At the beginning of this academic year, the Clarke Administration decided to change the offered Food Options for the coming semester. The Café 1843 located in the Student Activity Center (SAC) has closed the grill and fryer at 3 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. like last year. Other changes include the Dining Hall Hours, higher costs for meals and a hot entrée added as a meal. These changes do not support the findings of a survey conducted last year that revealed food insecurity as one of the biggest issues students at Clarke are facing.
At the end of the last school year, the Café 1843 Shift Manager retired and left behind an open position. Since then, Clarke “hasn’t been able to [find] reliable staff for the evening shift”, according to Vice President of Business and Finance Beth McGrath. Due to these issues, the dining hours in the SAC had to be changed going into this year.
On weekdays grill and fryer are open from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. with one hot entrée available from 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. The hot entrée was put in place after the athletic department, led by Curt Long, raised their concerns about the nutrition of athletes after their practices. The entrée varies from day to day and gives students, especially student-athletes, the chance to get food later in the evening. On weekends the times vary, with grill and fryer being open 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. and one hot entrée from 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. The hot entrée counts as a normal meal swipe for students. According to McGrath, Clarke University believes that the hot entrée “should accommodate the needs of our athletes and all of our students”. The Vice President couldn’t answer if there will be an open grill and fryer in the evenings at some point throughout this school year. The University “can’t operate the grill and fryer without full-time, properly trained staff”, which they are unable to find at the moment. McGrath named missing tips, the number of unpaid breaks throughout the year, and shortage of food service workers across the city as reasons for the difficulty to fill the position.
The Dining Hall also had some notable changes, such as the complete closing on weekends. The brunch is now moved to Café 1843. The dining hours on weekdays changed only slightly from last year with lunch from 11.15 a.m. – 1 p.m. and dinner now from 5.30 p.m. – 7.30 p.m. The last 15 minutes of dinner will only be served in To-Go meals.
These changes were surprising and concerning to a lot of students. A survey conducted by Clarke University end of last school year found that one of students’ biggest concerns is food insecurity. Consequences from these learnings were the Mary-Jo Marketplace as well as the new Cupboard this year, but with the current circumstances, the University has not addressed the survey results. Not only were the food options decreased, but the meal prices in both the dining hall and Café 1843 are now higher than last year. The Administration explained this decision and said “food and staffing costs have increased at a far faster rate than board plan increases.” They took action to help students plan ahead, by increasing the daily swipe amount to 4 swipes per day instead of 3 like last year.
A student as shift manager is not an option for the university, as the most important thing for students should be the focus on their “academic experience” at Clarke, says McGrath. Students would be limited in their schedule and should be able “to participate in activities on and off campus without being tied down with a full-time job.”
Benjamin Reiser
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