UW-Madison Director of University Housing Paul Evans contended the alleged March 1 harrassment of several students at Ed's Express was not racially motivated, contrary to what protestors claim.
Still, Evans admitted Dan Jonas, the manager at whom the allegations are directed, did not handle the incident in question properly and that he understands why students are upset.
\[Jonas] did not [approach the situation] in a way that we would condone or expect a manager to do,"" Evans said. ""He was not professional.""
Evans did say that Ed's staff has faced numerous problems with unruly students in the past, citing one case in which students turned over a plate of nachos and smashed it with their fists. He said the staff has not done a good job of dealing with them.
""We're taking the blame for not getting these under control sooner,"" he said.
Yet Evans mentioned the poor treatment his staff often receives from the aforementioned students when staff members confront them.
""They really have gotten [verbally] abused pretty badly,"" he said.
UW-Madison sophomore Lauren Woods, president of the Wisconsin Black Student Union that is participating in the sit-ins, disagreed with Evans' assertion that the March 1 incident had nothing to do with race, noting the language Jonas allegedly used was bigoted.
""The language ['you people'] is in and of itself very prejudiced and has a racial overtone,"" she said.
Evans sent an e-mail to all UW-Madison students that reside in university housing Monday explaining the incident and the ongoing investigation.
He said he plans to meet with his managers in an effort to establish ways to better deal with situations like this.
