Jordan Shelton-Greene
Almost all students, as some point or another, frequent the Committee of 100 Cafeteria on the Southwestern campus. It is the only place where all 800 of our students come together to are able to share a meal and socialize. In the last three years that I have been a student, however, I have seen not only declines in café popularity, but also in café attendance. Many students are opting to go to other various restaurants around town, such as 360° and Sweet Peppas, or worse, deciding not to eat at all. The students of Southwestern put too much money into the cafeteria to be having to decide whether to go or skip meals.
Many of the complaints regarding the café have to do with the continuous recycling of the menu. The café continuously cycles through a stock menu that has quickly become predictable and mundane. I have talked to many other students from PUC and La Sierra and they all serve multiple courses of different types of foods. For example, La Sierra hosts an “on the grill” option in addition to their main dish, where they offer a place to craft your own gourmet burgers and even pancakes. PUC’s cafe serves a least four different ethnic dishes during their meals. Now granted, those schools have higher tuition with which to fund these many courses. I do not think it is unreasonable, however, to add at least one other alternative meal to the main one.
To be fair, there have been many who have come to our café and enjoyed the food immensely. Still, I think that there can be small, cost efficient ways to make the café experience at SWAU better and more appealing its students. For example, there is an entire section of the café that goes largely unused, save for “special occasions.” Perhaps that could be used as another cooking station: having someone there to make made-to-order omelets for breakfast or breakfast burritos, or using it to showcase a “Cultural Special.” These changes and enhancements may cost a little more and require a few more hands in the kitchen, but I believe that the effort put into making the students happier would be well worth it.
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