Ask any student at Guilford to name the worst qualities of the college and you will invariably hear cafeteria food cited as an area needing improvement.
Last Friday, approximately 30 Guilford students, staff, and alumni began an effort to shift the issue to the forefront.
The group, with its variety of signs like “We want better treatment of employees” and “We want better food,” silently demonstrated in the Founders lobby to greet members of the board of trustees as they entered a luncheon with the budget committee.
“I want the trustees to see a little bit more about what’s up on campus, rather than just thinking of everything as fine,” said Senate president Naz Urooj, a chief organizer of the demonstration. “When the trustees come, some of our administration tries to keep everything down low and sugar-coated so everything looks all great for the trustees.”
Although no trustee addressed the demonstrators directly, president Kent Chabotar spoke to the crowd and gave his thoughts on the situation.
“I think [the food] needs to be improved,” said Chabotar, who has eaten in the cafeteria about a dozen times since coming to Guilford. “I came here from Bowdoin, where we had the fifth best dining service in the country, and I ran it for 11 years, so I am used to a different quality of food as well.”
Although everyone agreed improvements are needed, opinions varied more widely when it came to identifying specific problems with the dining service.
For junior demonstrator Zoe Kelly, the biggest problem with the cafeteria is its inconvenient hours. “When I came to Guilford, I was promised that under this meal plan, the caf would be open from around 7:30 a.m. until 9:30 at night,” Kelly said. “But over the years, it has been closed more and more, and basically I am not getting what I was promised.”
Anne Lundquist, dean of campus life, would like to see more flexibility. “We need to have a variety of meal plans,” she said. “The fact that there is one cost and one plan for all students doesn’t give much choice … If students can choose X number of meals a week to fit their lifestyle, then I think that will address part of it.”
For Guilford graduate and cafeteria employee Noriko Linauma, plan choices are the least of it.
“I think the food is getting worse and worse, and there is unequal treatment from management,” Linauma said.
Chabotar said he also believes that facilities and training need to be upgraded, a point raised principally by Urooj.
“Sometimes when we look at the caf, students just complain about the food, but we also look at how the food is being prepared, the facilities, and how the employees are treated,” Urooj said.
“There are a lot of problems at Guilford, and one of them is the caf and the way it runs and functions . And it needs to be fixed.”
Categories:
Complaints (and Action) Against Caf
Adam Lerner
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January 31, 2003
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