By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, News Correspondent
Members of the Student Government Association (SGA) were not shy about bringing up issues with dining halls when Maureen Timmons, director of dining services, came to their meeting last night. SGA invited Timmons to talk about the progress of Northeastern dining services and to hear their concerns.
Timmons, who has served as director for 18 years, started her presentation by talking about the newest of form of Northeastern dining: The food truck, otherwise known as the The Hungry, Hungry Husky. The truck parks in the Snell Library Quad Monday through Friday for lunch and for late-night meals Thursday through Saturday.
“We’ve been working on the food truck for about a year now and it’s been a great case study,” Timmons said.
The main question SGA members had about The Hungry, Hungry Husky was whether there was a chance it would ever take meal swipes, as the West End Eatery and Rebecca’s Cafe do.
While the truck currently takes only cash, credit or debit cards and dining dollars (and just credit, debit and dining dollars on late nights), but Timmons said she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of having truck employees accept meal swipes.
“Never say never,” she said.
Timmons was enthusiastic about the success of Rebecca’s Cafe, which is very popular among students.
“Rebecca’s is getting a tremendous, tremendous amount of business. It’s almost completely student-driven,” she said.
However, this rising popularity has plagued the cafe with long lines stretching throughout the store, especially during busy lunch hours.
Timmons said she always tries to act on opportunities to add more dining space around the university.
“I’m always interested in another food space,” said Timmons. “But I haven’t heard anything about that yet. Whenever a new space opens, I always ask, ‘is there going to be food?’ I’m just always thinking about food.”
Sohill Madan, a senator from the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, also brought up the issue of traffic in dining services late at night, namely Stetson East, the only dining hall open past 10 p.m. on weekdays. Madan suggested keeping Stetson West, which currently closes at 8 p.m., open later.
“We haven’t seen [data about high traffic at Stetson East late at night], but that doesn’t mean we won’t, and that doesn’t mean the hours won’t be extended,” Timmons said.
Madan’s concern brought forth more issues concerning the dining halls, such as consistency. Students pointed out a difference in quality in the dining halls during the summer sessions.
“The quality difference in the summer, there is no excuse for that,” Timmons said. “The adjustment of staff is necessary but the quality is not.”
Senator Sahar Tariq of the College of Engineering said many dining hall staff members aren’t aware of what they are serving.
“At one point, I asked a worker what was in a ravioli, and they weren’t aware that there was meat and I ended up eating pork. This is something that is unacceptable for a Muslim or Jew,” Tariq said.
Timmons said the menu for the dining halls changes throughout the day, making it hard for workers to memorize all of the ingredients. However, Timmons said the situation is inexcusable.
SGA members voiced concerns about the lack of utensils and cups, especially in Stetson East and International Village (INV). A senator complained that the order in which utensils are shelved in INV is different from the other dining halls. Other issues included students being unable to make their own salads and INV not having corn syrup-free salad dressing.
Throughout the meeting, Timmons wrote down the problems raised and strongly encouraged SGA members to email her whenever issues arise.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Hungry Hungry Husky food truck only accepted cash and dining dollars, and only cash on late nights.
