Fry says there are no immediate plans for dining changes

Executive Vice President John Fry will embark on an analysis of how well the University's Dining Services performs during the upcoming year. The purpose of the study is to determine the level of student, faculty and staff satisfaction with Dining Services, which includes student dining, catering and other food services. Although Fry insists there are no current negotiations, University students and faculty are calling for further involvement in future proceedings. "There are absolutely no ongoing negotiations with Aramark or Marriott regarding outsourcing Penn's Dining Services," Fry said. "Also, no packages have been offered to any Dining Services employees, and none are planned." Undergraduate Assembly Chairperson Tal Golomb said he is eager to become involved with the analysis. He said he has been in contact with Fry and the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life in an effort to schedule meetings concerning outsourcing. Thus far, Golomb said UA members have been unsuccessful in their search for increased student involvement. He feels that many University groups have faced similar obstacles. "Because it is the summer, I don't think the administrators feel that students care about what is going on," Golomb said. "At the very least, the student government should already have been notified of future possibilities." Golomb feels that both the UA and students should be skeptical about changes taking place to student services. Executive Director of Hospitality Services Donald Jacobs believes the process to consider companies for outsourcing will be handled fairly by the University. Jacobs was an employee of the company that is now Aramark until 1976 when he began to manage University Dining Services. "These are not easy times for the University," Jacobs said. "But I will stay here until the University doesn't want me any more." The former chairperson of the Penn Professional Staff Assembly Ira Winston feels that the University should begin to compile information from students, staff and faculty now. Winston said he believes the University should "be careful about what companies it outsources with." He added that outsourcing services appears to be efficient and wise for the University -- if done correctly. Fry's analysis is designed to determine the level of satisfaction towards existing services, whether the services meet people's needs, the degree that University students do not use Dining Services, where people do dine when they do not use the University's dining services. It will also look at how Dining Services performs financially and how well Dining Services operates from an "effectiveness and efficiency standpoint." The study will take the form of focus groups, surveys, benchmarking the University's services against the performance of other providers and the experience of other comparable institutions and an analysis of the operations and financial performance of Dining Services. Once the analysis of Dining Services is completed, the next step for Fry will be to determine whether it is feasible and desirable to look to an external provider. "Based on the results of the analysis, we will decide whether to continue to run our own Dining Services," Fry said. "It is important to emphasize that all decisions to outsource business operations at Penn will follow this same kind of careful review and analysis."

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