WCSA Representative Max Aaronson says students have helped bring to light the issues with the foodservice on campus.
Students scramble to find food
By Kienan O'Doherty
Many students and even faculty and staff share a common perception about the food point system at Ohio Wesleyan – it’s a broken mess.
For years, students have complained about the quality and affordability of food on campus, and due to an antiquated allocation system, many have belatedly discovered it’s easy to run out of the points needed to get food before a semester expires.
When that happens, only hunger remains.
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Cat Allen is a student who has given her food points to those in need. She talks about an issue some on campus face with getting food
No one teaches students to budget their food points, making it especially hard for incoming freshman who are new to the system.
“When I was a freshman, I wasn’t smart enough to learn how to budget my food points, I didn’t have the resources to do that,” says senior Riley Sutliff. “So, I ran out, and I had to rely on the kindness and generosity of my friends to help me for the last two weeks of the semester.”
Towards the end of each semester, students flock to Nancy Tumeo’s office in the hunt for food points or in hope of selling their extra points to other students.
With everything else occurring in college, having enough food points is not an equation that many students even consider at the beginning of a semester.
“I thought I would be fine,” junior Cat Allen says. “I was starting a new diet, so I figured if I eat less, then I would have enough. That didn’t turn out to be the case, as the food I was eating was more expensive.”
About 60 percent of the 43 students who answered a food survey said they ran out of meal points at least one semester since enrolling at OWU. Many pointed to the lack of campus options, availability of fresh food, and scarce variety as the main problems with OWU food, according to the survey.
OWU Senior Riley Sutliff talks about how he has become an asset for students running out of food points