Sarah Ward

By SARAH E. WARD

Staff writer

A new school year is often a time for change for new students, returning students, faculty, staff and policies on campus. The IU South Bend Dining Services are no exception to the rule.

Steve Rose was, as of last semester, the Director of Dining Services. Rose unexpectedly gave a two week notice, forcing the IUSB administration into an unexpected bind.

In the face of uncertainty, dining services turned to Sodexo, Inc., a food and facilities management company that services hospitals, colleges and universities, military bases and many other clients. IUSB also hired Ziggy Pairitz to serve as the interim Director of Dining Services.

“[When] Steve Rose left back in March, it left the administration in a bit of a bind and they needed someone to get them over the hurdle of Steve Rose being gone. I was brought in on a managerial contract,” said Pairitz.

Although Sodexo has been brought in to oversee the logistics of IUSB Dining Services, “Dining services is still a self-op. It’s still being run by Indiana University,” said Pairitz.

Originially, Sodexo was only contracted with the university until December of 2012, but has recently been extended until June of 2013. The reasons for the extension are still unclear.

In the meantime, while Sodexo is analyzing the logistics of the dining services at IUSB, the administration will be compiling a report called a request for proposal (RFP) which identifies particular problems that need to be solved and the outcomes and methods required to remedy these problems.

The RFP document may be given to potential food vendors, who may submit proposed solutions based on the problems stated in the RFP. Simply put, vendors will have an opportunity to bid for the contract.

“If they come to the decision that they want to do an RFP, which is request for proposal, they can present true numbers to whoever would like to bid,” said Pairitz.

The timeline on how, where and if the bidding occurs is still unclear, but the uncertainty of permanence is definite. Uncertainty also comes from students who worry their independence and decision making on their catering choices is being compromised.

“On most campuses throughout the country, dining services, be it self-op or a contracted company that comes in, has exclusive rights to the food being served on campus,” said Pairitz.

Some of the biggest questions surround the new “right-to-refusal” policy—what is it and how will it affect students and faculty?

Special Events Coordinator Maureen Muldoon is the first to receive requests from campus clubs, organizations and any other IUSB events. She then passes them on to Pairitz, who will then decide whether it is more feasible to bring in IU dining employees to fill the catering order or to call an outside vendor.

“Let’s say at nine o’clock at night someone wants to order two pizzas for an organization that’s having a club meeting or something like that. It doesn’t make sense financially, labor wise, for me to have someone come in to make two pizzas and then leave. It’s just not feasible. But if someone came up to me and said ‘We want to order 20 pizzas at nine o’clock tonight,’ that’s a little more doable,” said Pairitz.

So in the case of the two-pizza-order, dining services would call a pizza vendor, place an order and have the vendor deliver the pizza to the event or meeting. The club or organization would then be billed directly through dining services.

For a larger order that dining service is able to fill, the club or organization will be charged what dining services is charged, which they claim is cheaper.

This policy change will also affect any outside group using IUSB facilities.

“If there’s any outside group that comes in, for example we had a bridge club, from here on out, they’re going to have to use dining services. So any organization, any group, any function that’s coming in is subject to the new policy as well,” said Pairitz.

Students wanting to order food on their own time for personal consumption will not be affected by the policy change. The change is only for IUSB-related events, clubs or organizations.

“If a club or an organization or a student group wants to have a function, they have to go through dining services. If a couple of girls are studying late in their dorm room and they want to order a pizza, they can do that,” said Pairitz.

Some believe the change is due to funding issues but it seems it is also due to liability. IUSB wants to take the liability off of student groups and organizations, relieving them of the hassle of getting temporary food permits.

Dining services feels student groups and organizations will also save on gas, and that this new policy will make it easier for groups and organization to get catering.

Dining services says the biggest misconception with the new policy is cost.

“I’ve actually shopped my competitors. I have gone online and looked at their menus, I have gone into their stores and I know that we are price competitive because that’s how I base my pricing. I’m blowing the competition out of the water and I did that on purpose. No one in this area is touching this,” said Pairitz.

For now, the policy is clear—any IUSB affiliated function, meeting, or event must now go through dining services for any catering needs.