By
The Wildcat Opinions Board
Arizona Daily Wildcat
As is customary when thousands return to campus for a new semester, we've once again been greeted with numerous changes that have forced us to adjust our daily routines.
For the most part, we've been understanding of different situations and willing to patiently proceed with our busy schedules. But, as most students will unfortunately discover today, university officials have gone too far in the disruption of our collegiate lives. Not with campus construction, although new projects and the delay of existing ones certainly have caused additional headaches for students. Not with the addition to Pima Hall, although the 80 freshmen who have been temporarily relocated to the Plaza Hotel might argue otherwise.
The real injustice to students is the noticeable absence of a long-time staple at the University of Arizona - the Dawg Daze hot dog carts.
No, seriously.
During the summer, officials in the UA Dining Services office elected not to renew the contract that permits Dawg Daze to operate on campus. As UA Dining Services director David Galbraith said, the UA can make more money and also sell the food cheaper by self-operating the carts.
So after eight years of loyal service to a countless number of students and faculty members, Dawg Daze has been shown the door. Thanks for giving our students a friendly face, the university has told them, now take a hike so we can come in and make some money.
Instead of Dawg Daze, Nathan's Famous Inc. will provide the food at the carts, which will be operated by UA employees. Other vendors such as Eegee's and Common Grounds Espresso Co. will also set up carts on campus. This change is by all means legal, and it will likely give the university a few more bucks in its already green-lined pocketbook.
But it is not right for many reasons. For starters, it leaves students without something that has become as much of a fixture on campus as Old Main. Dawg Daze employees such as Marchelle Brady, one of the Dawg Daze owners who operated the cart on the south side of the Mall, knew many of our names and majors. If the All-Aboard machines were down or we forgot our lunch money, "No problem," they'd often tell us, "just pay us tomorrow."
Finding that same level of trust at the Fiddlee Fig is about as likely as a UA construction project finishing on time.
Brady and other Dawg Daze vendors showed a genuine interest in our lives, and this was clearly shown by the way they ran their business. We could always expect a friendly greeting, no matter how busy they were. It is this kind of respect and personal attention that we loved.
Also, Dawg Daze employees spent eight years determining the best locations to station their carts. They used trial and error to find out where they could best serve students while making a maximum profit. It hardly seems fair that the UA gets to step right in and use that research for itself.
At a time when other things on campus are unsettled - the new student union and the Integrated Learning Center to name a few- you'd think the university would make every effort to show us that this is, in fact, still our campus. Instead, we've learned a valuable lesson - it's all about the Benjamins.
