• About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
The Wellesley News -
  • News and Features
    • Professor Phillip Levine Discusses “A Problem of Fit”
      Professor Phillip Levine Discusses “A Problem of Fit”
    • CS Department shifts CS 111 course structure
      CS Department shifts CS 111 course structure
    • WAMI and WRJ host discussion on criminalization of abortion
      WAMI and WRJ host discussion on criminalization of abortion
    • News
      • News in Brief
      • Nation & World
      • President’s Corner
      • Senate Report
    • Features
      • Alumnae Spotlight
      • Eye on Science
      • Faculty Focus
      • LGBTQIA+ Column
  • Opinions
    • Andrew tate: ending the cycle of toxic masculinity
      Andrew tate: ending the cycle of toxic masculinity
    • Turn it off: healing from news fatigue in the digital age
      Turn it off: healing from news fatigue in the digital age
    • Let them eat bread: the unequal effects of food price inflation
      Let them eat bread: the unequal effects of food price inflation
    • Staff Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
    • The Elephant in the Room
  • Arts
    • The 95th Academy Awards Nominations: The Cool and The Controversial
      The 95th Academy Awards Nominations: The Cool and The Controversial
    • Lucy Dacus Brings a Minimal Yet Powerful Performance to Northeastern University
      Lucy Dacus Brings a Minimal Yet Powerful Performance to Northeastern University
    • “Glass Onion” Takes Shots at Easy Targets
      “Glass Onion” Takes Shots at Easy Targets
    • Arts In The News
    • Reviews
    • Music Peek
    • Books Before Boys
  • Sports and Wellness
    • Student-Athlete of October
      Student-Athlete of October
    • Athletics Update Oct. 19, 2022
      Athletics Update Oct. 19, 2022
    • The Case for Body Neutrality
      The Case for Body Neutrality
    • Athlete of the Week
    • Boston Sports Update
    • The Vegan Digest
    • The SHE Corner
  • The Wellesley Snooze
    • Happy Valentine’s Day from Spog
      Happy Valentine’s Day from Spog
    • The Four Best Places to Loudly FaceTime Someone on Campus
      The Four Best Places to Loudly FaceTime Someone on Campus
    • PJ’s Letter to Santa
      PJ’s Letter to Santa
  • Miscellanea
    • President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
      President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
    • Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
      Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
    • 50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
      50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
    • The Dose
    • The Olive Branch
    • Multimedia
      • Galleries
      • Infographics
      • Videos
By Wellesley Against Mass Incarceration OpinionsApril 5, 2021

Wellesley, say goodbye to AVI

Photo courtesy of Wellesley Against Mass Incarceration

Wellesley Against Mass Incarceration (WAMI) is an on-campus student organization. This article represents the viewpoints of its leaders and members. 

Wellesley College must end our contract with AVI Foodsystems, and as representatives of Wellesley Against Mass Incarceration (WAMI), we demand a system controlled and operated by the College to be established that provides food services moving forward. With the support of the extended Wellesley community, we need to say #GoodbyeAVI.

AVI Foodsystems, as detailed in a Sep. opinion piece by WAMI President Tiana Brote ’21, has continued to employ managers accused of sexual, emotional and physical abuse with racist motivation. Further, we know they provide vending services to private prisons and are aware of other business practices that are not aligned with Wellesley’s values.

After our initial petition, which immediately followed the release of Brote’s article, President Johnson’s office sent a response to Brote and to one of WAMI’s vice presidents. This response failed to acknowledge the sole demand of our petition, which was to end the contract with AVI. The president’s office also assumed we had issues with the food and service, but that is not the case; we feel Wellesley Fresh has always been excellent solely because of the unionized employees who work there. We are asking for all dining hall workers to maintain their jobs and we do not have any reason to believe this would pose a logistical challenge. The response then dismissively stated that all employees who participate in Title IX investigations are protected from retaliation, leading us to believe that the administration of Wellesley College does not believe all employees need to be protected at all times. Retaliation may not always target the person who files a claim and instead may be directed at their friends or team, and not all victims of workplace discrimination and harassment can or wish to report it.

We trust that a self-operated dining system will allow for managers, who would now be Wellesley employees, to be held accountable and workers to be safe. Furthermore, a self-operated system would allow the College to directly purchase food from local vendors, as opposed to using larger contracts, cutting out transportation and ultimately sourcing food more sustainably. And importantly, a self-operated dining system would avert Wellesley’s relationship with a corporation that makes millions of dollars by supporting prisons and exploiting incarcerated people.  

While we know that a self-operated system takes work to build, it is within Wellesley College’s ability. We are asking for a timeline of no more than three years from today. We have put together a Guide to Self-Op to help potential and dedicated supporters of our campaign envision a future where Wellesley students, parents and donors do not financially support prison profiteers with every bite.  

To demand that Wellesley end the contract with AVI Foodsystems, we ask alumnae to sign this petition and send a follow-up email to Wellesley’s administration explaining why you did. We ask students, parents and other stakeholders to also send an email explaining why Wellesley must terminate our partnership with AVI and pledging to withhold donations until the contract has been ended. Together, we can terminate Wellesley’s partnership with a morally corrupt business that refuses to protect our community members.

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous articleWhen having a bad day
Next articleReweighing the freshman 15

You may also like

Logos of social media apps such as Twitter, Tiktok, Netflix, Spotify, and Discord.

Andrew tate: ending the cycle of toxic masculinity

Abstract painting of various boxes meant to imply computer and phone screens

Turn it off: healing from news fatigue in the digital age

A collection of a wide variety of foods in the colors of the rainbow

Let them eat bread: the unequal effects of food price inflation

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

Top Articles

  • Logos of social media apps such as Twitter, Tiktok, Netflix, Spotify, and Discord. Andrew tate: ending the cycle of toxic masculinity
  • Stone-Davis dining staff report mistreatment
  • A collection of a wide variety of foods in the colors of the rainbow Let them eat bread: the unequal effects of food price inflat...
  • The 95th Academy Awards Nominations: The Cool and The Contro...
  • Red envelope that contains money to celebrate the Lunar New Year. America’s cultural appropriation is a modern form of i...

Recent Tweets

Tweets by @Wellesley_News

The independent student newspaper of Wellesley College since 1901.

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

  • About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
COPYRIGHT © 2023 THE WELLESLEY NEWS
Back to top