Students request open dialogue about Friday's events

On April 26, 2010, Chad Carson and I received an e-mail from Robert Reed, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs. The e-mail requested a meeting with the two of us and "two additional student leaders" of our choosing. The goal of this meeting was to discuss the strike and demonstration that happened on Friday, April 23. His e-mail reads as follows:

From: Robert Reed
To: Chad Carson , Jamie Broussard
Cc: Roger White , Kurt Bindewald
Date: Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 1:03 PM
Subject: Meeting

Mr. Bindewald, Dr. White, and I would like to meet with both of you to discuss the Sodexo demostrations asap. We are free this afternoon between 4:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. and most of the day on Wednesday. Please email a response to me with your availability at your earliest convenience. Feel free to invite two additional student leaders as well.

Your cooperation is appreciated.

Mr. Robert A. Reed
Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs

We responded to the administration by asking for a meeting that is open to the public. We did not want this meeting to happen without the input of the numerous students who participated in Friday's events. This is our response:

From: Jamie Broussard
To: Robert Reed
Cc: Chad Carson , Roger White , Kurt Bindewald
Date: Tue, Apr 27, 2010 at 7:11 AM
Subject: Re: Meeting

Dear Mr. Reed,

Upon reflection, we as students have come to the agreement that this meeting needs to be conducted as an open meeting. There is no clear oversight to explain the way in which Chad and I were selected as the students you contacted. Anyone who was present at the events that occurred on Friday would know that there were more than just four students involved. Since the issues related to Friday's events affect all students at Loyola, it is important for communication about these issues to be as open as possible. Many students, even those who are not involved in the workers' rights campaign, are now concerned about the grounds under which their rights to enter the student center, to attend class, and to purchase meals on their pre-paid meal plans can be taken away. Because of this, this meeting cannot occur behind closed doors.

Throughout the workers' rights campaign this year, students have engaged in discussions with numerous Loyola administrators. Because this issue is growing in its prominence and importance to students, we as a Loyola community need to make dialogue about the treatment of Sodexo workers and the rights that students have to support the workers as open as possible.

In the spirit of openness, honesty, and integrity, we believe that it is necessary for this meeting to occur so that representatives from the entire Loyola community can be involved in this discussion. In addition to this meeting being open to all students, we propose that we also invite representatives from the Faculty Senate, Administrative Senate, Student Government, LUCAP, and The Loyola Maroon.

We would also like to participate in creating the agenda for this meeting and making this agenda public. We think that an effective format for this meeting might mirror the open meetings that took place surrounding the discussion about moving the Center for Intercultural Understanding.

We look forward to moving in the direction of open dialogue between students and the administration.

In Peace,
Jamie Broussard

Robert Reed responded to our e-mail with the following:

From: Robert Reed
To: Jamie Broussard
Cc: Chad Carson , Roger White , Kurt Bindewald
Date: Tue, Apr 27, 2010 at 12:13 PM
Subject: Meeting

Dr. White, Kurt and I will be willing to work with you to plan an open discussion with the Loyola community. We would like to meet with two student representatives, ones that you select from among yourselves, in order to discuss the ground rules for the meeting. We would also like to include Kate Gremillion, as the new president of SGA. Please provide me with a few times so that I can schedule a planning meeting asap.”

Mr. Robert A. Reed

Amanda Williams and Chad Carson will be meeting with Robert Reed, Dr. White, and Kurt Bindewald tomorrow afternoon. We hope that this will be an opportunity to foster open discussion about students' rights to show support for Loyola's contracted workers.