Western Front - 2001 October 19

              FRIDAY, October 19,2001 The Western Front Western Washington University Volume 119 Issue 6 Bellingham, Washington
Sodexho not Western's only choice
By Paul Nicholas Carlson
THE WESTERN FRONT
When it comes to campus din­ing,
students only know one word:
Sodexho (formerly known as
Marriott). Western has been using
an outside catering service since
1959. Other Washington state
universities, however, choose to
operate their own dining services.
Sodexho's contract with
Western is up for renewal in the
summer of 2002, and Western
has already begun the process of
exploring its other options.
Sodexho is only one of numer­ous
dining service providers in
the United States and abroad.
The top contracted dining
providers, determined by the
number of accounts they hold,
are Sodexho, Aramark and the
Compass Group.
Not all colleges choose to hire
dining service providers.
"Of the approximately 3,000
colleges in the U.S., between
1,500 to 2,000 of them have the
size and student population to
warrant hiring a contractor,"
said Terry Crump, vice presi­dent
of Sales at Aramark.
Aramark currently has about
300 university accounts nation­wide,
serving schools such as
Baylor University, Boston
University and the University of
Florida. The only major account
Juoc Iran/ The Western Front
Jiny Hong and Myungsoon Heo purchase bowls of noodles from Hellen Sun at Vendors
Row. Shops at Vendors Row are the few alternatives to eating at Sodexho services.
Aramark holds in the Northwest
is the Boeing Corporation.
Of those schools large enough
to call for a contractor, around
70 percent contract outside din­ing
management.
The remaining 30 percent
* explore another option altogether:
the self-operated dining system.
Western is the largest univer­sity
or college not employing a
self-operated dining system in
Washington. The two largest in­state
universities, the University
of Washington and Washington
State University, operate" their
own dining systems without con­tracting
vrndors.
"The dining system at WSU
always has been self-operated,"
said Liz Khosravi, assistant
director of dining services at
WSU.
WSU dining services caters on
and off campus.
"We can do a better job with
more quality and control under a
self-operated system," Khosravi
said. "Not having a contractor
keeps us focused on the WSU
environment and not outside
interests."
"The UW has been self-operat­ed
since the early 1960s," said
Dan Farrell, assistant director
of food services at UW. "At that
time, there were few contractors
out there. Now the self-operated
dining system is a long-estab­lished
part of UW."
Along with operating the resi­dence
dining halls, the UW din­ing
services also manages two
convenience stores, retail, cater­ing
and a variety of espresso
bars on campus. Farrell said an
estimated 5,000 students eat in
the UW dining halls.
"When you self-operate, you
can make changes to the menu
easier," said Kurt Willis, associ­ate
director of University
Residences at Western. "Here,
Sodexho would have to work the
change into their larger regional
scheme. A self-operated system is
probably more in tune with the
specifics of the administration."
In order to make a sudden
change to its menus at one uni­versity,
Sodexho would have to
shuffle around its larger region
See SODEXHO, Page 4
Cases of over-the-counter drug abuse growing
By Cara Hazzard
THE WESTERN FRONT
The recent death of Western
student Joshua Davis has
increased awareness about the
dangers of the use of over-the-counter
drugs for recreational
purposes.
Davis ingested cold medicine
pills that contained
Dextromethorphan, an ingre­dient
commonly found in
decongestants, which caused
an adverse reaction, said Gary
Goldfogel Whatcom County
Medical Examiner.
Adverse reactions can cause
effects such as rashes, intestinal
problems or, in this case, acute
mental illness, Goldfogel said.
This particular reaction is
called "agitated delirium,"
Goldfogel said, and causes the
sufferer to become highly agitat­ed
and physically strong.
"People in this state are in
high risk of hurting someone,"
Goldfogel said.
According to the Web site
www.informed.org, "high and
very high doses in particular can
cause neuropsychiatric symp­toms
(euphoria, restlessness, mis-perception,
hallucination, schizo­phrenic
reactions) that are simi­lar
to the effects of the hallucino­genic
agent phencyclidine."
Goldfogel said Davis was
reported to have taken between
nine and 12 pills, as well as
marijuana.
Goldfogel said Davis was
"intentionally using them for the
purpose of getting high."
Sylvia Woodbury, a chemical
dependency counselor at the
Recovery Center at St. Joseph
Hospital, said using deconges­tants
to get high is a growing
trend.
Woodbury said ephedrine and
pseudoephedrine, the main
ingredients in Ephedrine and
Sudafed, respectively, are also
main ingredients in crank and
Photo illustration by Quoc Train/The Western Front
The abuse of cold medicines is a rising trend today.
speed.
"I believe there is a great
addictive potential for those
over-the-counter meds,"
Woodbury said. "Especially the
ones with ephedrine and
pseudoephedrine in them."
You think because it's over-the-
counter, it's riot harmful, but
it is," Woodbury said.
See DRUGS, Page 4
Police arrest
ex-athletic
employee on
theft charges
By NZ-tt Bucher
THE WESTERN FRONT
Michael DiMarco, Western's
former assistant athletic direc­tor,
was arrested and booked,
into Whatcom County Jail on
charges of first-degree theft
Tuesday, stemming from the
misuse of university money.
"Mr. DiMarco was charged
with the crime after an inter­view
on Tuesday afternoon,"
University Police Chief James
Shaw said. "It was apparent
there had been misappropria­tion
of funds."
Michael Becker, director of
Human Resources, said
DiMarco filed fraudulent
reports that resulted in
improper cash advances for
events that didn't exist.
Altogether, DiMarco allegedly
stole about $900, Becker said.
First-degree theft is charged
anytime more than $250 is
stolen.
DiMarco was confronted
about the misuse of funds by
Athletic Director Lynda
Goodrich, at which time
DiMarco agreed to pay restitu­tion
and then resign, Becker
said.
Why criminal charges were
then brought against DiMarco
is unknown.
Athletic Department officials
refused to comment.
The Bellingham Prosecuting
Attorney's Office said no new
developments in the case have
been established at this time.
Prosecutor Eric Richey was
assigned to the case.
IN THIS ISSUE
Vikings:
The Next Generation
The Junior Vikings club
takes kids.younger than 12
to Western sporting events.
See story, Page 8.
Corky Romano:
Not worth seeing
The n ew movie starring
"Saturday
Night Live"
comedian
Chris Kattan
proves to be
a classic, pre­dictable
bore.
See review, Page 5.
For news tips, call (360) 650-3162 or e-mail The Western Front at wfront@cc.wwu.edu http://westernfrontonline.com