Dining Disasters

Many students at Framingham State University are not pleased with the “caf” as it is commonly referred to. This is the place where most resident students dine on a regular basis, and is open for anyone willing to pay for a meal. This includes commuters, as well as anyone who decides to venture on in. Complaints are abundant when this topic is brought up, and for good reason. One issue is the amount of space, in regards to the amount of students that come at certain popular meal times. I for one was not pleased at the beginning of the semester when I received Director of Dining Services, Ralph Eddy’s email about avoiding “peak traffic times” to improve everyone’s dining experiences. There needs to be a space that can handle a large amount of students at popular dinning times. Maybe an expansion is in order. I’m no expert, but with three years of experience and counting, I feel confident in a saying a change is needed.

Another issue that irks many is the food. A miscommunication between my friend and I once occurred when I said, “I’m sick of eating, gross caf food”, and she thought I said, “I’m sick of eating, gross cat food”. They’re basically the same thing in my opinion. With the amount of money students pay, the least expensive resident meal plan being $1500 per semester for any 19 meals per week, and the most expensive meal plan being $1665 per semester for either 75 meals per semester and $500 dining dollars, or 120 meals per semester and $200 dining dollars, one would think that nutritious, at least decent quality, food would be served.  This not the case.

The meat is another area of concern. I would love to get some protein, but would rather not chomp on multi-colored pieces of chicken. I’m also quite certain that the chicken should not still be the color of the eraser on the top of my pencil. I also wonder whose idea it was to put the yogurt right next to the toaster. Those things give off a lot of heat, and lukewarm yogurt is just not appealing. Staying on the issue of heat, the plates and bowls are often times too hot. I know it is because they were recently washed and dried, so yes they are clean, but is there any way to cool them off before they become available and burn an unsuspecting hand? I do not have all the answers, but I do know that people would be much happier campers if some changes were made in regards to dining services.