Aramark is a multi-billion dollar company that provides food, facility management, and more services to health care facilities, universities, schools, prisons, stadiums and more. At the University of Iowa, they manage the athletic dinner services. Most notably, they run the concessions at Kinnick Stadium and other arenas on campus.
There are three main reasons why the University should not continue working with Aramark: they work in ICE detention centers, they intentionally serve poor food, and utilize prison labor.
Aramark has employees and job listings at Bluebonnet Detention Facility, Orange County Jail, St Clair County Jail, and more ICE detention facilities. Famously, in 2025, detainees in Bluebonnet Detention Facility formed the letters “SOS” as a cry for help. ICE detention facilities have notoriously bad conditions with reports of overcrowding, physical and sexual abuse, and even murder within the centers. In 2025 alone, 32 people died in ICE custody. These crimes, in effect, are being perpetuated and supported with the help of Aramark…