Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Carlos Guerra Students gather for an open forum hosted by Student Dining Services. Interim Director for Dining Services Lallah Howard was the main speaker and liaison for student questions. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Carlos Guerra Steve Bolner, a junior communication major, speaks with Interim Director for Dining Services Lallah Howard about meal plan costs and structure on Wednesday in the MSC Flag Room. Howard presented information and answered questions regarding the direction and needs of student dining services. [Click to enlarge]

Dining Services meets with students to discuss problems with the current meal situation.

Many students vocalized concerns and offered suggestions to improve the structure of meal plan options at Wednesday's open forum for Dining Services.

"We are in a strategic planning process; one part is to find a new executive director for dining services," said Interim Dining Director, Lallah Howard. "I currently have about 27 applicants, and at the end of the process we will bring two or three candidates to campus for further review."

Howard said that Dining Services wants to have an executive director in place no later than the beginning of the spring semester.

In addition to finding a director, the strategic planning process includes capital facilities and equipment rehabilitation and the construction of more dining areas on campus.

The MSC Renovation plan includes the possibility of more dining locations, and the upcoming Life Sciences Building is scheduled to have a coffee shop. She said that the Residence Hall Association intends to include new dining facilities in the development of various Living and Learning communities on the north and south sides of campus.

These plans mean nothing if the funds to develop them are non-existent. She said large amounts of capital is necessary to follow through with these anticipated projects.

A third part of the strategic planning process includes the creation of a Student Advisory Committee to serve as the student voice of Dining Services.

Students expressed a concern for the missing Tomato Bar in the Commons lobby.

The decision was made to order an inspection of cooking equipment in the summer. Once reviewed, it was determined that equipment was inadequate.

Efforts to repair and replace the equipment to reinstate the Tomato Bar have been put on hold, and efforts to improve the quality of equipment, infrastructure and plumbing in the Commons have taken precedence.

"The facility may potentially go away in the next few years, and we must look at all locations as part of the strategic planning process before changes are made," Howard said. "We are trying to use your money to the best advantage."

Students expressed concerns that those with special dietary needs, food allergies and vegetarians were not being given enough options.

"I have been here since 2001. I was diagnosed in 2002 with celiac disease, which makes me allergic to wheat. I have a really hard time on campus finding things to eat, and I was told that I was going to have more options this year," said Whitney Morlatt, senior biochemistry major. "This year I have found that I have less options because most of the things on meal plans I cannot eat.

"I am having trouble finding things I can eat on regular basis. I'm concerned about what you all are doing to meet special needs, because I was told, as a special needs student, that I would have options. I'm feeling that my money is not even worth it now."

Howard said that Dining Services is working with Carrie Harris, head of the International House of alliance, in an effort to develop protocols to ensure safe food is provided and safety regulations are met.

Another student said that she was vegetarian by choice, but she knows that others are not allowed to eat meat because of their religion. She wanted to know if there are any plans to provide an interim vegetarian food choice for those who need it.

A third student wanted to know why the restaurants are not open at convenient hours for students. He said that when they are open that there are not many food selections.

"We are doing studies of traffic counts at different locations. We can leave it open, but the traffic count is so low, that is doesn't make it worthwhile to leave it open because of labor costs," Howard said. "We are addressing the options available."

Some students concerns were with their purchased meal plans. They asked if changes could be made to their plans or if it was possible to cancel them completely.

"Different plans may be switched if their value is that same, but if a meal plan is cancelled after the first week of classes, 25 percent of the original price will be withheld," Howard said. "It's the same as dropping a class."

Howard said that there were plans to get more independent restaurants to come to campus.

"I think we all would love to see some new concepts and some new things. That is part of the plan," Howard said.

Forum recap
Provided food choices for those with food allergies and vegetarians.

Discussed ways to better use dining dollars and meal plans to facilitate students' needs.

Informed students of ways they can get involved to actively change and improve meal plan options.

For additional information on how to get involved with the Student Advisory Committee, contact Hunter Bollman at hbollman@gmail.com, or Logan Nichols at logan_nichols@tamu.edu.

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