NEWS
SCENE
SPORTS
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Lucinda Carnell takes over as interim VP of Diversity and Equity
Sarah Spurgeon exhibit features Cozette Philips
Lady Wildcats thrive on and off the court
Vol. 124 NO. 7
February 22, 2023
Students raise concerns for lack of dining services training FISH Food Bank to combine operations Former supervisor with alleged ‘inappropriate boundaries’ still employed by CWU with $5 million expansion set for April Omar Benitez Senior Reporter
Former dining service employees say training was rushed. Photo by Megan Rogers
Megan Rogers Assistant News Editor Student employees in dining services continue to raise concerns about communication and training shortcomings as they have for over a year, as reported by The Observer last winter. Lack of training and communication A former dining services employee who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the topic said, while their overall experience working in dining was positive, one of the biggest issues was the lack of communication. “A lot of the times, upper management would maybe tell the managers on the floor some things but it wouldn’t get back to student workers or to chefs as quickly as it probably should have,” they said. The student said the training for student employees was very limited. “They’ll throw you onto a station, and you’ll get trained by somebody, but sometimes, it’s not completely accurate, especially if it’s another student worker who’s training you,” they said.
According to the student, training should be done by the student coordinators, but there were some times when a coordinator wouldn’t be on shift when a new employee needed to be trained. “I’ve had new student workers be pushed on me when I used to work there, and I was never a coordinator,” they said. The student said one of the reasons they left dining services was because the lack of communication was never fixed. Liam Rebol, a sophomore studying geology, worked for Panda Express in the North Side Commons from January to the middle of June 2022. He said he felt his training was rushed. “I got maybe a day of being told what to do,” Rebol said. “I worked in food service beforehand, so I was pretty comfortable in the kitchen already. But I wasn’t really given a ton of support or anything for [Panda Express] specifically.” Former supervisor investigated for ‘inappropriate boundaries’ still employed in dining During an interview with The Observer, Dean Masuccio, CWU dining and catering director, con-
firmed that Ryan Aspiri is still currently employed by CWU’s dining services as a Food Service Worker Lead at Panda Express. According to Masuccio, the Food Service Worker Lead is essentially a “wok cook.” According to an article by The Observer (See: “Dining services supervisor investigated for ‘inappropriate boundaries’”) allegations were expressed by multiple witnesses and complainants that Aspiri exhibited inappropriate behavior to female students while working in March of 2021, including alleged comments about the bodies of female employees. The HR report said, “Based upon information gathered during the investigation it does not appear that conduct of a sexual nature created an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.” The Observer reached out to Aspiri on Feb. 18 for comment, but did not receive a response. The Observer asked Masuccio and Human Resources about why Aspiri is still employed at CWU, and they declined to comment at this time.
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The planned $5 million 6,000 square foot expansion to FISH Food Bank is set to begin construction in April, with plans for completion set for November. According to FISH Food Bank CEO Peggy Morache, the plans for the expansion include an expansion of the existing 2,500 square foot food bank; as well as renovations to the existing food pantry and the creation of a new reception, client services and education center will house several social service agencies. “We recognize the fact that people need more than just food,” Morache said. “We needed a more holistic approach to helping people who rely on us. So that’s why we want to include an education and services center because our goal is to help people move beyond a place where they’re in need.” According to Morache, plans for the warehouse expansion have been in the works for over five years due to how much food they receive and distribute around the county. “This expansion is crucial for us,” Morache said. “This food bank warehouse receives and stores about one and a half million pounds of food a year and then distributes that food to the food pantries located all over the county. To try to do that with that much food in a 2,500 square feet facility is very difficult.” According to Morache, FISH is currently using the old Rodeo City Barbecue building as a food service building for distribution, due to zoning restrictions and lack of space and resources at the current facility. The new warehouse expansion will allow for all these services to be under one roof and allow FISH to work out of one central location to be more efficient, Morache said. The new warehouse will help FISH have the resources and facility to better deal with storage and distri-
bution of food, Morache said. “This new building will allow us to have a new commercial freezer and commercial refrigerator and also do state of the art materials handling,” Morache said. “We basically run a grocery warehouse here, so distribution is really important for us.” Morache said the plan is to have one large central location that will be able to take care of food handling, storage and distribution, as well as housing the food pantry and education center. Morache said the over $5 million in funding comes from a combination of fundraising throughout the years, state funding, as well as federal funding including a Community Services Block Grant. $900,000 from community project funding was secured by Washington state representative Kim Schrier. According to Morache, the new expansion and renovations will be done in two phases. The first phase is planned to take place from April to Nov. and focus on the 6,000 square foot expansion, which will house the new food bank and food service center. The second phase is planned to start after the completion of the first phase and will be completed by mid summer of next year. It will focus on the renovations of the current 2,500 square foot facility which will include the new education and services center as well as a renovated, and larger food pantry. Morache said another one of her motivations for this project is to improve the experience for those using the pantry. “We want to make the space more cheerful and let people have the ability to choose their own groceries from a variety of options,” Morache said. “We want the experience to be as pleasant as possible.” According to Morache, food bank operations will not be affected once construction begins in April.
Singing, dancing and acting by the students of CWU at Short Works Festival Alahnna Connolly Staff Reporter
Scripts, designs, characters and staging, all completely organized by CWU students, brought the Short Works Festival to life last weekend. The festival was a three-day long event from Feb. 16 -18 and took almost a year to plan. There were four student-written plays featured: “A Fine Upstanding Lad: A New Musical” written by Shawn Mulligan and Maverick McCarl, “The Maiden” written by Caelyn White, “Dream of the Butterfly” written by Miles Baker, “The Good, the Tired, the Hungry” written by Peter James and “Body Bag” written by Mason Saulsbury.
The main festival creative team producers were Kathryn Stahl, Jason Tucholke and Lirit Pendell. Junior tourism and event major Keteya Woodfroff said, “I can’t wait to see more student led plays, the creativity was amazing and the plays were very unique.” Mason Saulsbury, the scriptwriter for “Body Bag,” said she thinks it’s important for student run productions to be featured on campus. “It’s a showcase of raw talent that the students here have, something that isn’t only a licensed work, but something that was built from the ground up from people that go here,” Saulsbury said. Jason Tucholke, one of the producers of the events, said he
thinks the Short Works Festival is important because it’s entirely student run. “Each of the shows they do is important because it is produced, designed and directed by the students,” Tucholke said. According to Tucholke, the performers had been rehearsing since the beginning of the quarter. According to Saulsbury, she didn’t do any theater productions Left to right: Jess Jones as Olivia and Megan Walters as Anne sit on a dead body and chat. until she came to CWU, and had Photo by Mason Saulsbury only recently begun her work I could watch,” Saulsbury said. “Be- val over the weekend, the opening in CWU theater. Saulsbury said ing able to collaborate with such night turnout was good, and attenthe experience of working with amazing people like Isacc, Jess, dance for the other showings was everyone else in her production Megan and Elizabeth [was cool] also high. was unique. as well.” “It was really cool to see someAccording to Saulsbury, who Full Story Online thing I wrote turn into something went to every showing of the festi-