I was hoping to wait and write an article about a different topic. However, something came up compelling me to write about this.
Who Runs Lehigh Dining?
While posting the fliers, I knew something wasn’t right at our dining halls. What I found will scare you. Let me tell you what is truly going on with Lehigh Dining or rather Sodexo. That’s right, the Lehigh Dining website and name is a lie. The entire food program, including the workers, is run by a multinational company called Sodexo. The whole thing is a facade.
Don’t believe me, check out the food guideline events or check out another “illegal” audio recording in Google Drive(Don’t be fooled by the smooth words. If you talk to any of the workers, they all say he is a front hiding what is really going on). Without explicit permission from Sodexo, food for any events are not allowed to be brought in. For all their talk about free markets, Lehigh University certainly has no problem monopolizing our dining halls and driving the cost up.
More importantly, why would our “good” Lehigh lie running the dining on campus?
Maybe, it is because Sodexo’s past is not so lovely. How about in 2010 when it was fined $20 million for fleecing the taxpayer of public schools while using that leverage to make sweetheart deals.
And don’t you worry, it gets better. Not only does Sodexo serve colleges, but also prisons. If that is not bad enough, let’s look at it’s record.
Prison Life
Sodexo, since 2008 has been repeatedly been criticized for serious safety issues:
In February 2024 the prison staff allegedly failed to provide proper care to a man who was found dead in his cell.
Forest Bank has been the subject of several investigations, including after footage of “naked prisoners pretending to be dogs” was leaked in 2016.
Sodexo admitted that prison staff at Peterborough had subjected several incarcerated women to illegal strip searches in 2017.
Within only a few months under Sodexo’s management, at least six individuals incarcerated at Lowdham Grange died, prompting the U.K.’s Prison and Probation Service to “step in” December 2023.
It got so bad that the UK is preparing to remove the company from the prison system. The same company which is being kicked out of the United Kingdom prisons for its management leading to the sexual harassment and death of prisoners is the same company that Lehigh University thinks is acceptable to feed us students. You know what they say, if it’s not good for the prisoners, it is still certainly good enough for the $80,000 a year elite university.
The Union Continues to Peel
Here’s testimonial from a previous worker just to show you the quality of this company:
“I worked for sodexo at UAlbany and the health leader for sodexo told us at the group hire event, that we can't come into work if we have the cold or the flu. So a co-worker came in sick with the flu and the big sodexo bosses knew they were sick because they spoke with them in front of me and they still let them work. This probably got lots of people sick. Also, I came into work one day and they had unopened sandwich meat sitting on top of an oven. So the bosses came and put it in the refrigerator, they didn't throw it away. Bacteria city. Sodexo doesn't care about their rules at all, it's all window dressing. Their tortellini cream sauce doesn't use cream or milk. They use mayonnaise, yuck. Gnarly food. They totally suck”
Some service! They are having trouble all over the country. Currently, its stock is down 41.25% over the past year from $92.12 to $54.06(converted from Euros), and it is being thrown out of college and other locations all over North America.
Sodexo laid off 300 employees at Howard University losing its contract there and another 228 in the D.C area. It laid off another 130 people in Decorah, Iowa after losing a contract with Luther College. Another 152 in Colorado Springs and 100 in Louisiana Stadium. Our school seems to be on the bandwagon for what I hear is that this year is a contract year, so they will be out by Christmas.
The Cost on Us
If you are wondering why all the eating spots are not stocked, we are missing utensils, and the workforce is shrinking, this is why. They are purposefully cutting costs, and both Lehigh University and Sodexo know about it. Yet, they want to tell us this is merely “supply issues”. They do not have the supplies and have no intention of buying them.
Quoting one of the workers, “It is all smoke and mirrors to deflect from the truth.” and we as the students are the dummies. We are getting the rug pulled over us by the school with low quality food at monopolistic prices.
What’s even crazier, is one of the staff members at Lehigh University working for HR, has a husband who works for Sodexo. Talk about corruption! I wasn’t able to get a name, but the sources are good.
Also, in defense of our workers at the school who try their best to prepare food for us, the workers attempted to have two unions come in to protect their rights. Both times they were busted up by the company leading to hours being shifted and many loyal compatriots being thrown out. For all this school’s talk about inclusivity and peace, they certainly have no problem hiring companies that abuse their workers.
Things Got Serious When Lehigh Got Personal
This is however not the worst part.
That is not what got me upset. You know what truly got upset is the fact that when I started to dig into this, the Dean as well as the Chief of Police had the audacity to call up my father and tell him that his son is erratic, unstable, and threatening to other students. This caused both of my parents to become worried senseless. Then they lied to my father about there being no problem with Lehigh Dining and that I am the crazy one. They fined my family $125 for posting about this issue, and most of all, threatened me with a lawsuit to destroy my life and throw me in jail because I recorded a previous conversation with a dean.
Is this how you run things here President Helble? Terrifying and lying parents, and threatening students with expulsions and jail who dare to ask questions? IS THIS IT! How long are we going to lie to the students at this school, and hide behind the guise of tolerance!
This is why I had to write this article, because the school is heavily coming after me and my family now, to drive me out of this institution. I had an accounting project however everything gets dropped when someone threatens my family.
Is It All Worth It?
Now for a bit of sad news at least on my end, the school told my family that from Yik Yak and other sources, the students at Lehigh truly hate me and what I am doing. I didn’t realize that people felt that way, I just thought I was making a difference.
I probably will not be here next semester, if not sooner, so I guess it will all work out. Even if you did not like having me, I enjoyed my time with you, so thank you, thank you very much. All I wanted to do was help you, I’m sorry. I tried my best, but I know it wasn’t good enough. I’m so sorry that I let you down. I just wanted you to have a better life.
Your humble servant, Francisco Pereira
Other Things
The recording and the results from the Google Form will be up on the website tomorrow. I apologize for them not being up soon, but I have been up all night writing this, and so would like some sleep. 😴
Event | This Week | Total |
|---|---|---|
Fliers Distributed | 105 | 105 |
Survey Responses | 10 | 21 |
Newsletter Signups | 9 | 30 |
