Volume 93/Issue 1v
THE
September 23rd, 2019
ANCHOR
Rhode Island College’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1928
Town hall meeting brings Donovan debacle into its third week Sean Richer Asst. News Editor As Rhode Island College student complaints regarding the price and quality of the food at Donovan Dining Center continue to mount, Student Community Government along with Director of Food and Retail Services, Arthur Patrie and Dean of Students, Tamika Wordlow-Williams, hosted an open town hall in the Gaige auditorium to hear complaints and receive suggestions as to how to improve the cafeteria. While the turnout appeared to be
lower than expected, that did not stop the group of students who did attend the meeting from voicing their opinions. When asked about the position of the SCG in this matter, President Joshua Percy responded, “Parliament wants to remain largely neutral when it comes to taking sides… we need to take time to hear the sides of both students and faculty, and that is what we want to accomplish during this town hall.” Owen Jefferson, the Digital Media Manager at Anchor TV, commented further on the wider situation saying, “Food needs to be affordable, it all
starts there. If students don’t have access to it, the whole college will suffer for it.” The meeting began with a brief Q&A session. After being asked which specific department marks the prices, Patrie responded, “The board at Donovan sets them, but we collaborate with the Chief Financial Office to determine what we should charge.” He went on to say that, “A number of steps are being taken to determine what we can cut and what we can’t, but we want to get as much student feedback as possible to see what we should do.” Afterwards, students were
Photos by Thomas Crudale able to share potential solutions to the issue. Some of these solutions came from junior nursing student, Jayanna Greene. These included prioritizing certain types of meal plans, taking into consideration the student signees when setting prices diversifying the menu and sending out widespread surveys about the food at Donovan in order to gauge student opinion. “The meal plans are the huge, top-of-the-list issue and prioritizing students of certain incomes would go a long way in helping” said Greene. Ronya Traynham, a resident student at RIC, shared her thoughts as well, particularly regarding the food and events at Donovan. “Including more food of different cultures would go a long way in get-
ting students interested… if I’m breaking bread with other people, that’s huge.” Janelle Gomez, Treasurer of SCG, added to that statement saying, “I want to be at Donovan. We need to create a sense of community.” Those in attendance proceeded to express their support for the dining center, reaffirming their desire to truly improve it. Both Patrie and Wordlow-Williams expressed that gratitude and reassured the student body of the potential changes. Patrie concluded by saying, “Prepare to see a lot of changes at Donovan in the near future.” Time will tell which suggestions will be adopted by the faculty and what they will change to improve the dining experience at RIC.
stitutions, CCRI and RIC, who were not informed of URI’s plans. URI’s absence from the RIOPC leaves Rhode Islanders with questions. In the anticipated budget, URI is recommended for a 2.5 billion dollar budget. Meanwhile, RIC just passes CCRI’s 854 million dollar budget with a 949 million dollar estimation. The coalition of RI’s three public universities allowed for powerful negotiation between the RIOPC and the state. Will
URI’s departure from this council affect funding for RIC and CCRI? Does URI not care about an “affordable system of higher education designed to improve the overall education attainment of Rhode Islanders? Will URI students receive the RI Promise Scholarship? Outside of the council, URI may have more access to funding and dodge the potential for expansion of the RI Promise Scholar-
URI: what is the future of higher education in RI? Alexis Rapoza & Alison Macbeth Asst. Opinions Editor & Opinions Editor
What Rhode Island lacks in mileage it makes up in commitment to higher education. However, in July of this year Governor Raimondo signed a bill that could change all of that. This bill allows the University of Rhode Island to withdraw from the Council of Post-Secondary Educa-
tion (RIOPC) in February of 2020, leaving behind the two other state public colleges, CCRI and RIC. According to the website, RIOPC is “an independent public corporation vested with the responsibility of providing oversight for the system of public higher education in Rhode Island.” It exists to “to provide an excellent, efficient, accessible and affordable system of higher education designed to im-
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prove the overall educational attainment of Rhode Islanders and thereby enrich the intellectual, economic, social and cultural life of the state, its residents, and its communities.” The bill which broke this coalition was sponsored by Speaker of the House, Nicholas Mattiello, to the surprise of neighboring in-
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Continued in Opinions on Page 6; “Future of higher education”
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