EMPTY PLATES, EMPTIER STOMACHS

Art by Hannah Peters

For a humble $8,000 a year, Syracuse University students get the privilege of indulging in the school’s unlimited dining plan. While the six dining halls on campus promise to serve students a wide variety of meals throughout the day, students faced a different reality when they arrived on campus this fall.

“Multiple times this year I’ve walked into the dining hall and there’s been no stations open,” said freshman Elyssa Johnson, who dines at Sadler Hall. “The food that is out is either nearly empty, or not available at all.”

Johnson is not the only one experiencing a shortage of options during meals. Josephine VanRy, a resident advisor at Ernie Davis hall, said this semester marked a significant drop in the number of food options. Now in her fourth year eating at university facilities, she noticed that some popular food stations like the sandwich section are closed or regularly fail to put food out.

When asked why some of the dining hall services are not open or functioning like they used to, Interim Director of Campus Dining Carrie Frobe said the issue stems from a shortage of international and graduate student workers, who have historically filled these roles.

“A lot of those stations that you've seen closed right now—typically students run them, so we've been having this glaring hole of student labor,” she said.

Frobe explained that there was a significant drop of about 4% in the amount of international students on campus this year, which she says impacted the school’s ability to staff dining halls.

Aware of these staff shortages, Frobe said they welcome all feedback, and that she and Head Chef Rick Leonardo are always available to share a meal with students and listen to their concerns.

“It’s really important that students are willing to talk to us,” Frobe said.

But, when students do reach out, getting a response from SU officials isn't guaranteed. At the beginning of the semester, Associate Director of Residential Dining Kevin Stillman met with a group of RAs and encouraged them to reach out with any feedback. But when VanRy emailed Stillman in August, she did not receive an answer and did not see any change regarding her comments.

The SU dining plan is required for all students living in on-campus residence halls, according to the university’s website, and is a massive part of on-campus living for students who don’t have the luxury of communal or apartment kitchens. On top of this, the average room and board for 29 underclassmen at Syracuse is a hefty $19,756. Many students in university housing are bound to these costs and conditions for their first two years.

“I feel like the dining plans at Syracuse are really expensive,” VanRy said. “And I don't think our food really makes it worth it.”

This year, dining halls that serve the most students tend to not meet demand due to understaffing.

Some of the dining centers serve only one residence hall, while others must accommodate students from two or even three dorms and the additional SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry students who eat on SU’s campus.

On a typical night, Sadler Dining Hall operates with only four to eight chefs in the kitchen. However, as the dining center serves students at Sadler and Lawrinson halls, as well as SUNY ESF students, it needs at least 10 to 15 union chefs to run efficiently, according to a staff member of 11 years who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of being mistreated. This means that students are given even fewer food options.

“It has just gotten much, much worse,” VanRy said. “There's much less flexibility in what I can eat at any given time, and what anybody can eat.”

VanRy’s dining is even more limited due to having celiac disease. Trying to find gluten- free options had not been a struggle during her previous years at SU. Her freshman year, she praised the university for its gluten-free options, which were superior to other universities she considered attending. But now, she struggles with the repetitive nature of the meals offered.

“Over the years, that gluten free option has gotten really, really bad,” she said. “At Ernie [Davis], the gluten free option at any given meal time is just rice or quinoa and grilled chicken. Which, eating that for lunch and dinner every single day is insane.”

Another student, Lucía Santoro-Vélez, echoed VanRy’s concerns. Although Santoro-Vélez does not have any food restrictions herself, she noticed one of her friends with celiac disease struggles with meals. She pointed out that at Orange Hall, the majority of gluten-free options are contained in a small fridge of frozen meals—all the while the dining hall doesn’t even have a microwave.

SU freshman Ava Cozic, who has a vegetarian diet, said she actually enjoys the school’s meat- free dishes. However, she says about one to two times a week she struggles to find vegetarian- friendly options.

“I will walk around the dining hall and see ten different kinds of meat and not one vegetarian item, causing me to eat the same meals over and over again that do not meet my protein goal,” she said.

Santoro-Vélez also said she is concerned about the nutrition of the food available.

“I think that SU does a really bad job in providing healthier food alternatives,” she said.

She wishes that more vegetables and fresh foods were offered. For example, on the weekends Orange Dining hall often offers “game day foods” like wings and multiple types of mac n’ cheese, but no “healthier” options, she said.

Additionally, many of the stations that were closed down this year were replaced with pastries. In Sadler, where students previously had access to a build-your-own sandwich bar, they’ll now find trays filled with cookies.

Variety in food options is not the only problem that comes with a lack of workers. Students say they also noticed that some dining halls are unequipped to keep tables and eating areas clean.

“I remember my freshman year, it just seemed a lot more organized and well put together,” VanRy said.

But now, she said that she can rarely find a clean table—even in the mornings.

Empty stations, low food quality and dirty tables are just some of the complaints students have voiced this year. QR codes on the doors of each dining hall imply their voices are heard, and yet little to nothing has been done to improve campus dining.

Santoro-Vélez said that although she is aware of the resources to provide feedback, she feels discouraged to submit her concerns and doubts it would make a change.

“In my past three years here, the concerns have been the same every single year, and I haven't seen any change,” she said.