CAS Begins Dining Hall Reforms Due to Student Dissatisfaction

This semester, Campus Auxiliary Services (CAS) made several changes to the dining situation, including closing Letchworth Dining Hall, and converting the Mary Jemison Dining Hall to a buffet style dining experience. Changes to the dining halls have sparked disappointment and outrage across SUNY Geneseo. Students have expressed their grievances to CAS, demanding changes.

Emily Gioeli, a sophomore adolescent education major, started a petition on August 30 on Geneseo Speaks, a web page where students can petition on issues related to students and the college. In the petition, Gioeli recounts some of the complaints students have had about the dining halls. 

"As many students have recently found, the dining halls on SUNY Geneseo's campus do not have adequate options for student meals and students are paying more money to acquire less food and less options," wrote Gioeli in the petition.   

Gioeli also said, "Although [Red Jacket] Dining Hall has more options for food, they are running out of most options hours before they close due to almost all of the student body having to eat there…Resolutions to these include but are not limited to, changing the meal plans back to how they used to be, making sure that all options online on menus for the dining halls are actually being served to students, the school could attempt to obtain contracts with nearby restaurants for our meal plans to work at other locations, students could be given a refund for the lack of food being provided, allow students to opt out of the meal plan, etc...”

In an interview with Gioeli, she explained, “I chose a petition just because it would grab attention, students can sign it, the school can see how many people truly are affected by what’s going on, and I just felt that was the best way to get the word out there.”

“I found that what they've been doing in the past to be completely fine, it worked,” said Gioeli. “You had every food group, allergic and gluten free [students] all had many options, because downstairs [Mary Jemison] was customizable.”

Gioeli explains how, now that the Mary Jemison Dining Hall has changed, it is harder to find foods that fit into specialty diets. 

“We walk in [to Mary Jemison] the first week, and there are four or five options in total. And I think, within the first couple of days, the only thing that I could get that would not affect me [due to gluten intolerance], would be an apple.”

Students across campus find themselves affected by the changes that have been implemented and are struggling to find ways to cope.

An RA from the South Village speaks on how they have been affected by the new dining situation. “They should have transitioned more slowly,” they said. “With such a drastic change, no one is going to be pleased.”

“In the past, things were made to order,” they explain. “So, if I had a class, and if I had thirty minutes between the next one, I could run down to [Letchworth Dining Hall] and order chicken fingers and fries. And I knew that I would always have chicken fingers and fries at the time I ordered it…Now, unless I check the online menu, I don’t know if there is anything exciting.”

Despite CAS's best efforts, many students still struggle with getting their food. 

According to the RA from the South Village, “If I run down there from class, and they're not ready, because, you know, as a buffet style you grab and go, I guess I either wait or I don’t eat between my classes.” 

“In the past, many students paid roughly $1,400 for a meal plan for an entire semester consisting of over $1,000 to spend at any dining facility on campus including Starbucks and grab and go meals,” wrote Gioeli in the Geneseo Speaks petition. “Students now pay a range from $2,450 to $2,950 to receive a substantial amount less.” 

“I don't eat anything 90% of time I go, I get a chicken finger and I don't even like the chicken finger that I'm getting,” explains the RA from the South Village. “So many of the options are retail dollars. So, you have to keep putting money on this retail dollar section, and you’re still paying the $2200 for the unlimited.” 

On Wednesday, September 15, CAS Director Matthew Felthousen and associates spoke at the Student Association meeting to address student concerns and to present their plans to reform the dining experience at Geneseo. 

One student from the audience explained to CAS, “We should feel connected to you guys. You guys should be able to help us. If you cook with love, you should be able to spread that love around. But if you’re not making good food for people to be able to stick together, at this point we’re not going to stick out the whole dining system.”

“I do understand the frustration,” said Felthousen. “We're doing as much as we can on a weekly basis to bring things online at the pace approach.”

Felthousen explained, “We were hearing that some students were running out of funds before the end of the semester and didn’t have funds to put back on their accounts, so they were starting to go hungry towards the end of the semester.” 

Felthousen continued, “We were hearing that because we were focused on the declining balance plan that it was locking [the student body] into kind of a three-meal-a-day mentality as opposed to having the flexibility to go at many times throughout the day depending on your schedule and your eating habits.” 

According to the RA in the South Village, this does not make sense for most students. “I'm spending money at Walmart for food that I actually eat and spending money from your plan that I don't eat,” said the RA. “You know, and they said this was for food insecure people. But then they're making people pay more money. So, if I was already food insecure, where am I saving on this deal?”

“It was meant to give you the flexibility to go into the facilities as many times a day as you want, to eat as much or as little as you want,” said Felthousen. 

Nevertheless, the pandemic has caused a great deal of disruption, not only with daily living, but also with labor shortages, supply shortages, and other difficulties. 

“We did not expect that the pandemic impacts would be as severe as they still are,” said Felthousen. “One other factor of the pandemic, unfortunately, is that inflation is much higher than three percent, food costs have increased far beyond that number. We are doing everything we can to remain within the budget…supply issues are also a factor.”

Students such as Gioeli are sympathetic to these problems, however, they do not think that food shortage issues justify the changes made to how the menus at MJ Dining Hall are structured. 

Gioeli said, “If it’s a food shortage issue, [CAS] should be able to keep MJ how it was, but whatever food they have a shortage of just not have at the time.” 

Students have suggested other means by which some of their qualms could be resolved. The RA from the South Village said, “One, Letchworth needs to be open. Even if it is just upstairs Letchworth…Two, some sort of other option for the meal plan…This is either unlimited or not.”

Since the CAS presentation at the SA meeting on September 15, CAS has made updates to the dining halls. 

According to an email from CAS dated September 10, “We have increased our produce ordering in RJ to ensure that salad greens, dressings, and salad toppings remain in stock. We are offering a rotation menu of poke bowls and bento boxes at lunch daily as part of the unlimited dining plan at Twisted Fork in Red Jacket. We have adjusted the online menu to display the stations and better guide students to desired menu options and allergen-free alternatives.”

“We will continue to share a weekly update on progress in email and will share updates through social media and our website as they become available,” said CAS in an email. 

Matthew Felthousen said in an email, “Smoothies from Mary's will be available as part of the unlimited meal plans, and this is due to student requests.”

These changes have sparked opposing opinions across campus. Gioeli said, “That makes me feel confident that CAS is hearing students out. And that also, I think, is making this situation better, because they truly aren't ignoring students, they are hearing us, and they are making changes.”

The RA from the South Village says, “I think it's a halfhearted effort.”

“I hope that [the petition] changes the dining halls,” said Gioeli. “I hope that even in the future, if there are issues that maybe you won't have to come to petitions… I hope that it's something that in the future students don't have to deal with.”