If you go to Fordham University and have a Facebook account, you've probably seen a petition this week regarding the infamous provider of our food – Sodexo. After seeing just about every friend I have on Facebook from Fordham share the same petition, I decided to pause my usual mindless scrolling and read it. Upon opening the petition, which has already amassed over 630 signatures and counting, I learned that it was a letter addressed to Fordham University President Joseph McShane and Dean Christopher Rodgers requesting that Fordham break their contract with Sodexo. I signed the petition, and you should too.
The petition cites some of the startling issues the company has had in the past, including serving horse meat to British students and bacteria ridden chicken to U.S. marines.
One of the most tangible and irritating things about meal plans at Fordham is the obvious lack of value. A basic block plan with 200 meal swipes for a semester costs $2,572.50. With this plan, a student is provided $300 of currency to purchase what they please at the different dining establishments around campus, and 200 “swipes”, used to access the cafeteria or have a preselected meal deal at another place on campus, such as a salad and soup at Cosi, or a wrap and fries at the Grille. This plan values a meal swipe at $11.36.
The soup serving size at Cosi with a meal swipe is smaller than a normal can of Campbell’s soup, and the salad is a relatively small side salad about the size of my iPhone 6S. As a teenage boy and active runner, that “meal” is more of a snack to me, but regardless of preferred portion size, the lack of value is clear. Another available meal swipe, wraps at the Grille, are infamous for inducing day-long stomach pains.
Somehow these small portions and mass-produced food cost more than a healthy burrito bowl at Chipotle or a delicious burger and fries from Shake Shack. Most Fordham students would roll their eyes at someone spending over $10 on a smoothie at an off-campus place like Juice Generation, so why do we not bat an eye at the $11.36 meal swipe used at the Grille for a smoothie. Of course, you could get larger portions and more for your money by using a meal swipe at the cafeteria, where you get basically unlimited access to anything they are serving, but the nutritional value and taste can be left for you to speculate.
It’s easy to write this off as an insignificant issue or a superficial compliant, considering one in every nine people on the planet doesn't even have enough food to sustain a healthy life ,and we truly ought to be grateful for the privilege of not being starving. However, as an institution boasting one of the highest tuition fees in the country and priding itself on the Jesuit value of “caring for the whole person,” Fordham ought to care a little more about what’s going into the bodies of the thousands of students who call the campus home.
If casual dining restaurants like Chipotle, Pret-A-Manger, and Shake Shack can mass distribute affordable, healthy, and delicious food, surely a college catering provider can too.
Besides the fact that studies show what you eat affects academic performance, the college experience in general is a time to learn about life and make good habits. In a country where 70% of the population is overweight or obese, making good eating habits seems important. We can do this now by being served fairly portioned, healthy, and delicious food at an affordable price.
I admire Fordham’s constant emphasis on ensuring I make myself, and the world at large, a better place. Now, I feel a crucial, but basic and attainable way we can make ourselves better is by reevaluating what we are eating.
