Food services at SJU have seen their ups and downs
Pasquale Passarella, Editorial Page Editor, Emeritus
Issue date: 4/22/09 Section: Editorials and Opinion
In the last four years, I have written often about conditions on campus that affect the lives of St. John's students. I have written about the construction that has turned our campus into an obstacle course of dirt piles and cut down available parking spots for commuters, the effectiveness of the laptop program and how it can better serve students, the intricacies of the housing selection process, and possible ways to improve the turnout of SGI elections. But of all the topics I have looked at, none has seen such positive change as the state of
dining services on campus.
Food services is one of the biggest concerns affecting the lives of residents as well as commuter students. While residents depend on campus dining halls to provide basic meals and the C-store for snacks and drinks to stock their rooms, commuters also rely on campus dining institutions for quick meals between classes.
That said, students who have relied on dining services at St. John's for the last few years have voiced a number of concerns over the quality, convenience and variety of what the various dining halls have to offer.
In about a five-year span, St. John's has seen three different companies stand as food service providers on campus. The first, Aramark, was replaced before any of the current undergraduate students were attending this school. Students at St. John's during Aramark's reign had many complaints that would sound eerily familiar to any student going here now. Food quality was poor, variety was nonexistent and the hours of dining halls were anything but convenient.
Sodexho, the company that this year's seniors came into St. John's with and that freshmen have probably not even heard of, was viewed by many who were here for Aramark as the answer to their prayers. The food was better, Sodexho seemed to be going out of its way to make improvements for the students' sakes, and there was hope for further improvements.
However, after a few semesters the dining service seemed to fall into a serious rut. Resident students found the lack of variety in Montgoris appalling as there were actual complaints that serving chicken as the entrée five days a week was just too much, especially during that period of days when students would cut into their chicken to
dining services on campus.
Food services is one of the biggest concerns affecting the lives of residents as well as commuter students. While residents depend on campus dining halls to provide basic meals and the C-store for snacks and drinks to stock their rooms, commuters also rely on campus dining institutions for quick meals between classes.
That said, students who have relied on dining services at St. John's for the last few years have voiced a number of concerns over the quality, convenience and variety of what the various dining halls have to offer.
In about a five-year span, St. John's has seen three different companies stand as food service providers on campus. The first, Aramark, was replaced before any of the current undergraduate students were attending this school. Students at St. John's during Aramark's reign had many complaints that would sound eerily familiar to any student going here now. Food quality was poor, variety was nonexistent and the hours of dining halls were anything but convenient.
Sodexho, the company that this year's seniors came into St. John's with and that freshmen have probably not even heard of, was viewed by many who were here for Aramark as the answer to their prayers. The food was better, Sodexho seemed to be going out of its way to make improvements for the students' sakes, and there was hope for further improvements.
However, after a few semesters the dining service seemed to fall into a serious rut. Resident students found the lack of variety in Montgoris appalling as there were actual complaints that serving chicken as the entrée five days a week was just too much, especially during that period of days when students would cut into their chicken to
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