Many Week of Welcome (WOW) leaders have voiced their anger about Plu$ Dollars earned during WOW inexplicably vanishing from their PolyCards on Sept. 20, and many can’t explain why or how this happened.
Aerospace engineering senior and WOW leader Jason Bertels said that the case of the vanishing Plu$ Dollars came as a surprise to himself and fellow WOW leaders.
“It was my understanding, and the understanding of a lot of other WOW leaders — and by a lot I mean probably a majority — that we would have those Plu$ Dollars throughout the quarter,” Bertels said. “So we all kind of conserved them.”
At the beginning of the week, WOW leaders were told they were going to receive an additional $71.45 each to cover their eating expenses on Monday and Tuesday, which were not considered days of WOW. This money was taken off of their PolyCards at the end of the week without notification.
“If they had just said, ‘Make sure you spend them before they run out,’ I would have a bunch of orange juice sitting in my refrigerator,” Bertels said.
Assistant Director of Student Life and Leadership and Director of Orientation Programs Andrene Kaiwi-Lenting said the additional Plu$ Dollars were given to WOW leaders without much explanation.
“They were not told that,” Kaiwi-Lenting said. “And part of that had to do with not really clearly understanding on my part. I learned on Monday morning when campus dining reminded me. Leaders were not given that clear instruction: use it this week only.”
Kaiwi-Lenting and Assistant Coordinator of Student Life and Leadership Jason Mockford said the reason Student Life and Leadership did not clearly explain this was because it was a last minute thing. They wanted to give WOW leaders the extra Plu$ dollars because they were all on campus two days before WOW officially began.
If they had more time to plan accordingly they would have done it differently, Mockford said.
“Our ideal situation is we just get the meal plan for the week.” Mockford said.
This was not an option because the places open during the week, such as Backstage Pizza, Starbucks and Campus Market, only accept Plu$ Dollars, not meals.
“This was just literally that-day problem solving,” Mockford said.
The addition of Plu$ Dollars was put together through a joint effort by Student Life and Leadership and the Cal Poly Corporation.
The contract says, “Plu$ Dollar Program — Plu$ dollars for Orientation Leaders (OL’s), Monday Breakfast, Sept. 13 through Wednesday Lunch, Sept. 15; Unused Plu$ Dollars are non-refundable and are forfeited at the end of the contract period.”
Although it is stated in the contract, few — if any — WOW leaders knew what it said, and Kaiwi-Lenting and Mockford were not clear on its language with such short notice.
“It came together literally the day that the leaders arrived,” Mockford said.
Student Life and Leadership and the Cal Poly Corporation want students who participated in WOW to know that it was a result of a misunderstanding and the hectic atmosphere that comes with WOW.
“It’s crazy,” Marketing and Public Relations Manager for the Cal Poly Corporation Yukie Nishinaga said. “It’s a crazy five days of your life. You’re working all day every day taking care of these wowies. And it’s hard; it gets chaotic. Us taking the money away, it was based on the contract, that’s just how it worked out.”
Looking ahead, the money will not be reimbursed to WOW leaders and the contract will be upheld.
However, both Student Life and Leadership and the Cal Poly Corporation want the WOW leaders to be happy and apologize for any confusion.
“It’s a bummer that people are upset by it because it wasn’t intended to be a mean thing,” Nishinaga said. “It’s a misunderstanding.”
Who actually paid for these plus dollars, the wow leaders or student life and leadership? The unspent dollars should be refunded to the purchaser, but we all know the parasitic cal poly corporation wont do that. After all, their sole aim is to rape this campus community out of every last farthing.
The money was paid for through a contract between Cal Poly Corporation and Student Life and Leadership. Meaning it was funded by the school and any unused Plu$ Dollars went back to the Cal Poly Corporation.
Cal Poly Corporation and Cal Poly are completely separate entities. One is private whereas the other is public…one is a parasite and the other is the host. If only the campus community was aware of how the corp steals from them each and every day, perhaps some structural changes would be made in lieu of laying off teachers, etc…..
Why don’t they just give them back the plus dollars? Is it really that much money? I mean, ethically, they should have been more clear about them disappearing at the end of the week. Also, by doing what feels like punishing the leaders of this program, the school is souring peoples attitudes towards volunteering. It’s really sad that the school is so greedy.
I’m pretty sure that explicitly stating in the contract that the plus dollars would be gone at the end of the week is clear enough. It may suck for the WOW leaders that they didn’t have the opportunity to spend the plus dollars but Cal Poly Corporation did nothing wrong.
Of course they didn’t do anything wrong….besides take money from the school for services not rendered. But hey, that’s how the cal poly corporation is able to survive and hand out fat paychecks to the “board.” What the fuck, I’m down to pay more in student fees to support a bloated entity that ASI has the right and ability to completely take over. Unfortunately, few are aware that millions of dollars are usurped by the Cal Poly Corporation every year….money that should go to the school/students.
Of course they didn’t do anything wrong….besides take money from the school for services not rendered. But hey, that’s how the cal poly corporation is able to survive and hand out fat paychecks to the "board." What the fuck, I’m down to pay more in student fees to support a bloated entity that ASI has the right and ability to completely take over. Unfortunately, few are aware that millions of dollars are usurped by the Cal Poly Corporation every year….money that should go to the school/students.