It’s true that I filed a complaint against Governor’s Corner Dining Societies (GCDS) and Stanford because after four years of loyal service and an injury at work, I feel that I was fired unjustly.

But having the same fate – being fired – be visited on Frank, Tony, Dennis and Caroline because of my lawsuit is certainly not what I asked for. I didn’t ask Stanford to hire an outside contractor to run Suites dining halls or fire my former colleagues.

In fact, I opposed those efforts back in 2010-2011.

Also, it does not seem right they would make all these changes because of me.

When a worker makes a legal claim, as I have, the normal response should not be to fire the rest of the staff, or to send the business to an outside contractor.

The economics of my lawsuit can’t be the real reason for this change. Stanford has a $4.4 billion-dollar budget and a $17 billion-dollar endowment, and I suspect Stanford has its own insurance covering claims like mine. Stanford raised over $1 billion in donations last year.

By contrast, I earned about as much as one undergraduate pays per year for tuition, room and board.

I’ve heard that Stanford wanted GCDS to have its own insurance, but if they need insurance, they should get insurance, not fire the chefs!

What I would like to see Stanford and GCDS do is take responsibility for the damage this has done to my life and make sure these sorts of things don’t happen to others.

I think changes do need to be made to address the problems I raised, like better employment policies and training, but there is no reason to punish the chefs or for Stanford to hire an outside company to start from scratch!

Steven Roland
Former Middle Earth Chef