Cooked food banned from concourse

A joint committee comprised of individuals from Wilfrid Laurier University and the students’ union is drafting a policy concerning the preparation of food to be sold in the concourse.

This is a practice largely employed by campus clubs as a means of fundraising throughout the year.

The changes are the result of health standards and safety concerns raised after this issue came to the attention of Dan Dawson, director of student services at Laurier.

Effective immediately, cooked foods will not be allowed to be served in the concourse, mostly because of the aforementioned health and safety concerns.

“What we want to get away from is students actually preparing food in the concourse,” explained Dawson.

Dawson outlined the reasons why concerns have been raised at many other universities and among regional health departments.

“[Selling cooked food] presents itself a fairly risky type of operation because you don’t know how they store the food before they got there, whether it’s been cooked at appropriate temperatures or not, whether they’re using safe preparation techniques for cleanliness and stuff.”

External companies will continue to sell food in the concourse so long as it follows these new standards.

Bake sales will continue to be allowed – an issue that concerned many clubs whose fundraising efforts largely surround selling baked goods.

Although many campus clubs operate using bake sales, some clubs like the Wilfrid Laurier University Chinese Students Association (WLUCSA) will suffer.

Co-presidents of WLUCSA Wendy Ting and Grace Yeung say that the Chinese food they sell in the concourse about twice a semester is the main source of funds for their club.

Ting expressed her concern that her club may not be able to sell their Chinese food in the concourse since the new rules have been implemented.

“That would be our main source of fundraising,” said Ting.

“We cook most of the food and we bring it and the [club] money mostly comes from there.”

Not only is selling food an important source of income for the WLUCSA, both co-presidents agree that it is a way to get the Laurier population involved in their club.

“We can also show our Chinese food to other non-[WLU]CSA members as well,” said Yeung.

Although some clubs, like the WLUCSA, may find the new policies upsetting and will most likely suffer a blow to their fundraising, Dawson explains that the new rules are to ensure the safety of students.

“We haven’t had a very specific problem, but at the same time we don’t want to wait until there is one.”