Sodexho supplied the Student Government Association (SGA) with answers to questions and criticisms that have plagued the Carte Blanche meal plan since its inception this year, during last week's regular SGA meeting, which focused on progress and the future.
Thea Schoenberg, executive vice president of Student Services, distributed two stapled sheets of paper to each person in attendance during the meeting. A series of questions representative of those raised by many College students, along with their answers as supplied by Sodexho, was listed on the sheets.
"(Sodexho) took the time to think about our questions and answered them, and those answers are what you have in front of you," Schoenberg said, while passing out papers. "They were all double-checked, so the information in there is concrete."
In response to questions on whether Carte Blanche will eventually be mandatory for juniors and/or seniors, Sodexho repeatedly replied "There are no plans at this time to change the selections available to resident students based on their year in residence."
In fact, according to the answers the company supplied, Sodexho will not make any significant changes to Carte Blanche from its current form and is only considering making minor changes to the meal plan to benefit commuting students.
Responses included Sodexho's denial of rumors that bleach and laxatives may be contained in foods served to students.
The questions and answers will be made available online in the near future.
It was also revealed during the meeting that PrintSense, a paper-rationing program that would limit how many free prints a student may make in the computer labs, will not go into effect this spring, as was previously planned.
According to several members of SGA's executive board, this is because the administration of the College is unsure of the accuracy of its data pertaining to average print jobs performed by students.
To this end, the administration asked each member of the SGA to fill out a survey about his or her printing habits.
During SGA Executive President Pedro Khoury's weekly address to the group, he acknowledged the effect internal strife has had on SGA. He said SGA is still in an awkward phase. Khoury revealed that he and executive vice president Brian Mulvihill have entered peer mediation in order to resolve their conflicting leadership styles.
Khoury's outlook on the situation is optimistic. "Looking forward to the rest of the fall semester and the new spring semester, Brian and I see united leadership for SGA," he said.
Khoury went on to emphasize the importance of SGA's looking forward and making progress. Much of his address focused on the need for SGA to move on after internal conflicts that resulted in resolutions to encourage Khoury's resignation. "Right now, we're rebuilding internally," he said.
This is the second week in a row that Khoury has emphasized progress as a key issue to the future of the SGA. It is also the second week in a row that the SGA agenda showed no items under the "New Business" header. However, the agenda is misleading, according to Khoury.
"We are addressing new business," he said. "We're doing it through the committees," he said.
Khoury said he does have plans for the future of SGA. During an upcoming campus tour, he plans to visit on-campus student organizations during a period of 10 days.
"One of my goals for my campus tour is to see what progress is being made across the campus by all student organizations," Khoury said.
Khoury went on to say that he and the Executive Board are hoping to draft a long-term plan for the leadership of SGA, something that has never been done before.
Khoury will be making his State of the Campus Address Wed., Nov. 17 at 12:30 p.m. in Brower Student Center atrium.
