Complaints predominated at a forum held to discuss Saint Xavier’s Dining Services on Tuesday, April 9 in the diner atrium. The event, cosponsored by the Residence Hall Association (RHA), the Student Government Association (SGA) and the Student Activities Board (SAB) was intended to gauge student opinions regarding the various dining venues on campus.
Most students who attended were extremely critical of what they perceive as high meal prices at the venues. “If I didn’t have to eat here, I wouldn’t,” claimed Jeanine Sinople, a senior speech pathology and psychology major who is also a resident student. “It’s just expensive.”
Vince Canino, a freshman computer science major who is a commuter student, agreed admitting that he tends to avoid dining on campus whenever he can. “There’s got to be something they can do to lower prices,” he said.
“Pricing is always my challenge,” said Linda Moreno, Director of Auxiliary Services and the school’s liaison with its food supplier, Chartwells. “I’m always trying to challenge Chartwells to be as good or better priced than [its rival] Sodexo,” she stated.
Even so, she admitted that in order to sustain any kind of food business on campus, a constant balance must be struck. She explained that, unlike a normal franchise which can simply leave a location if business does not warrant its continuation, dining venues must always be accessible to students, no matter how many or how few use them. “The underlying infrastructure must always be there, even if the student is not,” Moreno emphasized.
As a result, certain price levels must be maintained merely to cover costs. She suggested that one solution to cut costs and prices would be to close a food venue—a proposition she believes students would not be fond of, and one she is therefore not exploring.
Dining Service’s need to bring in a certain amount of revenue just to cover costs also explains why resident meal plans are mandatory. Some resident students complained about the mandatory meal plans, claiming that they spend much less money then they have on their particular plan and, as a result, end up wasting unused dollars.
To that, Moreno observed a contradiction that on one hand students complain about high prices and on the other hand many students cannot spend enough to fully utilize their meal plans.
Vice President for Student Affairs, John Pelrine, who made an appearance at the forum, suggested that bringing in additional commuter dollars could help offset some of the costs. “We’re trying for a commuter meal plan,” he stated.
Moreno confirmed this saying that she is currently working on a commuter meal plan idea but that for it to prove effective, it would need to bring in extra dollars above and beyond those raised from commuters paying in cash. She also hopes that such a plan would help improve the campus socially, encouraging commuters to stick around longer.
The quality and service of Gilhooley’s, the university-owned saloon, was also questioned by forum participants. Specifically, complaints about slow, rude service and lack of social events dominated the discussion of that restaurant.
Stephanie Moye, Sr. Director for Dining Services, maintained that all student complaints regarding Gilhooley’s have long ago been addressed. Regarding the rude service, “We are taking corrective actions with the person involved,” asserted Moye.
Both Moye and Moreno expressed great confidence in Gilhooley’s new manager, David Powers, who they described as someone who models customer service with a high energy level.
Furthermore, Moye has implemented several additional social events at Gilhooley’s including karaoke nights, comedy shows and dances to promote the restaurant both to the Saint Xavier population and the surrounding community.
Moye also plans to send “secret shoppers” to Gilhooley’s and other campus dining venues. These shoppers will secretly observe and report the venues’ quality.
Moreno described Gilhooley’s as having “an identity crisis” because students often avoid it because they do not view it as directed toward them, while older community members often avoid it because they feel it is purely a student restaurant on a college campus. She said that both groups must be accommodated so that Gilhooley’s can become a “neighborhood gathering place” and effectively compete with other Southside bars.
Other issues raised at the forum ranged from complaints about food menus and portion sizes to food variety, freshness and nutritional information. Both Moye and Moreno assured that they could easily have allayed student concerns had they been invited to the food forum, which they both said they had no knowledge of. “We feel like we missed an opportunity to hear first hand from the students,” said Moreno.
SAB president Christine Bowe said the reason Moye and Moreno were not invited was to encourage “students to feel free and comfortable in expressing their concerns for the food services.”
Moye emphasized, “A lot of these solutions are easy, but we have to know about them.” As a result, she is running her own diner forum on Thursday, April 18 at 4:30 p.m. in the diner atrium. She welcomes all students to attend.
Tony Bara
Editor in Chief