Letter to Kyle Steele from Alex Redfield
Hey Kyle,
I’m at the point where soon I won’t have much reason to send you any more emails, so I figured I’d get a last one in before we graduate! I’m writing to express my concern over two things: first, I’m disappointed that Tim Hortons is moving into the SUB, and second, I’m disappointed in how Tim Hortons was selected to move to the SUB. I figured I’d outline why I’m so disturbed by both the process and the conclusion and hope that you could shed some light on how things went down.
To the first point: I think the presence of Tim Hortons enables two significant pernicious consequences for the ASU and Acadia more generally. First, despite however much the franchise-owner wants to buy us out for, the Student-Union Building is first and foremost a shared community space. We all pay dues for its upkeep and maintenance, and in exchange, we all reap the benefits of having a building operated by students for students. Corporatizing this space immediately taints that relationship of giving to the Union so that we may profit; now, we give to the union so the ASU can initially get a nice cash payment and then the profits can go to the largest fast food company in Canada. Though I’m unsure of the stipulations in the contract, Tim’s has a history of supporting only its own community initiatives, like the camps and hockey programs etc., though these initiatives are great, they don’t directly contribute to the SUB as a shared community space – constructed out of collaboration between students.
Additionally, the expansion of Tim Hortons on to the Acadia Campus seems to be directly in conflict with the University’s strategic plan’s dedication to producing graduates who engage in critical thinking and environmental leadership so as to become responsible global citizens. The role Tim Hortons plays as an environmental actor is a damaging one. The impact of Tim Hortons on provincial litter is staggering, 22% of the entirety of the litter collected in Nova Scotia is Tim Hortons waste. Admittedly Tim Hortons isn’t responsible for litter – I’m not saying that the franchsie is the one going out chucking cups on the side of the road – but Tims is entirely responsible for the composition and proliferation of those cups. A recent study by two students from Universite de Montreal discovered that, despite the greenwashing on the Tim Hortons Website, research into compostable or recyclable cups is not being pursued. And why would they! Why change anything about the way your corporation works when you raked in $1.9 billion in revenue in 2008? Why stop buying from farms that harvest “sun-grown” coffee, a genetically manipulated, chemically intensive, socially unsustainable variant of the coffee plant? Why start buying fair-trade sugar when you can buy a cheaper alternative? Why stop throwing away paper cups to measure out how much coffee should fill up a reusable mug? It’s naieve to think that we can successfully leverage a corporate giant of such magnitude? Can we really expect anything different than a rigid, unforgiving, environmentally disastrous term from Tim Hortons in the SUB?
Second, I think the way in which this process was conducted needs to be discussed in an open and transparent fashion. Was there any call for proposals put out? Did students have an opportunity to construct and present business models for using the space? Were local options engaged in the planning process? Were students? Was there any public notification for the tendering process, and how was the SRC involved here? The potential for revamping food service in the SUB is overwhelming; such a space could provide real opportunities to further the mandates of both the ASU and Acadia and could really set our union and our universities apart from our colleagues at other institutions. It’s a shame to move forward with such a regressive selection as Tim Hortons while other options, perhaps better situated to successfully capitalize on that potential, don’t appear to have been pursued in the public forum. I’m aware of focus groups that were held on the issue of food service in the SUB, but “What do you think about Chartwells?” is an essentially different question from “What do you think about Tim Hortons?” Such a question needed to be ask in an excruciatingly public way, and it wasn’t. It was answered for us.
Unfortunately, I admit that most of my letter is based on assumptions and speculation. There may be multiple points where I’ve misspoken about the way Tim Hortons and the ASU have progressed through negotiations. But the very fact that I had no public record to draw from on says something about the way that this process took place.
Finally, can you make some sort of statement as to where the process stands right now and what major steps are on the horizon? I’d like to be involved as a due-paying member of the union, as a student who cares about the future of the university, and yes, as a responsible global citizen.
Here’s hoping I’m wrong about everything!
Thanks for your time,
Alex
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Letter to Kyle Steele from Sarah Haverstock »
Hey Alex,
Excellent point about the lack of transparency in this process. If a widespread search for a new food service provider, I certainly wasn’t aware of it.
After attending every SRC meeting this year, I can assure you that the change in food service provider has not yet been debated or discussed in council sessions. Until the decision to buy out the remaining years of the contract with Chartwells, the ASU Executive held their cards close to their chest. What’s troubling here is that the decision to sign on with Tim Horton’s was made almost immediately, which leads me to believe that discussions between the ASU and Tim Horton’s representatives were secretly ongoing prior to the announcement of the contract buy out. At the very least, it’s obvious that alternative providers were not being considered as viable candidates, and that the executive has intended to make this extremely large financial and philosophical decision in a private manner.
I’m about to post the link to this blog on the Ath website. It’s time to get students talking about this.