Psychology freshman
I am a freshman this year, and though I’ve only been eating on campus for about a month, I would like to discuss my discontent with our school’s dining facilities.
Cal Poly is a wonderful school located in the middle of some of the country’s most fertile farmland, yet students are forced to purchase items including overpriced cups of prepackaged fruit, processed carbohydrates and sugary drinks as a part of the compulsory meal plan.
I understand the challenges associated with being a publicly funded university that must also provide food for huge masses of students daily. Industrial food standards obviously cannot match the quality of a home-cooked meal, but I have to imagine that we, as Mustangs, can do better. Why not partner with some of the local farmers or businesses in order to increase access to fresh, sustainable produce? Why not focus on providing students with healthy and easily accessible choices rather than turning a profit?
In the 2012-13 fiscal year, our agriculture, food and environmental sciences department alone was awarded nearly $5.5 million in funding. Why not put even a fraction of that money toward a program that could partner food science and agriculture students with Campus Dining to simultaneously improve meal choices and educate students?
Cal Poly advocates Learn By Doing. What better place to start than with the place we call home and the food we put into our bodies? Why not work to create a dining program by Mustangs, for Mustangs?
I appreciate that Campus Dining has taken steps such as including gluten-free options and adding nutrition labels to some of their offerings. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to make a difference. With limited choice in venues and constricted hours of operation, many students settle for late-night runs to VG Cafe for fried or sugary options.
To add insult to injury, the only venue that offers a decent salad bar and vegan options doesn’t allow any kind of carry-out, further restricting where and when students can eat.
I love my school and I am proud to be a Mustang.
However, our freshman meal plan is the bruise on the otherwise delicious apple that is Cal Poly. After browsing social media posts and talking with fellow students and families, I know I am not alone in my sentiments about Campus Dining.
President Armstrong, I want to thank you for always making yourself open and available to hearing students’ voices. Because of this, I have a challenge for you. Spend just two weeks eating as the freshmen on campus eat. That means eating at 19 Metro Station, VG Cafe or the Avenue twice a day, with the occasional Starbucks, slice of pizza or cup of frozen yogurt. Live like a student by buying cereal or yogurt for breakfast, undergoing the 45-minute commute to get to the local Target and then only buying enough to store on a single mini-fridge shelf.
If after two weeks you feel physically healthy, mentally sharp and content that your $4,693 of tuition is being put to good use, then I’ll eat my words — so to speak.
Everyone interested in giving feedback to campus dining should join the Student Dining Committee: https://calpolydining.com/aboutus/diningcommittee.asp
I was a member a few years ago, and there were not enough meetings (hour-long meetings once per quarter where there was about 5 minutes for Q&A) but it looks like they’re doing monthly meetings in 2015 at least, which is great.
I had heard that some very large food corporations are backing Cal Poly financially. If Cal Poly were to partner with local farmers and other local suppliers they would suffer withdrawal of donations from those corporations.
Compulsory meal plans are very, very lucrative for a food supplier.
Firstly, do you actually know what the food cost of each plate is? You get what you pay for. If you’d like to increase the amount you pay for your food that should be addressed. Secondly, the simple volume of produce and protein that campus dining puts out would completely wipe out the local agriculture in less than a month. Do you have any idea where the majority of California’s produce is sold? Not in California.
I suggest making an informed argument. Talk to your local farmers and ranchers. Ask them what their gross annual yield is, where they sell, and how the drought as affected them. Talk to your chef’s. Believe it or not, they really do have your best interest in mind, & strive to make campus dining better on a daily basis.
Lastly, get creative with what is offered to you.
Other schools don’t seem to have this same problem, however. I know students in the UC system who are more than happy with the options that their meal plan provides. Why can’t Poly’s uphold the same standards?
While your points are valid, they absolutely need to take into account standard utilities, as does anyone else.
I think the problem is more rooted toward the monopolistic ways Cal Poly Corporation is setup, and how obscene the salaries (well into the six-figures) are of those employed by this non-profit organization; who ironically sets one of their strategies as ”
Focus on efficient and effective operations with continuous operational improvements.”
Now, I’m not too sure about you; however, I too can easily find many who see the blatant irony in this. There should absolutely me no reason to not have an efficiently run and economically viable product line offered by this organization. Thousands of business do it every single day. I know for a fact that I can go to many restaurants even here in the SLO community and get a well valued meal, delivered in a respectable amount of time (…not waiting 45minutes for a Quesadilla), in the heat of lunch rush hour.
Regarding California’s Agriculture, I’m very confident that we have an abundance of resources that are available to be tapped into. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, In 2012, California’s 80,500 farms and ranches received $42.6 billion for their output. To me those aren’t numbers to be taken too lightly.
Another side note, most of the employees handling the food in the back being cooked, do not have their Food Handlers cards (I’ve spoken to several former employees who can verify this, and who have themselves worked with food in such a way). Do you know who actually enforces the health code for Campus Dining (…I can give you a hint, it’s definitely not the county health inspectors who every other dining establishment and eateries have to abide by), it’s a horribly dis-honest unreachable man who is on THEIR payroll.
GET CREATIVE?! With what options? Chicken tenders instead of pizza one day (that take only 35 more minutes to wait for). Pathetic. Check your own privilege? And what might that be?!
Cal Poly Corporation is the most inefficiently run, poor excuse of an organization that only has the interests of their upper management in mind.
Solution: Privatize it. A private company would have to strive for excellent quality or risk being dismissed, a private company would have to strive for economically and more competitive prices, WHY, because if they don’t they risk being dismissed. Cal Poly Corporation is perfectly safe in their bubble, they have nothing to fear. No one checks up on them to see if they are up to health codes, no one makes sure they have reasonable prices.
While your points are valid, they absolutely need to take into account standard utilities, as does anyone else.
I think the problem is more rooted toward the monopolistic ways Cal Poly Corporation is setup, and how obscene the salaries (well into the six-figures) are of those employed by this non-profit organization; who ironically sets one of their strategies as ”
Focus on efficient and effective operations with continuous operational improvements.”
Now, I’m not too sure about you; however, I too can easily find many who see the blatant irony in this. There should absolutely me no reason to not have an efficiently run and economically viable product line offered by this organization. Thousands of business do it every single day. I know for a fact that I can go to many restaurants even here in the SLO community and get a well valued meal, delivered in a respectable amount of time (…not waiting 45minutes for a Quesadilla), in the heat of lunch rush hour.
Regarding California’s Agriculture, I’m very confident that we have an abundance of resources that are available to be tapped into. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, In 2012, California’s 80,500 farms and ranches received $42.6 billion for their output. To me those aren’t numbers to be taken too lightly.
Another side note, most of the employees handling the food in the back being cooked, do not have their Food Handlers cards (I’ve spoken to several former employees who can verify this, and who have themselves worked with food in such a way). Do you know who actually enforces the health code for Campus Dining (…I can give you a hint, it’s definitely not the county health inspectors who every other dining establishment and eateries have to abide by), it’s a horribly dis-honest unreachable man who is on THEIR payroll.
GET CREATIVE?! With what options? Chicken tenders instead of pizza one day (that take only 35 more minutes to wait for). Pathetic. Check your own privilege? And what might that be?!
Cal Poly Corporation is the most inefficiently run, poor excuse of an organization that only has the interests of their upper management in mind.
Solution: Privatize it. A private company would have to strive for excellent quality or risk being dismissed, a private company would have to strive for economically and more competitive prices, WHY, because if they don’t they risk being dismissed. Cal Poly Corporation is perfectly safe in their bubble, they have nothing to fear. No one checks up on them to see if they are up to health codes, no one makes sure they have reasonable prices.
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have you met any of the chefs you speak of? Because I guarantee you haven’t. If you had, you would know they aren’t actually chefs at all. They also follow a set recipe and don’t have any input in the food, and don’t have anyones best interest in mind, other then their paychecks. I work with them daily at metro, so i have a lot more insight then idiots like you. Also, cal poly gets federal funding on top of the thousands we pay for a dining plan, and make a huge profit each year. They have over 66 million dollars saved up at the moment from dining alone. Do some research. Also, do you know why the majority of california produce isn’t sold in california? Because its not needed. If it was, it would be. You are all around an idiot. This is an amazing article, and if you had any brains you would know that.
Great article. Food service at universities is big business, controlled nationwide by just a handful of corporations. While the College of Agriculture sells its products to the public (including organic produce, eggs, cheese, meats, etc), it unfortunately has nothing to do with the food that is served to freshman. Is it enough to provide everything that food service needs? No, but it’s a start – the Ag school website states that 3.3 million eggs are sold every year, which would certainly feed the freshman class, with plenty left to sell. And there are plenty of sources for local produce. The majority of California’s produce is sold outside of CA because we could never eat it all here!
I was disgusted to hear what my son saw and was served during freshman year. Chicken sandwich that was RAW inside more than once. Dangerous! Food that was so burnt or overcooked it was inedible. Salad that was rotting. “Fresh fruit” that was rotting – picture attached.
As long as students are required to pay in advance for the entire semester of meals, there is no motivation for food service to improve. Combine that with the fact the once most freshman move off campus, there is much less motivation to organize to do anything about the abysmal food service. During my sons freshman year, a large group of students attempted to meet with various school officials about the food situation but were turned away and ignored.
It’s unfortunate that a great school like Cal Poly refuses to make better choices for the health of their students. I hope President Armstrong takes you up on your challenge.
Wait, 45 minutes to Target? That’s not right…
45 minutes if you take the bus. It’s much faster with a car, but some students do not have access to cars.
I’m glad someone is taking a stand for this. It’s a well-known fact around campus that people get sick from Metro and VG’s- and often, even if they only eat one meal. There have been multiple times at Metro where I have received a plate, cup, or piece of silverware that was not even fully clean. At VG’s, most places take FOREVER to give you your food, which is very inconvenient if you are between classes. The Ave doesn’t even take meal credits, just Plus dollars, and they’re the only place with a decent salad bar. The only places I eat are Sandwich Factory and Einstein’s Bagels, and let me tell you, eating at the same two restaurants every day is getting old and we’re only on the fourth week of school. I live in the apartments, so I usually only eat one meal a day on campus, and even that is too much considering our dismal options, so I can’t even imagine what it’s like for freshmen living in the residence halls, since people in triples are forced to share a mini-fridge among THREE people.
I’m sorry but you don’t know what you’re talking about. Einstein’s offers great takeout salads, and there are other ones available premade in other locations. Healthy options are available at Tacos to Go as well, such as black beans and brown rice along with whole wheat tortillas. VG’s also has a salad bar. While I agree that the healthy options are more expensive, just like in the real world, they are available. There are thousands of freshmen who eat on campus every meal, mass production is the only answer. It is then left up to us, the freshmen, to feed ourselves with what we choose. There are good choices though. I will argue that the meal plan is a rip off and that it makes it far easier to eat unhealthy than healthy, but you can eat healthy. The campus food isn’t the greatest but it isn’t the worst either. And to your argument regarding the bus, that’s how many people live, commuting is a way of life that you must now grow accustomed to. You’re living in an amazing city that you have access to through that bus, and you should be grateful rather than complaining about the time it takes to get to Target. A lot of colleges, many that charge far more than Cal Poly, provide no transportation for their students.