Oakland University Student Congress (OUSC) and the Student Activities Funding Board (SAFB) hosted their first Campus Food Committee (CFC) meeting of the year on Jan. 29 in room 125 of the Oakland Center (OC).
This is the first time the committee has been in place since the COVID-19 pandemic began. OUSC’s bylaws indicate that the CFC can be reinstated if found necessary.
“The Campus Food Committee (CFC) acts as a communication forum between students, faculty, staff, and campus food service representatives. The CFC facilitates an avenue for the campus population to respectfully share feedback and concerns to members of Chartwells leadership,” Article VIII of the OUSC bylaws reads.
OUSC President Murryum Farooqi said she decided to reimplement the committee following concerns over reduced dining hours during the Fall 2023 semester.
“We were getting a huge influx of student concerns. We’re always meeting with Chartwells… but a lot of students were reaching out to us,” Farooqi said. “This is just trying to show that obviously, students care and just providing a platform for students.”
The reduced dining hall hours were once again addressed at the committee meeting. Hillcrest Dining Hall’s hours were expanded by one hour. It is now open from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
OC Director Chris Reed said that there are currently no plans to increase the dining hours further at present.
“When Hillcrest opened, we had two dining halls, but we also had a lot more students on campus, so it was a different dynamic,” Reed said. “We’re now serving fewer students out of the two dining halls than we served out of Vandenberg prior to Hillcrest’s opening. So we’re trying to balance that part of it.
“The main issue that we run into is that, yes, more students are able to use their swipes at Hillcrest, but here’s not more money coming in. Food service is already being subsidized to operate on campus,” Reed added. “Adding more hours increases that cost and increases the burden on the university to subsidize it.”
The committee also discussed the cashless state of campus dining.
“When you’re working with cash, there’s more staff, more time that you put into that. It’s an added expense that could have negative impacts on other things, not that we want to discriminate against individuals who may have cash and might not be able to use a card,” Reed said.
Students who do not have access to a card can load cash onto their GrizzCard by the OC’s front desk or at ID Card Operations. The card can then be used to pay for food at any on-campus dining location.
Reed announced that the coffee shop in Elliot Hall is now fully functional for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve been working on that for a while, but we finally got it open, and it’s fully functional now. At first, we didn’t have the espresso machine, but that’s up and running now,” Reed said. “We’re really excited to get that back open.”
The committee also suggested topics to talk about further in the future, including alternative meal plans, allowing students a grace period at the beginning of semesters to change meal plans, managing food costs when market prices are increasing and an additional restaurant in the OC.
Anita Hicks, Associate Director of the OC, said the administration takes students’ concerns and suggestions seriously.
“Sometimes we see things and hear [things] that you don’t realize that we do. So a lot of this we are already aware of and just working behind the scenes on. We can’t promise everything, but we want you to have a great experience,” Hicks said. “We appreciate you reaffirming some of the things that we’ve already heard, so thank you.”
Students can submit their concerns to be addressed at CFC meetings through a Google Form. To stay up to date on OUSC’s events and initiatives, visit their Instagram.
