Despite dining services and university services saying there has been little-to-no complaints regarding student satisfaction in the residence cafeteria, some students have said they are still leaving the cafeteria with a bad taste in their mouths.
The deadline for reducing fall-term meal plans was Oct. 16, and students like first-year journalism major Clifford Lam said he decided to reduce his plan from unlimited meals to nine meals per week, because he said he was dissatisfied with the food diversity he was being offered in the cafeteria.
“I want alternatives to the dull food and with a smaller meal plan I have more money to spend on a larger variety of meals,” Lam said.
But assistant vice-president (university services) Ed Kane said there have not been many complaints about campus dining services and “any complaints are investigated and resolved.”
Other students who wished to change their meal plan said they were not adequately alerted to the deadline.
First-year psychology student Amanda Meija said, “I wasn’t aware I could change my plan. . . . I’ve been looking to cut my number of meals down significantly.”
But dining services said signs were posted in the residence commons building and on the floors of all residence buildings during the week of Oct. 5, and reminders were e-mailed to students through their connect accounts.
Manager of Dining and Conference Services Karen Haarbosch said the most frequent reason cited for meal plan reduction is students “not using all meals.”
First-year communications student Tashena Williams said, “I end up eating only seven or eight meals out of the 14 I’ve paid for.”
Despite these concerns voiced by students, Kane said there has been no significant increase over the years in complaints about campus dining services. He said approximately 20 per cent of campus meal plans are changed each year, with no increase in this percentage from 2008.
He said this year Carleton’s dining services have actually improved.
“The Fresh Food Company has increased its hours of operation and the number of stations over last year. So students can use their cash from their plans across the campus and therefore have even more choice,” said Kane.
Kane also highlighted that Carleton is more lenient than other Canadian universities who “limit changes to the first two weeks only.”
