Drexel University Dining

James Kirwan and Joey Mannarino John Borczon position 102 2/28/13 Drexel dine Not Meeting Basic take As any college school-age child knows, the tincture of a schools eat h only is extremely important. To be self- do as disciples, it is an absolute moldiness that a student is strong and exhaustively for you(p). One of the keys to existence strong and tumefynessy is a healthy and balanced diet, filled with a miscellany of viandss. At Drexel, we argon being deprive of this necessity. While we do drive home a eat sign of the zodiac that is open for most of our day, actually eating at that place is an issue. For all freshmen at Drexel, a eat object is required.There ar three different tralatitious meal plans, ranging from a hefty $1,830 to $1,915. all(prenominal) three traditional plans revolve virtually the Handshumacher eat revolve or so. The custom meal plans excessively provide various(a) options, that in the end, focus around the Handshumacher Dining Center as well. The meal plans are rottenly expensive however, considering the tuition most students are paying(a), this is non the issue. The issue is the quality of aliment in the eat manor abidance. It is one point for students non to enjoy the proveder that they eat, nevertheless even much of a occupy when the feed they are eating is serious to be eaten.Just in the last a few(prenominal) weeks, at least 10 large number form been bed ridden for days callable to, what they believe, to be forage tipsiness from the Handshumacher Dining Center. This is a major problem. Once a person has recoil a food-borne distemper, participating in academics and/or extracurricular activities becomes near im workable, affecting students lives and grades severely. With students potentially in peril of becoming cronk and being unnatural in their academics, this is more than just disliking the dine hall. The Handschumacher Dining Center is not impudent by any means at al l.After eating thither a few times, occurrences such as finding a single b deprivation hair in our mashed potatoes and flakes of crude in our drinks became a unconstipated ordeal. When trying to fix club soda from the soda machine there would be various particles coming from the machine itself. Once it comes pop of the dirty machine, it get out then go into one of the glass cups provided by the dine center. These are rarely cleaned properly and there al way of lifes spots and otherwise difference on them (see below). pic This is withal a major problem with the utensils and even the plates.There is simply no excuse for this, as we are paying a straightforward amount of bills for the dine hall. The entire eat hall environment is a disgrace. Upon entering the dine hall, you are lead d shit got a flight of stairs into a dull gray basement with next to no natural lighting. The airfield where the food is alert for the students is not visible, and establish on the food that is served, belike for good reason. Once our tray is filled with whatever sub-par food they have prepared for us, we are to go into a very poorly knowing seating area. The eating environment is remote from pleasant.Half the challenge is finding a put back that is clean enough to eat at, as the tables are not regularly cleaned strike when students leave them. One could argue that it is the students office to keep the tables clean, but this is simply illogical. If there are people being stipendiary to clean the tables, a student is not going to go out of their way in making veritable their area is cleaned. The lack of cleanliness of the eat center extends beyond the seating area. If what we see out in the seating area is bad, what goes on rear the scenes is even worse.In a December 2010 pascal Food Code inspection, there were pilfer feces found in the kitchens and terminal areas, fruit flies observed underneath a self-serve beverage station and lack of a dedicated sink fo r mop-water disposal, among other violations (Strauss). The Triangle, Drexels overboldspaper, has various accounts recorded intimately the Handschumacher Dining Center, one of which includes a student seeing a live abstract running around. In these conditions, it is just closely impossible for any food prepared to possibly be sanitary.This January, The Triangle perform another article that discusses students receiving food poisoning and even the norovirus from the Handschumacher Dining Terrace. Norovirus is a highly contagious virus usually contagious through undercooked food and occasionally take aim contact with an infected person. The student who contracted the norovirus ended up being displace to the ER. In the Drexel Facebook group there are posts weekly that complain about food poisoning or stomach aches caused from this eat hall. One of those students is Maggie Heath-Bourne.She personally knows a good deal of people who have gotten sick from this dine center. She wa s unable to attend her Wednesday classes. Maggie also positive that the dining center caused her illness because she had been really rushed at the ancestry of the week and just now had time to go to the Hans on Monday and Tuesday, and she got sick on Wednesday. Since the university basically requires its freshman to eat at this dining hall, something needs to be done. There is no reason students should be scared for their health by eating at their own dining hall.The issues above are perfectly unacceptable for our dining hall, but in actuality, these are issues approach by kinda a few dining halls around the country. In examining the various dining halls that have had problems there seems to be one parkland thread- the food production company Sodexo. We asked friends of ours how snug they were with their dining halls. Those who were happy with their dining halls went to schools that did not have Sodexo. Most of these students dining halls were keep backled by Aramark. In f urther research, it became apparent that Sodexo is the idea of our problems at Drexel.The same types of problems that we had at Drexel were faced by students at Fordham University, who also contracts Sodexo. An evoke of the inspection read The inspections unearthed evidence of mice, roaches and indecent storage of food, shortcomings that placed Fordham eateries in the last-place grade bracket (Ram Online). This is concerning not only when for Fordham students but for any school that allows Sodexo to control its dining environment. The case at Fordham got so out of hand that the dining hall was required to be shut passel for a little while. Once it was at last opened back up, the tudents decided to indorse a protest. However, this protest got them absolutely nowhere. At Drexel, there has to be a solution that we earth-closet achieve to get a decent selection of food in our dining hall. At Fordham University, the method of a protest failed, as Sodexo still stayed as the scho ols main food supplier. Sodexo claims on its website that it has a board of students that overview its dining services. This board of students does not have a representative from Drexel University on it. If we had some input about our dining hall through this board, maybe there would be some action taken.Another solution we could execute is introducing a board of various students that oversees and whole kit and caboodle with the kitchen supply to make sure the meals are both well prepared and well varied. These students would need to be Drexel students who frequent the dining hall. By being on this board, they will receive no benefits towards their dining hall plans or anything of the tell aparts. It would be a totally transparent board also. This way, students would have an way out to go to to complain about the problems in this dining hall. The way it is set up now, it is extremely hard to get a meeting with anyone in the dining hall.For the habit of this paper we attempted to set up a meeting with the director of residential living on campus. It took us about an entire month to schedule a meeting with this man. For a campus environment that can be fair to all, the food staff needs to be much more accessible. It is ridiculous that we have to wait so long for a meeting with individual who can make a remove for us. This student board could supervise Sodexo until its contract with Drexel University is over. However, as soon as possible getting Sodexo out of Drexels dining hall would be ideal.This company has proven time and time again passim the country that it cannot maintain a dining environment. Sure, it can provide food, but not good or safe food. This student leadership board could take a look at other food companies that are doing a better wrinkle satisfying both students needs and also pass health inspections. Drexel has decent dining options outside of the dining hall. There is a second dining option, accessible only through our dining dollars which is kept fair clean. The food choices are from chains across the country. The election of food is not the best, but at least it is kept clean. This would probably not be the direction for our dining hall to go in. Drexel has a mental faculty dining hall, run by Sodexo, which is treated in a different stylus entirely then the Handschumacher Dining Center. why should the students be getting second regulate food when they are paying for a meal plan? Also, Drexel just authoritative a large scale confess that is going to a renovation come across for the area outside of the main building. With this money, Drexel could have begun production on a dining hall run by the twelfth Street Caterers, also a Drexel company.With so many possible solutions why do we allow Drexel to continue to feed us the same dirty and poorly made food? We have to find some sort of way to make sure that Drexel implements the students opinions into choosing a new plan and direction for its dining hall. To start, we essential set up some sort of board for students to voice their opinions directly to Sodexo. From there, we must see what we can do to get Sodexo out, and using this same board of students, create a new solution that pleases all students and also follows health standards. No issuing what we do, we cannot keep going in the expressive style that we are going.