Food Rage!

In the opinion section of the Hatchet there is an article on GW food supplier, Sodexo. The article was highlighting the poor quality and overpriced food that occupied J Street, and stating that when the University's contract with Sodexo runs out then there should be a change in supplier.

I completely agree with the article in the sense that there is a problem with J Street and the Sodexo outlets there. They are all over priced and food seems both unhealthy and of a poor quality. However the solution the article emphasizes is a change in the supplier, pointing out Aramark as an option, something which seems crazy.

After successfully highlighting the key problem at J Street, Peter Horan fails to point out a solution to that problem:

"The real outrage is that this Sodexo food court is disguised as a benefit to students, and included in everybody's bill! Each freshman must pay $1,400 per year to the program, while sophomores are required to pay $500. Based on GW's enrollment, that guarantees Sodexo revenues of roughly $4,750,000 at minimum! The one power consumers possess is where they choose to spend their money, but at GW, we don't seem to have that luxury."

The system in place at the moment, and the solution given by the article, have and will always create a monopoly where students are given no choice where and how they spend their money. As an international student, I never expected to see such blatant market authoritarianism in the so called 'land of the free'. If an example was need about how a so called 'free market system' can be exploited, look no further than the 10 year contact between Sodexo and GW.