Tenesha Hughes
Staff Writer
Many students at Jackson State University want the “to-go” option brought back to the Heritage Cafeteria to accommodate their busy lifestyles.
On Oct. 16, the Student Government Association released a survey on Instagram asking students to voice their opinion. The social media post read: “Help Us, Help Y.O.U” Got To-Go Boxes?
Michael Gordon, SGA vice president and mass communications major from Stone Mountain, Ga., hopes the input from students will reverse the current policy of not offering to-go meals.
“We created a survey to get to-go boxes back in the café. It’s a survey for students to voice their opinion. It pretty much just serves as a record of students who find to-go boxes to be useful or not useful. The majority of the students want to-go boxes back so once we get enough students saying yes from the surveys we will be able to get them back.”
Food services at Jackson State are under the operation of SodexoMagic, a premier food contractor in the dining business known for providing a restaurant style dining experience.
Sanford Winfield, SodexoMagic General Manger at JSU, explains why there is no to-go option in place. The problem is a technical one with the card system. He stated that students have unlimited swipes when they come in during the meal period and the system is not set-up to disable the card for a to-go option.
“The meal plans are designed for students to consume as much food as they care to, that’s why we are called “All You Care to Eat” within the dining facility. It’s not a meal plan that says you can have as much as you care to eat and take out the dining hall. In that case one person has the capacity to feed 50 people if they wanted to. I don’t think anybody would perceive that as being fair or ethical use of the meal plan,” said Winfield.
However, many JSU students feel not being able to take food out of the dining hall when they do not have time to sit and eat is an inconvenience.
Deandrae Powell, a sophomore criminal justice major from Flint Mich. is one of those students.
“I feel it’s not good at all because it hurts the student body for students like me who are in the band. I am not able to just go in and pull stuff out like I need to,” said Powell. “Last year I could just go get a to-go box and go straight to practice. Now I have to go in there and get a plate which is a real inconvenience. I can be in my room studying or doing homework because I really don’t have as much time. Some days I just don’t eat because I don’t have time.”
Breann Williams, a sophomore graphic design major from Tulsa, Okla. is another student who would like the to-go option brought back.
“I feel like it’s an inconvenience because I don’t get out until later in the day, especially if I have to work from nine to five or nine to one. It makes it a little harder to come in the café at 12 when they actually have food in there. Plus the lines are a lot longer and you can’t just go when you have a project, midterm or a test or something that you need to study for,” said Williams.
Winfield stated that SodexoMagic and the University are looking into reengineering the card system to include a to-go option. Those students would not be able to come back and eat until the next meal period.
“SodexoMagic simply implements a policy and procedure that the university establishes for their meal plans. The university establishes the cost of the meal plans and determines what the make-up of the meal plan will be. We as the food contractors implement those policies and procedures and they are based on the goals and objectives the university has for the company, so if we receive enough feedback from students saying they want to-go boxes it is a possibility that can happen,” said Winfield.
