Thousands of dollars worth of free food coupons for students went unused last semester, while campus janitors and security guards struggled to feed themselves with monthly food allowances of $13.
Some custodial staff are now resorting to picking student leftovers from the trash, explaining their allowances cannot pay for meals here—the average price of food is 400 percent more expensive than the old campus.
The coupon booklets were given as compensation last November after students angrily protested the high food prices on campus. According to approximately 6,100 coupon booklets were given away, said Dalia Mattar, project manager for Delicious Inc., the consortium controlling catering on campus. In other words, the university agreed to cover 1.22 million LE ($222,000) worth of meals for students.
But only 881,915 LE worth of coupons were actually redeemed, Mattar said. Approximately 67,617 coupons, worth 338,085 LE ($62,000) of free food went unused, she said.
Learning about the waste upset Salah Saad, head of the Workers Committee at AUC, because he and other campus custodial staff have been lobbying for greater allowances to pay for meals on campus.
Currently, 370 workers get 75 LE monthly to buy meals, while workers on contract from Compass Egypt, a staffing firm, get no allowances at all.
“If the university is able to afford 1.2 million LE for student’s coupons during the previous semester, then it can afford the workers’ meals,” Saad said. “If the 338,000 LE were used by the university to pay for workers meals, it would have solved the problem for the whole past semester.”
There are real economic barriers between campus workers and students, said Adrienne Pine, anthropology professor; the average cost of tuition is 45,000 LE ($9,000), a fortune by Egyptian standards. The disparity is stark when comparing the unused coupons for students and worker’s demands.
“It’s particularly disgusting when workers are being provided so little,” Pine said.
The university has agreed to supply free meals to its security and custodial staff, but no decision has been made about what will be offered to Compass contractors.
Despite the disparities, students still are upset about the prices of food.
“We just have to negotiate every semester for something to be done; I don’t think the cafés or the food court will lower their prices,” said Tarek Refaay, an AUC student working in the Student Union market.
After negotiating with Delicious Inc., the SU were able to distribute coupons for the drinks from Cilantro, and they are being given through the welcome pack.
“We are aware of the complaints and the worries people have with the food prices,” Mattar said. “However we can’t lower the food prices, once the price is set no one can change it.”
- By Ahmed Ragab and Mohammed Abdel Maksoud
- Photo by Mohamad Al-Asmar
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February 24th, 2009 at 10:35 am
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