The Residence Hall Association voted unanimously to study Dining Services’ meat and eggs, then other types of food.
Just where do those burgers in the dining halls come from, and how did they get there? It’s something a lot of students want to know and that student leaders and Dining Services will be working together to bring to light.
The Residence Hall Association unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday night to work with university officials to investigate the origins of food served at the university. An RHA committee will evaluate where and how foods were grown and raised and what processing they went through before reaching students’ plates, according to the resolution.
The committee will report its findings back to the full RHA body, which will then distribute the information to students. Members said the process would take some time, and they’re not sure when it would be complete, but they said they will work as quickly as possible.
RHA President Samantha Lengyel said she authored the resolution in response to the many concerns raised at the Dining Services’ town hall-style forum last week.
At the forum, students demanded to know the details about the freshness and quality of the food they were being served. Some activists were especially concerned about whether produce came from local growers and humanely treated animals.
“I think as resident leaders it’s our job to find out those answers,” Lengyel told RHA members when she presented the resolution. “It’s clearly something people are concerned about.”
RHA senators voted 43-0 in favor of the resolution. In an interview after the meeting, Lengyel said she was excited by the unanimous support and hoped the investigation would bring some peace of mind to many anxious students.
“I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction as far as increasing transparency from Dining Services,” Lengyel said. “It will bring a lot of new knowledge so hopefully students will have more security and comfort in knowing where their food comes from.”
RHA senator Jennifer Spangler, who chairs the Dining Services Advisory Board, said her committee will meet with Dining Services soon to begin discussing how it will conduct its research and report the information to the student body. She said the committee will probably begin by looking into the origins of the meat and eggs served and proceed from there.
Spangler added Dining Services is already prepared and willing to work with the RHA to distribute information to students after hearing the concerns voiced last week.
“They were very interested in the issues students expressed,” she said. “They weren’t angry at all. They’re being very open-minded about it.”
And it is very important that the issues raised were being taken into serious consideration, Spangler said.
“We’re college students now,” she said. “We’re not just going to eat everything Dining Services throws at us.”
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