Two employees of the on-campus Joe Van Gogh cafe were fired without warning because Duke vice-president for student affairs Larry Moneta called up the owner of Joe Van Gogh to complain about a rap song that was being played when he entered the cafe.
Moneta's complaint was that the rap song (Young Dolph's "Get Paid") had the N-word and the F-word. When he complained to the employees about it, they immediately turned it off and offered to give him his muffin for free. It had been part of a Spotify playlist they had playing in the store. Moneta refused the muffin and was reported to "harrass" the worker at the counter.
Moneta claims that he didn't ask for the employees to be fired, but in an audio recording, Joe Van Gogh human resources official Amanda Wiley stated, "Duke University has instructed us to terminate the employees that were working that day." Neither employee had any record of workplace misconduct.
As a Duke graduate, I find this situation unacceptable. While I am not offended by cuss words in music, I think it's perfectly valid for Moneta to object to it and request that Joe Van Gogh establish a better policy for background music, but to get two employees fired without warning is a disgusting abuse of power on his part for which he needs to be held accountable.
At a minimum, these two workers need to get their jobs back immediately, and the actions of Moneta need to be investigated by the University's HR offices.
