By Chelsea Reil, News Staff

While the dining hall set to open in Parcel 18 in September will feature items for students to put on top of their plates, some are worried there will be nothing to put underneath them.
The Student Government Association (SGA) released a survey that included a question asking students about their tray use April 15, and SGA President-elect Ryan Fox said pending the results, trayless dining halls could be in Northeastern’s future.
‘SGA is not necessarily for or against trays. We’re considering it,’ Fox said, adding SGA wants to ‘help curb the increase [in dining hall prices] for next year’ while making dining halls more sustainable. He added that the results of the survey will not necessarily decide the trays’ fate.
‘It’s not going to simply be 51 percent vote [in favor of going] trayless, so we go trayless,’ said Fox. ‘We’ll get the results of the survey and work with the university to make the students happy. I would imagine that any decision regarding trays would only affect Parcel 18 for the first year.’
The Husky Energy Action Team (HEAT) supports ridding Northeastern of its trays, said Katie McEnaney, its director of marketing and public relations.
‘It is easier for students to learn to not use something when its taken away, rather than having trays available and asking students not to use them,’ she said.
However, the idea has drawn resistance from some students, a group of whom created a Facebook group to protest the potential removal.
Resident Student Association Vice President of Housing Services and SGA senator Matt Soleyn, an administrator in the group, said he feels students should be given the choice whether or not to use trays.
‘I’m not necessarily 100 percent against removing trays, but I think students should have a choice when the go to the dining hall,’ Soleyn said. ‘Students who are paying a lot of money should have the option.’
Soleyn said he supports advertising that it’s not necessary to use trays while keeping them avaibable to cut down on traffic.
‘At peak hours, people can’t even find a place to sit down [in the dining halls],’ he said. ‘Without trays, people will be taking up tables for longer because they have to take three or four trips to get food.’
ARAMARK, a food service provider similar to Chartwells, conducted a study which was included in the survey sent to students. According to the study, elminiating trays cuts food waste by 25 to 30 percent.’ While no studies have been done by Chartwells or by Northeastern, Fox said he expects Northeastern would see similar results
Soleyn said he thinks that both sides should have been presented in the survey, listing reasons for and against trays, not just the benefits of eliminating them.
McEnaney said she agrees that it appeared biased.
‘The idea was to educate students on why going trayless makes sense, but instead the question ended up looking very one sided, which wasn’t the intent at all,’ she said.
Fox said SGA is trying to cut down on food waste, not trying to regulate student’s eating habits. He said if the proposal to remove trays is instated, trays will still be available for students with disabilities.
Ellen Weisberg, a 2012 finance major, supports Northeastern’s commitment to sustainability, but feels that trays should be kept in the dining halls.
‘When it comes to trays, I am pro-choice,’ she said, adding that Northeastern should ‘educate students about the pros and cons of using a tray and let them choose for themselves whether or not they are going to use one.’