What’s your Beef? 9-6-10

We need more PARKING.
Given the fact that the Q and F lots are almost never completely full, I will presume that you mean that we need more parking at locations nearer the classes you attend. Moving forward, long term parking (parking for those who live in the residents halls) will be migrated to the Q and F lots. That measure will be delayed by the fact that parking passes have already been allocated. However, there currently is an effort to persuade those living in the residents halls to park in those lots to allow those who commute to campus daily to have access to closer spaces. As to the oversold state of the General parking permits, there are plans to raise their price relative to Commuter parking so that General parking will not be quite so oversold.

Please FIRE Aramark the food here sucks!!
The food issue on campus is being looked at and specific suggestions are being followed up on. The changes detailed in a recent campus wide email were a direct result of comments and concerns. However, firing Aramarak is not as simple or as beneficial as it might seem. When selecting a food vendor, the campus must weigh the cost to students, the quality of the food, and revenues for the campus. The next time that the contract with Aramark expires or is renegotiated all of these factors will be considered. The quality of the food will be determined through taste tests and focus group conversations. In the end, however, much of the end quality depends on the on-site staff and facilities. In the case of Mines, the Slate Cafe is operating above the kitchen’s capacity and has for years.

A frequently suggested solution is to entice fast food chains to come to campus. However, the most cost effective way to put a Burger King, Starbucks, or any other chain on campus is through Aramark or a very similar company. But in those cases, franchise fees come as an additional cost to those charged by Aramark or a competitor. By using Aramark or a similar company the cost of running franchises is reduced because staff, deliveries, etc. can be shared between the several restaurants.