Student Union

Press Release via Bon Appetit:

Earlier this year Bon Appétit became the first food service company in the country to sign an agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), which represents thousands of workers who pick tomatoes in Florida. The agreement creates a code of conduct for Florida tomato growers in an effort to improve wages and working conditions for the workers.  Bon Appétit pledged to serve only tomatoes grown on farms owned by those who would agree to sign the code of conduct. The code requires that workers be paid a fair minimum wage, that a process be established for workers to pursue complaints without fear of retribution, that worker safety processes be improved, and that third party monitoring be implemented to insure that the code of conduct is followed.

Alderman Farms, a commercial tomato grower located in Boynton Beach, Florida, became the first company to sign the code of conduct. As the tomato harvest begins this month in Florida, Alderman Farms is the only grower that will supply tomatoes to Bon Appetit’s Washington University account.  The company grows primarily grape tomatoes, meaning that other varieties of tomatoes will not be available on the Washington University campus for the next few months.

This Wednesday, SU Senate will see two resolutions and vote to confirm a new Vice President of Administration.  The first resolution advocates for an pilot program for expanded hours in the Village, and the second advocates for Washington University to change the name for the Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization and also pursue the development of renewable energy sources.  Senate will vote on the passage of both resolutions, which are attached below. 

Nate Ferguson, the current VP of Programming, has been recommended by the executives to be appointed as the new VP of Administration.  After Treasury confirms their selection on Tuesday night, Senate will vote to confirm a candidate for the position.

Why is there a HOLE in the South 40?!  Recap
 
Sorry to see that the rain kept so many people away from what was an awesome forum on the architectural future of the South 40 Monday night!  We had one of the principal architects, officials from Bon Appetit including Nadeem Siddiqui, regional manager, and Chef Gary Saurez, Dean Justin Carroll to represent ResLife, and Vice Chancellor Steve Hoffner.  I want to run through some of the highlights for you in bullet-point form. 
 
ALSO: Watch for an update because the architects have promised to post the 3-D video of the future of the 40 on their website soon!
 
My favorite observations, in no particular order (it's worth reading through them -- I promise!):

- 4/5 of the Dining area on the S40 is still to come.  There will be a tacqueria, salad bar, Mongolian Grill, and many other stations for everyone.  Also, there will be LOADS of extra seating!

- The new fitness center will return to its rightful place above the main servery and will be much larger.

- There will be one closed off area for dining in the S40 House that can be booked for student group meetings.

- Info screens and televisions with news programs will be featured in the new building.

- An expanded Bear’s Mart concept will be put in place, intended to serve as a Whole Foods type concept.  Get Excited.

- The second floor dining will be converted to a Kosher Kitchen as all dining moves to the bottom floor.

- All dishware and silverware will be sustainable – paper items only for take out!

- Chef Gary talked about the new Chef’s Kitchen which will be a small kitchen that you can book for special events including: cooking classes, birthdays, and private dinners where the chef will cook right in front of you.  They will feature cooking classes about how to cook in your dorms (including the microwave), and they will use it to test new menu ideas.  They may include cameras to broadcast cooking classes to those who can’t make it, and they will also start testing out specialized allergy-friendly meals.

- College Hall will be built on the 40 which will serve as a Hogwarts-Style grand hall complete with (hopefully) banners to represent the various ResColleges and seating for a ton of people.

- Ruby will remain standing instead of coming down this summer.  This is the only dramatic change to the timeline due to the economic recession.

- The Swamp will be brought back to its full capacity – removing the asphalt driveway currently cutting it in half.

- Student art will hopefully be displayed both inside and out of the new buildings.

- They are hoping against all hopes to have a large water fountain in the middle of the 40 which…. It has been suggested… could be used to throw people into on hot days.

- And, lastly, they will hold student competitions later this year to name the kiosks and dining halls on the South Forty.  (I’m personally pulling for Bear’s Den… let’s not mess with tradition here!)
 
The event was fantastic!  I wish you had been there and encourage you to come to any similar events.  As I said, watch for a link to the ResLife website once they have uploaded the schematics and 3-D video tour of the new South 40.  We are all in for a treat – and I, for one, cannot wait to see it completed!

Hi everyone.  I wanted to give you a brief recap of the meeting the Campus Services Committee held today with Executive Vice Chancellor Steve Hoffner and District Manager of Bon Appetit Nadeem Siddiqui.  I'll do bullet points to make life easier:

- They know the S40 is a challenge and an inconvenience to daily life for students.

- Changes are coming within the next two weeks to dining on campus.

- Customer counts will be used to restructure dining hours at all locations.

- The second half of S40 Dining will have 600 more seats and an expanded servery with more options.

- Dining Services is planning to test various new methods for making S40 Dining more efficient in the limited space (from menu changes to altering the way food is ordered -- stay tuned).

- They are against raising prices any higher.

- They are adjusting staff schedules to have more people working during heavy traffic times.

- Bear Mart has been experiencing a fair amount of theft, so surveillance cameras will be installed soon.

- Sustainable dishware will be on the 40 next year once the second phase of building is complete -- which will have the industrial dishwasher.

- Remember that using re-usable cups (Nalgenes, corn mugs, etc.) gets you a coffee discount!

- Webfood will be moving to the 40 soon -- hopefully before the end of first semester.

- Dining services is looking for input on the future of Subway on campus.

- They want students to begin diverting traffic from the DUC during lunch to the lower level of Mallinckrodt for seating -- this will become necessary come winter time when nobody wants to sit outside.

WHAT DID WE ASK FOR?

> Bringing: cranberries and quinoa to the DUC salad line, bringing back grilled chicken, bringing more hot Kosher meals to campus, and adding sour cream to the quesadilla line in Ursas.

>Consider creating a Crepe Night in Ursas for those who miss last year's crepes.

>Look into using biodegradable plastic water cups instead of regular plastic ones.

>Continue to work with us and be transparent about changes in dining hours and in how to facilitate more efficiency both on the 40 and in the DUC.

REMEMBER

*Please consider attending the forum in Mudd Multi-Purpose on Monday September 21 from 8-9:30pm about the future of the South 40.

*Please watch for an event in the near future where you will have the opportunity to hear directly from dining services and ask questions about dining on campus.

It was a great, successful, and productive meeting.  They are really interested in making dining better on campus!  Watch for more updates and I hope to see you at the events mentioned above!

Best,

Greg

The Campus Services Committee is working to create dialogue on campus about how to improve dining services related issues we are facing this semester.  We need to increase efficiency on the South 40, extend hours and decrease congestion in the DUC, and find ways to extend Village hours.  However, we need to do these things by paying attention to the budgetary limits that Bon Appetit faces in running 14 cafeterias on campus and providing us with top-notch food.

I am planning to set up an open forum with dining administrators who will listen to students' concerns and have a chance to explain what they are doing to improve campus dining.  They work hard for us, and are trying their best in this difficult transitional year as the South 40 is in limbo.  Watch for when this forum will happen and please attend.

Until then, there are three ways to express your ideas, concerns, and suggestions about dining services.  I also encourage you to read my op-ed in StudLife this week which explains some of the problems Dining Services is facing and what we can do about it: http://www.studlife.com/forum/2009/09/09/ideas-or-opinions-on-campus-dining/

(1) Send an email to dining@su.wustl.edu with your ideas and concerns.  These will be shared with administrators and my committee.  (The email address may not be fully operational until Thursday, 9/10/09)

(2) Twitter about it at WashUDining, password: dining.  Start a conversation there!

(3) Come to a Campus Services Committee meeting on Mondays from 5-6:30 in the SU Conference Room.

I'm looking forward to great, level-headed, creative discussions to spark innovative solutions to the logistical dining problems we are facing this semester.