Food issues discussed, debated

Originally published: Oct. 21, 2010
Publication: THE GLOBE

Student complaints about food service in the cafe come early and often throughout the school year.

The place is disorganized, there are no outside options, and it's closed on Sundays. unorganized and expensive

While many of the student complaints were taken into consideration at the United Student Government (USG) meeting Monday, members received an immediate answer to open the Point Cafe will open for two trial runs from 7 p.m. to midnight on two Sundays, Nov. 7 and 14.

"The major thing was the café being open on Sundays, and I hope that we get really good data to prove that this is a concern of the students," said Michael Potoczny, USG president.


He said the issues surrounding the cafe have been going on for years, and this should not become a missed opportunity.

"This subject has literally been debated about in USG for probably four years, and we've been getting concerns for about four to five years," Potocnzy said. "This is the first step that we have finally got to this and if people don't do it and come and show that they want this open, then their concerns are discredited. So people need to come and show that they want the café open on Sunday nights."

Rebecca Beyer, ARAMARK's senior food service director, told the group she will come back to the USG meeting on Dec. 6 to discuss the results of the trial run.

"I'm excited to see the turnout of what we requested," Potoczny said.

After addressing Beyer with the student complaint of limited hours for eating on Sundays, USG members presented her with a number of possible solutions. Some of the solutions, however, such as the transformation of the Residential Dining Facility (RDF) into more of a cafe setting on Sundays, were deemed "extremely difficult" by Beyer.

"In addition to the food you see out, there's employees that have to put the food there," Beyer said during the meeting.

The cost of running both the RDF and the Point Cafe at the same time would add additional costs, and the year's costs have already been determined, said Beyer.

But a possible solution was found with the two-weekend trial run of the café.

"I really want students to take advantage of the opportunity to participate in this test run for the Sunday cafe. This is an issue that has been going on with students since before I came here and unless we do something about it now, it will continue to be an issue after I leave," said Meagan Stroud, press secretary and member of USG's student concerns committee. "It is something that we always hear about and we finally made some progress in this area and have a chance to prove it will be worthwhile and that we have a chance to get what we want."

Another student complaint concerning the cafe was the unorganization.

School of Arts and Sciences Junior Senator Anthony Costulas defined the problem as when there are large groups, the cook can sometimes lose sight of who has ordered already and who needs to still order, because of shifting lines. A possible solution, he said, would be for some number or ordering system.

"I really do think it would clear up a lot of confusion really quick," he said in the meeting.

Expensive prices are another concern for students.

Beyer cited examples of actions already taken to providing affordable options for students, among them the $5 meal specials and the free refills on beverages.

"We didn't do this lightly," she said.

As for the difference between the prices of individual meals in the RDF and the meal exchange program in the cafe, Beyer said that the meal exchange is "completely and mutually exclusive" from the RDF.

It costs more because everything in the cafe is produced individually, she explained.

Student leaders also brought up the possibility of outside food vendors.

Stroud mentioned to Beyer that the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership has a list of vendors that are willing to work with Point Park University.

"I believe that we have a meeting set up sometime…the middle of November, an administration meeting to discuss the pros and cons," Beyer told USG members.

While the meeting is not open to students, including the USG members, senior assistant dean of campus life and USG advisor Michael Gieseke assured members that "what you want will be discussed," though that may not be what they get. USG members will still be taking action in another way as well.

"We will be writing a letter, voicing the students concerns that we have heard [by] being in the student government, and in that way we will be represented, as through Dean Paylo," Stroud said.

Another issue up for debate was the complaint centering around the RDF hours not matching when students are ready or available to eat. Meal exchanges are also a part of this complaint.

"There are parts of the day where you don't have a meal exchange option," Costulas explained in the meeting.

Beyer plans on having answers to the majority of these issues when she returns to the USG meeting on Dec. 6.

Food issues discussed, debated