Culture damaged

Re: Cooked food banned from concourse Sept. 16, 2009

“When I was a student at Laurier in the ‘70s, I was involved in several clubs, including the Chinese Students’ Association and the International Students’ Association. One of the most well attended events of the year was the CSA Day put on in the concourse with lots of varieties of Chinese foods available.

Similarly, the ISA would often have international potluck evenings where students from a wide spectrum of cultures would bring dishes representing their cuisines. These were marvelous events. Since I started teaching here, I would seek out these events and attend and support them whenever possible.

My understanding is that in most locations on campus these would be impossible to hold since all food must be provided by Laurier Food Services. Now cooked food is prohibited in the Concourse as well. For what benefit? Have we ever had a problem with people becoming sick from these events? Does anyone consider the negative impact on the cultural life on the campus? At other campuses, there are regulations on prepared foods, but they do not prevent student’s organizations from selling food for fund-raising or from holding potluck meals.

I don’t need my fork or spoon held by Big Brother.

I’ll be interest to see if the United Way Chili cook-off (another great campus event) is held this year. It seems to me that there is at least as great a potential for improperly handled food at this event as at any student-club run event.”

–Alan Marshall