A Dickinson student has started a petition for students who are dissatisfied with food options demanding “more communication between dining services and students,” as well as an “alternative, environmentally friendly catering services, or method to better quality food.”

Danielle Paz ’21 said that her motivation to start the petition “was basically taking action based on everybody’s words.” She said the food on campus is “something that students talk about all the time.” 

The petition had 294 supporters as of 12:15 a.m. on Wednesday, March 20.

“We can’t just ignore the crucial elements that make people feel and work efficiently and healthfully,” said Paz. She said food quality can “create a domino effect of poor health and poor quality of life and that is not something we want to be known for…”

Paz said that “it’s hard to manufacture a menu that is catering to everybody but a lot of schools surrounding us, similar to Dickinson… have much better [suppliers of food] and much better food quality.”

Errol Huffman, director of Dining Services, said most of Dickinson’s suppliers for ingredients like beef, potatoes, pork, tomatoes, apples, pears, root vegetables, dairy, eggs, and bread are Pennsylvania farms and producers. “Anytime that we can buy product that is Pennsylvania-raised, that’s what we’re getting,” he said.

Huffman explained Dining Services purchases food from the region after having “taken the last five years to look thoughtfully at everything that we are getting. So a lot of… products that we were getting before were coming from, you know, wherever, and we’ve narrowed in on some of those things to make sure that we have food that’s from closer.”

Paz’s petition also says that students are offered “unhealthy and undesirable food on an estimated 7-day rotation.”

Richie Rice, Dickinson’s executive chef, said recipes are rotated on a “four-week cycle for the dining hall” and reviewed at the start of every semester. Rice reads Dining Services’ production records “showing me how many of each item that we serve” and will “drop some of the items that are not going well,” except vegan and vegetarian options. “The student population that desires a lot of that [vegan and vegetarian] product isn’t as high as the student population that desires that other product,” explained Rice, though he tries to revise those items every semester as well. 

“We look at our surveys that are taken from the students… to listen their opinions,” said Rice, “I try to stay current with things that are going on in the culinary world. I go to a lot of training endeavors, I keep current with trade journals and T.V. and newspapers.” 

Huffman said that Dining Services is trying to “build history” so that they can “be less wasteful in what we are doing with our preparation and [still] make enough food… [so they’re] just not going to have a whole lot food left over. It means the quality is going to improve by not having to make larger batches.”

Huffman said that Dining Services is using a data system to help build this food history. The system has “only been implemented in the last five years,” he said, and that it has “only [been] in the last 12 to 18 months that we’ve had a little more understanding [of the system] throughout our kitchen and it is still an on-going thing.”

Paz’s petition also mentions concerns about food contamination and food safety. 

Huffman said that Dining Services “tracks our food from the time it hits our dock to the time it goes to be served to the public, and we keep temperature logs and process logs about when food is made.”

Rice said “there isn’t a leftover anywhere here [in Dining Services] that you will see that has existed for more than three or four days.” He went on to explain that “if I go into the walk-ins and I see old stuff there is heck to pay.”

Rice also said “We make sure everybody tastes the food that they are making. That as many people as possible taste it.”

Huffman said that “We want to be responsive. We’re in the hospitality business, so we are definitely always thinking about how to improve everything that we offer and not to keep putting out things that are going to make people unhappy.”

Huffman said that Dining Services is “very open to people giving us comments through Facebook and through our food advisory council from Student Senate. We meet with those folks every two weeks and get feedback from students and faculty.” Huffman said he also keeps and acts on napkins pinned to the napkin board.

Rice said that he doesn’t often receive specific feedback on specific ingredients, only general reactions. Rice said “I enjoy input from the students. I can do my job and come up with all the ideas but sometimes I really wish I would get a little more ideas [from students].” 

Paz said that she made the petition but it is “a collective action, everyone’s voice and everyone’s signature means something.”

Student Senate will hold an open session with Dining Services on April 9 at 6 p.m.

“In my four years of being on the senate I would say some of the most tangible change have come from our discussion with dining services,” said Student Senate President Chris Jones ’19 at the March 19 senate meeting. “Something that a lot of students comment on is food so talk with your friends, come with questions,” he said.