Petition protesting the Mom’s third shift manager’s firing receives over 1,500 signatures from current and former students

Tristan Lopus
Editor in Chief

Dameca Neal, the now former manager of the third shift at Mom’s Truckstop, was fired by Campus Dining Services last Thursday, Nov. 2. The College community has reacted with an outpouring of support for Neal and calls to reinstate her.

A petition denouncing the decision had amassed over 1,500 signatures at press time, mostly from current and former students of the College. Alina Karapandzich ’18 obtained Neal’s consent and drafted the petition, which was published on the website by Amineh AlBashaireh ’18.

On Tuesday, Nov. 7, about 50 people attended a silent protest against the decision, congregating in the Wired Scot and later moving into Mom’s.

Neal was informed of her termination on Nov. 2 when she reported for her 7 p.m. shift. According to Neal, the reasons cited for her termination included complaints that she was intimidating, a poor team leader and failed to attend administrative meetings.

The petition refutes these claims, asserting that Neal was vital to the third shift at Mom’s. Its text and many comments on it speak especially of her aptitude for de-escalating tense situations with intoxicated or unruly students, who are common at the late-night dining location.

“She is incredibly skilled at diffusing potentially dangerous situations with inebriated students and is one very important reason Mom’s can stay open as late as it currently does,” the petition claimed.

Student behavior has indeed been cited as a reason for closing Mom’s earlier in the night. In January 2016, incidents with unruly students were the primary reason for the decision to move the closing hour of Mom’s from 3 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Additionally, the petition argues that the scheduling of administrative meetings unfairly disadvantaged Neal as a night shift worker.

“Dameca was unable to attend managerial meetings because her superiors scheduled them at noon when they are well aware that Dameca is a third shift manager and needs that time to sleep,” the petition stated.

According to Neal, the decision to terminate her was based on write-ups — formal complaints — lodged against her in the last year, including several of which she said she was not made aware of until the time of her termination.

On Monday morning, Marjorie Shamp, director of Campus Dining and Conference Services, said she was aware of the petition but deferred to Marcia Beasley, associate vice president for human resources, for comment. Beasley declined to comment on personnel decisions, citing privacy concerns.

“However, I can share that all such decisions are made with careful and thorough consideration of all the facts,” she said.

Neal appeared to cast doubt on the validity of the complaints lodged against her. She said that the write-ups filed against her were from people who either no longer work at the College or at least are not stationed in Mom’s. She also challenged the motives of those who made complaints.

“A lot of my write-ups came from people who wanted my job. Or who didn’t want a strong black woman telling them what to do,” Neal said.

One signatory to the petition, Cullen Dolson ’16, a former co-president of the Living Wage Campaign, also seemed to suggest an element of racial bias in the decision to terminate Neal, particularly on the grounds that she is intimidating.

“Students who lodge complaints must examine their own reasons for viewing Dameca as ‘intimidating’ as this seems certainly bound up in their own ignorance and bias,” Dolson said in a comment on the petition.

Asked if she also felt the decision carried a racist undertone,