] http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/prison-strike-protest-aramark/