The administration has officially committed to revising the dining menu standards and extending operational hours to accommodate student schedules. We will monitor the implementation of these changes throughout the coming semester to ensure the new terms remain in effect.
December 14, 2015
Final supporters
Dear Smith College,
As Smith College students living on-campus we would like to attract your attention to the following issue. As seniors who have been dining at each of the dining halls, we have noticed the decline of quality and decline of a number of dining menu options. As full-time students, we had the obligation to pay a total of $14, 950 for both room & board this academic 2015-2016 year. This amount imposed on our tuition bill forces us to purchase a dining plan if we like to live-on campus, given the declining quality of the food being served. If you look into past dining menus, in a week, students are given a choice of fried food, pasta, and overall a heavy carbohydrate diet that ultimately leads to fatigue and some more serious health issues. While there is a salad bar to choose from, we have noticed that there no longer is a variety of options of vegetables and/or they are not fresh. Also, this semester, the dining halls have changed the menu at mealtimes and have not been congruent to the menu that is posted online. Though we are fortunate to know beforehand of the menu for that day, we would like for dining halls to remain in accurate and follow the menu that is posted online.
Additionally, many students are limited by the hours of operation and meal times of the dining halls considering that they either have class, meetings, jobs, or extra-curricular activities. Given this, many students are not able to meet the dining hours and are forced to buy food off-campus or their own groceries. This adds a further financial strain on students that are already struggling to pay tuition, housing arrangements during break, books, supplies, and travel arrangements home. We realize that the current meal plan is convenient for some students living-on campus. Therefore, as a mean to keep each student’s best interest, we propose that the meal plan be separated from the rooming bill. This would allow students to choose and estimate the number of meals they would like to have in the dining halls and have that service available to them. To improve the quality of food and the variety of meal options, we propose that a survey be sent out to students asking for their feedback and how dining at Smith can improve. We realize that Smith has a number of projects and budgeting is crucial, however, we believe it is very possible to improve the quality of food at Smith College if given further attention. From an economic point of view, it seems easier to provide better quality food in smaller quantities given that Smith College has a small student population and there is a lot of food waste.
We acknowledge that there will not be any change in the upcoming year, however, we would like to draw your attention to this growing issue on campus. Students are becoming very unhappy with the meal plan and how it affects our nutrition and health, and most of all our limited budget. We need the appropriate nutrition in order to continue to live a healthy balanced diet and continue to academically succeed.
Updates
November 20, 2015
We are now finalizing a formal letter to the dining services administration detailing the discrepancies between the advertised menus and actual service. This document will be delivered to the office of the Director of Dining Services by the end of the current week.
Reached 100 supporters
November 20, 2015
58 Comments
I also struggle with the limited amount of options of food! If they decide to serve fish one day, every dining hall serves fish. Isn't the point of multiple dining halls to offer different food?
For 15k a year, I want healthy options that aren't just a salad bar. Extended hours (or a change in hours) to meet student schedules is also incredibly important.
As a student athlete, this is something I feel very strongly about! We often times come from practice and have food being put away when we get there or are not given any nutritious food before practices/games.
This is especially important on weekends! It is not okay to have the one and only option for food on campus on a Friday night to be fried fish. Also, look for a correlation between these weekend meals and the number of students transported to the hospital due to drinking (mostly on an empty stomach), it's not a coincidence.
It's a pretty sad state of affairs when even the dining staff who cooked the food can't tell me if one of my major allergens are in it. Every time I go to eat, I'm gambling with my health.
Please improve!
I really want the food to be as good as food at Umass
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The administration has officially committed to revising the dining menu standards and extending operational hours to accommodate student schedules. We will monitor the implementation of these changes throughout the coming semester to ensure the new terms remain in effect.
December 14, 2015
Final supporters
Dear Smith College,
As Smith College students living on-campus we would like to attract your attention to the following issue. As seniors who have been dining at each of the dining halls, we have noticed the decline of quality and decline of a number of dining menu options. As full-time students, we had the obligation to pay a total of $14, 950 for both room & board this academic 2015-2016 year. This amount imposed on our tuition bill forces us to purchase a dining plan if we like to live-on campus, given the declining quality of the food being served. If you look into past dining menus, in a week, students are given a choice of fried food, pasta, and overall a heavy carbohydrate diet that ultimately leads to fatigue and some more serious health issues. While there is a salad bar to choose from, we have noticed that there no longer is a variety of options of vegetables and/or they are not fresh. Also, this semester, the dining halls have changed the menu at mealtimes and have not been congruent to the menu that is posted online. Though we are fortunate to know beforehand of the menu for that day, we would like for dining halls to remain in accurate and follow the menu that is posted online.
Additionally, many students are limited by the hours of operation and meal times of the dining halls considering that they either have class, meetings, jobs, or extra-curricular activities. Given this, many students are not able to meet the dining hours and are forced to buy food off-campus or their own groceries. This adds a further financial strain on students that are already struggling to pay tuition, housing arrangements during break, books, supplies, and travel arrangements home. We realize that the current meal plan is convenient for some students living-on campus. Therefore, as a mean to keep each student’s best interest, we propose that the meal plan be separated from the rooming bill. This would allow students to choose and estimate the number of meals they would like to have in the dining halls and have that service available to them. To improve the quality of food and the variety of meal options, we propose that a survey be sent out to students asking for their feedback and how dining at Smith can improve. We realize that Smith has a number of projects and budgeting is crucial, however, we believe it is very possible to improve the quality of food at Smith College if given further attention. From an economic point of view, it seems easier to provide better quality food in smaller quantities given that Smith College has a small student population and there is a lot of food waste.
We acknowledge that there will not be any change in the upcoming year, however, we would like to draw your attention to this growing issue on campus. Students are becoming very unhappy with the meal plan and how it affects our nutrition and health, and most of all our limited budget. We need the appropriate nutrition in order to continue to live a healthy balanced diet and continue to academically succeed.
Updates
November 20, 2015
We are now finalizing a formal letter to the dining services administration detailing the discrepancies between the advertised menus and actual service. This document will be delivered to the office of the Director of Dining Services by the end of the current week.
Reached 100 supporters
November 20, 2015
58 Comments
We know many of the desserts have been sitting in the back of the kitchen for days before setting it out for us to eat. Also, we know that many of the FRESH fruits are not even brought out for us students to eat.
I also struggle with the limited amount of options of food! If they decide to serve fish one day, every dining hall serves fish. Isn't the point of multiple dining halls to offer different food?
For 15k a year, I want healthy options that aren't just a salad bar. Extended hours (or a change in hours) to meet student schedules is also incredibly important.
As a student athlete, this is something I feel very strongly about! We often times come from practice and have food being put away when we get there or are not given any nutritious food before practices/games.
This is especially important on weekends! It is not okay to have the one and only option for food on campus on a Friday night to be fried fish. Also, look for a correlation between these weekend meals and the number of students transported to the hospital due to drinking (mostly on an empty stomach), it's not a coincidence.
It's a pretty sad state of affairs when even the dining staff who cooked the food can't tell me if one of my major allergens are in it. Every time I go to eat, I'm gambling with my health.
Please improve!
I really want the food to be as good as food at Umass
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We know many of the desserts have been sitting in the back of the kitchen for days before setting it out for us to eat. Also, we know that many of the FRESH fruits are not even brought out for us students to eat.