If someone asked me to name one thing that unifies students at Dartmouth, it would be the contempt we hold for our dining services. Even before we got our Class of ’53 Commons hand-scanners and Courtyard Cafe kiosks, Dartmouth Dining under director Jon Plodzik was mismanaged, causing inconvenience at best and food insecurity at worst. The automation and dehumanization of our dining system was the final straw: Plodzik ought to resign from his position.
First of all, ‘dining is going broke’ is the usual myth that has been repeated so often to us as members of the Student Workers Collective and Dartmouth Student Government by the bosses at Dartmouth Dining to justify its behavior. That’s usually their explanation for why they have been stalling negotiations with student workers and have hired lawyer Rachel Muñoz, who previously worked at the union-busting and anti-abortion law firm Jackson Lewis.
However, when Plodzik needs to overhaul dining infrastructure, Dartmouth Dining finds tens of thousands of dollars for a new project. That is how we got Class of ’53 Commons hand-scanners and Courtyard Cafe kiosks, neither of which we ever asked for.
However, we have never been allowed to see the actual numbers. Members of both the SWCD and DSG have asked Plodzik and management for budgetary information over the years. Those requests have been denied or evaded every time. Even when DSG was making efforts to reform meal plans, which would increase Dartmouth Dining’s budget, we found that Plodzik’s cooperation was minimal. Only after DSG sat down with senior leadership, like senior vice president Josh Keniston and Dean Scott Brown, did we get any response. His only contribution to reform meal plans was the suggestion to mandate the Ivy Unlimited, which faced immediate student backlash and was shelved.
Instead of focusing on structural reforms, which students want, Plodzik has made our dining program needlessly restrictive and repeatedly antagonized students. Last year, he instituted 15-minute deadlines to fill Green2Gos at ’53 Commons or be charged another swipe. Right now, we can’t even use two swipes in a meal period or use swipes at snack bars. The new layout of locations like Novack and Courtyard Cafe also means that we cannot buy packaged products with a single swipe any more.
Not only were these poor decisions, but the way they were implemented was enraging as well. No student feedback was taken beforehand, and we only found out about these decisions after he had already implemented them. In certain cases, these decisions were taken after he had already assured us otherwise. For example, he agreed to put meal swipes back in snack bars — in exchange for them opening an hour later — in the winter term of 2023, but then immediately removed them in the following spring. It is not unreasonable for us, the students who both pay for Plodzik’s paycheck and are also most affected by his decisions, to expect to have a seat at the table.
Initially, these decisions could be attributed to simple incompetence. However, they increasingly seem malicious. It seems clear to us that all these recent decisions have been aimed at getting rid of dining jobs, particularly after the SWCD won a strong $21 base wage, grievance protections and raised the campus minimum wage to $16.25 in 2023. In the midst of positioning Matthew Raymer ’03, an enthusiastic supporter of redefining birthright citizenship, as the overseer of the Office of Visa and Immigration Services, Dartmouth Dining quietly automated our dining locations and workplaces over spring break. After all, machines are much easier to deal with than organized labor.
Since the SWCD contract ends this month, it seems that Dartmouth Dining is attempting to automate as fast as possible so that student workers lose labor leverage. In fact, most of these decisions, from allowing only one swipe in a meal period to pushing people on the Ivy Unlimited plan, seem to be brutal ways to increase Dining’s margins at the expense of students, particularly the disadvantaged students most reliant on them.
Plodzik’s actions have had very real consequences. According to SWCD, 15 students have lost their posting at snack bars because those locations no longer require human labor. Dartmouth Dining has said that no students have lost their jobs, but in reality, we have seen no evidence for that. Dartmouth Dining has evaded our request for shift audits from the SWCD to confirm this.
While food insecurity is a problem everywhere, it is a man-made one at Dartmouth. Restriction after restriction, from how we use our Green2Go to where we use our swipes, has made our DartCards into ration cards. While the amount we are charged for our meal plans has steadily increased year over year, the quality of Dartmouth’s Dining programs has steadily deteriorated.
Food is a basic human right. Dartmouth Dining has a monopoly on it due to our isolated location. This gives them enormous power over our lives and they are abusing that power. Plodzik and the other administrators behind these decisions must be held accountable, and today that means resigning.
Unfortunately, President Beilock doesn’t seem to care much about Dining operations, unless it’s to union-bust. Neither does DSG right now since they are busy fighting over “cabinet” appointments. It has fallen to the SWCD to protect both its workers and the rest of the student body from these predatory practices. The only room where anyone is fighting to stop Plodzik is the union’s bargaining room, where the College and its lawyers are viciously opposing any effort at protections from automation or any form of accountability. The next open bargaining session is on April 17th, at 7 Lebanon Street from 12-2 p.m.
At best, Plodzik’s legacy is one of humorous incompetence. At worst, it’s one of malice. Both are unacceptable. He must step down.
Sabik Jawad is a member of the Class of 2026, Dartmouth Student Government, and the Student Workers Collective at Dartmouth. Hosaena Tilahun is a member of the Class of 2025 and the Student Workers Collective at Dartmouth. Guest columns represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
