Hannah Piedad | Staff Writer
July 19, 2023
On July 14, Matthew Woodard, the instructor of one of the general studies classes offered at the Murray-GSP campus met with the campus director, Melony Shemberger, and presented to her a petition that scholars from Woodard’s general studies class created. The petition asked the Murray-GSP administrators to allow scholars to order from DoorDash. Over the course of a day, the petition garnered almost 250 signatures which is over half of Murray-GSP scholars. Despite the amount of support for this petition, Shemberger announced during July 17 community meeting that the petition was denied after deep consideration.
However, the fight for Doordash was far from over, as Woodard’s class planned a sit-in for July 18, 2023, to continue their request for a one-day DoorDash order.
Photo Credits: Erin Hynes | Editor
On July 18 after general studies, multiple scholars joined those from Woodard’s general studies class marching to Franklin Hall’s lobby chanting “What do we want? Door Dash! When do we want it? Now!” Once in the lobby, scholars continued the chants and began the sit-in protest in front of Shemberger’s office in the lobby and holding signs saying things like “We are ALL Scholars” and “Let Us Eat”, scholars were not letting up. Shortly after the sit-in started, a negotiation team (consisting of Amelia Connally, Owen Daugherty, Vijay Karthikeyan, Olivia Fulcher, and Omar Caballero Cardenas) entered Shemberger’s office to continue the discussion. After a while, head RA Hayden Osborne joined the conversation.
When asked about the protests, Woodard explained the demonstration as “a display planned by scholars for scholars.” While negotiations were underway, scholars were still protesting for their right to use DoorDash, and the demonstration continued until the negotiation team emerged from Shemberger’s office. The team explained that there was no final decision yet and that Shemberger and Osborne agreed to further discuss the matter.
When asked about these further discussions, Shemberger said that she would meet with Hayden Osborne, Charisma Cornell, Steve Easley and Madeline Doolin in order to come to a final consensus. When reflecting on the protests, Shemberger added that the negotiation team themselves were very civil and that they presented their points well.
Shemberger also offered some insight into why the original petition was denied in the first place. Her main concern was safety, bringing up how it is uncertain who the dashers (delivery people) are. She also talked about how food orders could potentially come later than expected, which could lead to unintended conflicts with GSP’s schedule.
Shemberger shared that she was “hopeful for some sort of outcome that will be pleasing to all.” A decision is expected to come by Thursday, July 20 before Woodard’s general studies class meets again.
