{"id":4631,"date":"2017-02-17T09:49:17","date_gmt":"2017-02-17T14:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=4631"},"modified":"2025-08-23T17:08:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T21:08:15","slug":"food-for-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2017\/02\/17\/food-for-thought\/","title":{"rendered":"Food for Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nEat to live, or live to eat?\u00a0 Either way, we all need food to live.\u00a0 It\u2019s a necessity, and no one knows that better than college students.\u00a0 If you live on campus, chances are you already know that a meal plan is mandatory.\u00a0 There is only one exception to this rule: a note from a doctor.\u00a0 Not all notes, however, produce the same outcome.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chris Bell, director of student financial services, is responsible for managing the student meal plans and food service.\u00a0 Bell explained, \u201cIf there\u2019s some medical reason that a student cannot eat at food service, all we ask is a doctor\u2019s letter stating that.\u00a0 Then we would be more than willing to remove them from the food service contract.\u00a0 But there has to be a valid reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell cited two distinct reasons for mandatory meal plans.\u00a0 The first of these is the issue of inadequate kitchen space in the dorms. \u201cThe idea that you\u2019re going to have 150 students in a building cooking meals all at once is just not feasible,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n

The other reason for mandatory meal plans is the cost.\u00a0 \u201cWe have to maintain a certain level of students to receive the most favorable price for us, which translates into the most favorable price for students,\u201d Bell said.\u00a0 \u201cUnfortunately, our meal costs have gone up significantly.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t translated that cost to what students pay.\u00a0 For 2019, we\u2019re going to have to think about it.\u201d\u00a0 Bell explained that the change from ARAMARK to Sodexo affected the prices of meal plans.\u00a0 \u201cWe do have to at least break even.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about dissatisfaction in the student population, Bell said, \u201cWe admit and we recognize that it was a struggle in the beginning, for a number of reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell explained how he handles students who are dissatisfied with the food service.\u00a0 \u201cWe work closely with Sodexo to try to encourage them to make sure they\u2019re meeting the students\u2019 needs.\u201d\u00a0 Bell and other members of executive staff try to eat in the cafeteria\u00a0 \u201cat least three or four times a week.\u201d\u00a0 Bell also said, \u201cI hope the students are pleased with the steps that Sodexo has taken to improve the quality of the food.\u00a0 I like to think that\u2019s the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re hearing quite a bit.\u00a0 We\u2019re getting a fair amount of feedback from students through that official channel,\u201d Bell said, referring to the Food Service Committee.\u00a0 \u201cThey are working quite closely with Ashley (Jackson, food director) and Sodexo to manage the concerns and keep things moving in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Food Service Committee is organized by students, with Katharine Waldron as the chair.\u00a0 Waldron works closely with Dean of Students Jim Stepp and Bell to ensure that they receive accurate and abundant feedback from the student population.<\/p>\n

The committee met on Feb. 1.\u00a0 Stepp, Bell and Jackson were not in attendance.\u00a0 There were seven students there, including Waldron.\u00a0 Two staff members were also present.\u00a0 It was asked that the names of those students present remain anonymous.\u00a0 At the meeting, people made a number of negative comments about the food service Sodexo provided.\u00a0 Such comments included that the food is not being correctly labeled and that the food is not allergy friendly.\u00a0 Several students mentioned the gluten-free cooler in the cafeteria.\u00a0 The cooler contains gluten- free bread, the occasional muffin, butter and little else.<\/p>\n

Alyssa Sinclair is a freshman and a resident here.\u00a0 She was present at the committee meeting and gave permission to use her name.\u00a0 Food allergies prevent her from eating a majority of the things served in the cafeteria.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s really hard when things aren\u2019t labeled and you\u2019re allergic to things you can\u2019t see,\u201d Sinclair said.\u00a0 Sinclair is allergic to a number of things including: milk, eggs, beef, chicken and pork.\u00a0 Sinclair\u2019s doctor wrote a note concerning her allergies and Sinclair delivered the note to Bell and Stepp.\u00a0 Sinclair\u2019s meal plan was not canceled.\u00a0 Instead Stepp encouraged Sinclair to give the food service a chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met with Ashley three months ago.\u00a0 She told me she would get dairy-free cheese that night and it still hasn\u2019t happened,\u201d Sinclair said. \u201cIt seems like they don\u2019t care.\u00a0 They just want to give us food and push us out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Sinclair has a valid reason to be exempt from the meal plan, it seems no progress has been made in that direction.\u00a0 \u201cI met with Jim Stepp, the food director (Jackson) and the chef last week.\u00a0 They kept saying they wanted a list of foods I want from them.\u201d\u00a0 Jim Stepp scheduled a follow-up meeting between Sinclair and the chef so that Sinclair could present her list of foods.\u00a0 \u201cThe chef didn\u2019t show up to our meeting,\u201d Sinclair said.\u00a0 Sinclair informed Stepp about the situation. Stepp told Sinclair that the chef was waiting for her to get him from the kitchen where he was working.<\/p>\n

People at the meeting also made comments questioning the quality of the produce.\u00a0 \u201cWho wants to eat smushy grapes?\u201d\u00a0 One student said, \u201cThe salad sometimes tastes like chemicals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cost is an area of concern for students and staff as well.\u00a0 \u201cOne of my biggest problems is the cost.\u00a0 I\u2019m staff and I have to pay more than seven dollars for lunch,\u201d and anonymous attendee said.<\/p>\n

Waldron recorded all the comments made at the meeting to deliver to Stepp.\u00a0 If you have any questions or comments about your meal plan, you can email Stepp at james.stepp@maine.edu<\/a>.\u00a0 Stepp would appreciate any feedback you have to offer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eat to live, or live to eat?\u00a0 Either way, we all need food to live.\u00a0 It\u2019s a necessity, and no one knows that better than college students.\u00a0 If you live on campus, chances are you already know that a meal plan is mandatory.\u00a0 There is only one exception to this rule: a note from a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4631"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8896,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4631\/revisions\/8896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}