CHRIS SEGAL
News Editor
Facilities Management and Planning adopted a motto of “customer service” last year. With tuition rising every year and our rankings dropping it would be nice to see if every other division of the university would adopt the same motto.
One place this new motto could be used is in the Universities Dining Services. The cafeteria is open until 8 p.m. during the week. That means there should be food available at every station until closing time. Having only the grill open until closing and having the home cooking and international station closed and cleaned 15 minutes before closing gives the impression that Dining Services don’t value students as customers.
There are many great things about Dining Services and it probably makes sense to clean up early and not pay overtime while using their employees efficiently.
For those living off campus or in the apartments this problem can be easily resolved by not getting any meal points and going off campus. Those who don’t have access to a car or are automatically opted into the 1,000-point meal plan are being treated as children forced to just deal with what they are serving and not as customers.
If it makes sense to close some food stations early, at least post when each section is going to close and let students know that they can’t get anything other than a salad or something from the grill after 7 p.m., and then they can make their choice accordingly.
There are also other ways the university could benefit from treating students like the paying customers we are. Students will pay $32,620 next year in tuition to get an education and a degree — we are not paying to be kept in the dark.
Look at some of the recent major decisions made by the university. There is talk of changing our schedule to make most students have classes everyday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. with 30-minute breaks. So far no one has confirmed a schedule change, but Dean Rick Marrs went before SGA to speak about the changes. What about the rest of the student body?
There is a larger problem regarding the distribution of important information on campus when a dean shares these potential changes to SGA to get student feedback and no one from either side actually asks the general student population what we want. The job of SGA members is to attend their weekly meetings and find out what their peers want — not to do what they want regarding important issues unless someone seeks them to give an opinion.
The administration should also be talking to students more than once a semester to say tuition has increased. The administration should be holding forums like they did during the budget cuts to hear what students have to say before making such a big change.
Students should not allow our representatives in SGA or our administrators to make these important decisions without seeking our opinions or even informing the student body. The university is obviously not worried about students withdrawing and taking their money to other universities. It’s not too much to ask for food until closing time and to be kept in the know at $32,620 big ones a year.
04-13-2006