By: Emily Hua, Staff Writer
After I read the recent article by The Vantage’s Madeline Alvarez, “Ordering food for your campus club? Not so fast,” I got a better picture of the reasons Great Western Dining is forbidding people from bringing outside food for campus events.
To be honest, I was very excited to return back to campus this year because I got to see my friends and professors again. Most importantly, I anticipated new events organized by new executive boards of campus clubs. However, I didn’t expect the new rule.
I completely understand and sympathize with Great Western Dining and Chris Heck, who explained that the company is struggling financially, but it shouldn’t be the sole reason why campus clubs have to purchase food from Great Western Dining when they have other cheaper options.
If food from Great Western Dining was comparable in price to food from local restaurants, I believe that clubs would be willing to purchase food from Great Western Dining too.
However, campus clubs are run and fundraised by students. If students have to spend twice their budget for food, in the long run, they will also struggle financially.
Most importantly, we will no longer have unique events on campus because of the constraints on clubs’ budgets.
If they don’t have enough budget for food, they will request funding through SGA, but such bills don’t always pass. Also, I believe that as student leaders, we should aim for spending less while also creating fun, meaningful events on campus.
Also, I think that Heck needs to be more transparent about the price when clubs order food.
I understand that the university needs to adhere to the contract with Great Western Dining, but this newly enforced rule has caused a lot of frustration for campus clubs.
I hope that Heck and the university will be able to find a way to help campus clubs fund their events at a low cost but also help Great Western Dining make ends meet.
This dilemma is a challenge for us, but through this challenge, we will be able to witness that Newman University actually cares enough to make changes that need to be made.
PHOTO:
Courtesy Photo, Unsplash
