Black History Month Menu At NYU 'Inexcusably Insensitive'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A food vendor is in hot water over a racially insensitive menu at New York University.
The Black History Month menu at New York University's Weinstein Passport Dining Hall was full of racial stereotypes and included a watermelon flavored beverage, collard greens, corn bread, Kool-Aid and barbecue ribs, WCBS 880's Sean Adams reported.
A student complained to the head cook, who explained the employees who cooked up the menu are African American, according to The New York Times.
The student took to social media and NYU President Andrew Hamilton quickly denounced the menu, calling it "inexcusably insensitive."
Hamilton said the university did not approve of the food choices.
"We are extremely dissatisfied with Aramark's actions in this instance," Hamilton said in a statement. "The drink and food choices for this meal were not discussed with NYU beforehand. NYU's dining administrators will insist that Aramark put in place a mechanism to avoid a repeat of yesterday's episode, such as consulting the existing student advisory body and campus cultural groups about the menu for special events."
Aramark issued an apology and said it has suspended the director of of the dining hall and will require sensitivity training for the rest of the kitchen staff.
"We are extremely disappointed by the insensitive and offensive actions taken by one of our employees who did not follow policy and processes," Victoria Pasquale, Aramark Regional Vice President, said in a statement. "The individual acted independently in a way that runs counter to our values and compromised our longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. We have suspended the employee pending a full investigation. We are also re-training all employees to ensure a regrettable incident like this is not repeated. Again, we apologize for the mistake and commit to do better in the future."