No Secrets at This CIA

At the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), the anger and tension is all out in the open. According to the N.Y. Times:

In early April, more than two-thirds of the members of the teachers’ union approved a vote of no confidence against the president, Tim Ryan. They complained of shoddy equipment at the institute’s main campus in Hyde Park, N.Y., as well as slipping academic standards. They charged that the administration was more likely to retaliate against critics than listen to them.

Next, students began to organize at Facebook.com. Some hung “Fire Tim Ryan” signs in their dorm rooms. They added to the list of complaints, accusing the administration of becoming too close to the corporate food world, and even criticizing the food they are required to cook, which now includes more institutional fare like frozen waffle fries.

Frozen waffle fries? You have to be kidding.

Then last week the administration prevented La Papillote, the campus newspaper, from printing articles about the unrest. Although the newspaper was not designed to be an independent publication, the editor, David Deegan, resigned in protest.

“Do not stand idle as the mouth of the people is gagged,” Mr. Deegan, who recently finished an internship in banquets at a Florida resort, told the student government at a meeting last week where he announced his decision.