Sodexo Inc. settled out of court with the State of New York for $20 million in July. That was for Sodexo’s shady and illegal practice of keeping refunds from its food suppliers back in 2006 ‘ savings that should have been passed on to state organizations like Binghamton University.

Very simply put, Sodexo was holding out on its clients. When a state like New York signs a deal with a contractor like Sodexo, the contractor is required to adjust its earnings retroactively based on its spending after the contract is signed. Sodexo used its clout as a giant buyer to pressure suppliers into giving the company lucrative rebates on its orders and, according to signed papers, the money should have gone back to the State.

Fair is fair, right? Well, Sodexo isn’t.

Throughout the years, Pipe Dream has routinely covered abuses perpetrated by the international corporation on the local level. But this case is something different.

We know that BU’s Sodexo workers, for example, are underpaid, unsupported, over-burdened, ill-managed and struggling (See ‘Sodexo awarded for ethics as workers make minimum wage,’ from the April 23, 2010 issue of Pipe Dream or ‘Sodexo deal could hurt workers’ benefits,’ from Nov. 4, 2008) but we have to assume that these facts never bothered the University much. We have a 10-year contract worth $120 million with the company.

But with this case, there is documented evidence that Sodexo not only withheld rebates from New York, but from BU itself. With trying economic times and repeated tuition increases, maybe Sodexo’s monetary abuse of BU will finally infuriate the school as much as Sodexo’s abuse of its employees infuriates us.

After all, our administration has been notably tough on grift lately. After an in-house investigation, University Police charged professor Seshu Desu with a felony in Vestal Town Court on Sept. 2 for falsifying business records.

His alleged embezzlement, which totaled a whopping $400 (not $400,000) on an intercontinental flight, prompted Interim BU President C. Peter Magrath to state that ‘Binghamton University will continue to be committed to promoting the highest standards of ethical conduct ‘ and will not tolerate violations of these standards under any circumstances.’

Desu was suspended without pay, the day after charges against him were filed.

We will be watching to see what actions the school takes in August of next year, when its contract with Sodexo expires.