I am taking a class on central Grounds for the first time since I graduated many years ago. Unsurprisingly it is a different world with more and a greater variety of students. Most of the changes are positive, and I like it. One of the welcome ones are the several Greenberry’s coffee bars which offer great beverages and snacks with cheerful and outstanding service.
Being pleased with the service, I looked for the change cup to tip the baristas. It was not there. I asked and was told that its absence was by policy — it appears to be the doing of the food giant, Aramark Corporation. It doesn’t come from the local Greenberry’s, which has to accept the policy as a subcontractor. I do not now know if the University itself directs Aramark or merely acquiesces, but in any case, it is wrong.
It is wrong that the employees receive less than they would at any other Greenberry’s. It is wrong for U.Va. to subtly train its students not to tip in a culture where many people depend on tipping. If they want to change the habits of the world, they should be explicit about their intentions. If it is just corporate convenience, it is disappointing and must be changed.
John Conover is a graduate of the College class of ‘67 and Law School class of ‘78.
Read More
GARVIE: Let clubs be about interests, not interviews
By Adeline Garvie | YesterdayThe Second-Year Council should not be alone in interrogating these systems, but rather, the University must earnestly recognize the stressors these processes mount on students.
TAYLOR: Charlottesville’s asylum seekers are trapped by a DHS legal loophole
By Nat Taylor | 2 days agoWith more immigrant constitutional rights being under fire from loopholes like automatic stay provisions, communities that take many asylum seekers like Charlottesville suffer.
BROWN AND FORD: U.Va.’s Board of Visitors cannot escape accountability with silence
By Ann Brown and Chris Ford | 2 days agoWhile the faculty, alumni, students and multiple university organizations call for accountability and demand the resignation of the Board’s leaders, the remaining members of the Board — 11 persons in all — remain silent, unmoved, perhaps inactive.
