A group called “Expose BU” has taken aim at Boston University Dining Services and their ongoing affiliation with Aramark, a food supply company that caters for corporate events and several universities in Boston. The group staged a protest Thursday afternoon at the George Sherman Union, featuring a modest turnout and some chanting.
In a flier, the group accused BU of sharing culpability in “white supremacy,” “colonialism,” “the burning of the Amazon,” “the exploitation of people of color” and “mass incarceration and immigrant detention,” and urged students to avoid “funding this exploitation” through their tuition payments. They also wrote, “BU is not sustainable for the earth and humanity.”
Colin Riley, a BU spokesperson, wrote in an email that the allegations were “outlandish.”
“BU Dining works closely with Aramark on a number of sustainability initiatives that are of concern to students, to the University, and to Aramark,” Riley wrote. “And we are making substantial efforts and gains there.”
Riley also wrote that the group is not a recognized student organization on campus.
“It is not an organic effort of BU students,” Riley wrote, “rather it is the result of outreach by the external group to some receptive students.”
Sarika Ram, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said that although the group may be right in theory, there isn’t much she can be expected to do in practice.
“I feel like it would be hard to come by a private contractor that does not in one way or another support or contract with or has a client that is involved in problematic activities,” Ram said. “It would be nice if this group could provide me with what the alternative would look like. And I think it’s a problem that ends up being a battle between the lesser of two evils.”
Vitor Vicente, a freshman in CAS, said he felt it was important to ask at what level the allegations should be addressed.
“Should [the group] be influencing students in universities or should this just be handled at a government level?” Vicente said. “Because I’m sure there is a way to do this through the legal system, so I don’t know if putting students’ careers and education on the line by asking them not to pay tuition, for example, is that good of a strategy to stop something.”
Correction: An earlier version of the article said that the group that held the demonstration Thursday is Expose BU, when they are affiliated with the NRDC. The NRDC are not affiliated with the students who produced the flier posted on campus.
