The VolCard will soon take its first steps off campus.
As early as this summer, the VolCard will become an accepted form of payment to many vendors down Cumberland Avenue. The decision, made by the UT Dining Board, seeks to expand the university’s payment options to be more inclusive of businesses around campus.
Blake Roller, a senate chair for SGA and member of the University Dining Board, described the decision to expand VolCard payment options to The Strip as a compromise with Aramark representatives.
“They let us have some of the things we wanted, they got some of the things they wanted,” Roller said of the deliberation, which was partially made possible by requiring a $300 minimum Dining Dollar balance for incoming freshman in the fall of 2015.
The UT Dining Board is an administrative board that discusses and makes decisions concerning the university’s various dining policies. The Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration Jeff Maples as well as several Aramark representatives oversee the administrative board while appointed members of SGA represent student interests.
Mary Patterson, district marketing manager at Aramark, declined to comment.
Roller described the delay of bringing the VolCard to The Strip as mostly “red-tape” partly surrounding the card itself.
“UT has to find a vendor to do the card swipe, they have to make sure that the card swipe and the card numbers are encrypted,” Roller said. “They don’t want the vendors and public having access to all their student ID numbers.”
While Roller said he eventually sees the VolCard further expanding to locations in Market Square and Kingston Pike, he acknowledges that the acceptance of Dining Dollars at any of these locations is unlikely.
“Dining Dollars are basically an Aramark gift card,” Roller said. “So those will not be acceptable on the Strip at this time.”
Even with the allowance of VolCard accounts on The Strip, Cumberland merchants prepare for the expansion with slight contempt.
For Joe Burger, owner of the McDonald’s on Cumberland Avenue, the inclusion of the VolCard on Cumberland Avenue comes much later than promised.
“Why did it take so long?” Burger asked. “(UT) originally told us it would be December. Then it was March. And, now it’s next year.”
In addition to the delay of bringing the VolCard to The Strip, Burger expressed irritation at administration’s choice to permit Dining Dollars as a form of payment at Panda Express and Raising Cane’s.
“It’s definitely not fair to the merchants on Cumberland Avenue who are trying to make a living, who pay city taxes which actually go to help the university,” Burger said. “Nobody wants that program they’ve got, and it’s very unfair to students and to business owners.”
For Jonah Riggs, general manager of Copper Cellar on Cumberland Avenue, the university’s recent actions have unfortunately soured his relationship with the administration.
“We consider our relationship with the University a mutually-beneficial partnership, but recent events are making the partnership extremely one-sided,” Riggs said. “The Cumberland district is the front porch to the University and is vital to maintain a prospering campus life. There is currently no incentive to open a small business on the strip with the university buying up land and extending their tax incentives to their leases.”
