By: Isabelle Yang, Staff Writer
In April, Mills administration will implement a new policy on food throughout campus. Students and staff members will not be allowed to microwave, reheat, or cook food inside any buildings, including school lunches. This policy is due to the numerous fire hazards that have been caused by various foods, which result in chaotic evacuations. By implementing this policy, the admin looks to prevent future incidents that could risk more than just ruining students and staffs’ shoes on the baseball field.
As a result, many staff members are upset about this policy. Mr. Wang, a Mills Biology teacher, is amongst those who are speaking out against these new rules. He reasons that this new policy is unfair, as it punishes everyone instead of the select individuals who aren’t being careful. He elaborates, “I understand it’s a big inconvenience to have fire drills and have the fire department come and all that, but they should put it on individuals.”
Furthermore, Mr. Wang emphasizes, “This is a grave injustice against people who eat rice.” As someone who has rice almost everyday, he describes the negatives of cold rice and believes it is never worth eating.
Additionally, students only have access to cold food and drinks as well. This has led to numerous students, including Ameena Stringer (11), to frantically search for a way around this policy. When asked how she will reheat her coffee, Stringer states, “If this policy continues, I’ll have no choice but to bring my own microwave to school and plug it in.”
However, Mr. Wang has a solution. He has decided to go on a hunger strike, creating a movement where students and staff can openly protest. He explains, “I’m gonna save all my cold rice, and put it in a bucket, then put it outside admin’s office as a protest.” He hopes this will force an intervention, as the large amount of cold rice in front of AP White’s office will be hard to miss.
Mr. Wang highly encourages students who have cold food for lunch to join the protest and add their food to the pile. He sympathizes with them, and has rightfully decided to take a stand against the unjust policy.
Currently, the administration does not seem to be moved by the protests against this policy. They have decided to proceed with enforcing it. AP White has not publicly acknowledged the growing pile of food outside his office, but ultimately, it may start to cause sanitation issues.
