Lesley students protest, claiming food, laundry, water issues

Nearly 2,000 people have signed a petition created by Lesley University students asking for what they’re calling basic human needs.

In the petition, students at the Cambridge-based college asked for things like grab-and-go meals that aren’t expired, three meals a day each day of the week in both dining halls, clean and hot water on campus, laundry machines that work, and organized COVID-19 data for the university.

“While we acknowledge that the challenges of supply chain issues and hiring have been furthered by the COVID-19 pandemic, Lesley University is a powerful institution that should be allotting whatever resources necessary to fulfill the needs of students,” the petition says. “Food, water, heat, laundry, and transportation are non-negotiable basic human needs.”

A protest was set for Thursday afternoon, the petition said. About 100 people wound up attending, according to GBH.

“I don’t know where the money that we’re paying for tuition is going, because I don’t see it in my housing and I don’t see it in my food,” Él Martinez, 20, a sophomore and one of the organizers of the protest, told the radio station. “We don’t want to be out here protesting … but this is the last straw. The students are fed up.”

Similar to Lesley, students at Simmons have also aired concerns over the food at the school, petitioning the university to drop its food provider, Aramark, over “unsafe dietary options,” according to The Simmons Voice. 

However, Lesley officials contend that it provides the amenities listed, and is addressing all of the issues in the petition.

On grab-and-go meals, the university said they are provided when the Washburn dining hall isn’t staffed and that many of them are not taken, and that they are regularly restocked.

Concerning water, officials said water is regularly tested and that work is planned for White Hall during winter break to address lounge-area sink unavailability. Laundry is planned to be free in the spring, and the university said it is dissatisfied with its vendor so all card readers are set to be removed.

In a letter to the campus community dated Tuesday, Lesley officials, including President Janet Steinmayer, wrote that they “welcome constructive input.”

“After being made aware of the issues you raised earlier this year, we moved quickly to both address the concerns and set up numerous ways for issues to come forward in a more efficient and expedient manner,” the letter said. “These include a new dedicated helpline, in-person residence hall visits by administration to meet directly with students, and regular meetings between the administration and Undergraduate Student Government leaders to ensure ongoing open lines of communication.”

A spokesman for the university noted that the issues raised are “isolated.”

“While we are working closely with a group of students to discuss their concerns and our steps to address them – including issues we have experienced this fall with our laundry and transportation services – we can unequivocally confirm that these are isolated issues and there are no systemic issues around fundamental services,” the spokesman said in a statement. “We look forward to ongoing dialogue as we continue to make progress on resolving these issues effectively and with urgency.”