Reduced dining options at Hofstra place students with dietary restrictions at risk

“I hope this email finds you well ... because unfortunately, I am not.

As someone with celiac disease, I have been lucky enough to find gluten-free food on campus whenever I want to eat a meal. Unfortunately, this evening the sandwich I ordered (on gluten-free bread) must have been cross-contaminated with some gluten, because right now I am in extreme pain that is likely to last at least 24 hours.

So this is just to let you know that there is a very slim chance I will make it to class on Tuesday. I'm really sorry about this.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Turley”

This is the email I sent to all my freshman year professors just before midnight on Monday, October 9, 2017 – the first time my food was cross-contaminated with gluten on Hofstra’s campus. I had only been on campus for about four weeks.

I was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2014 after years of suffering from debilitating stomach pain. Celiac disease is a chronic autoimmune disorder with no cure. The only effective treatment for celiac disease is to completely stop consuming gluten, which is found in grains like wheat, barley and rye. If people with celiac disease ingest even a tiny amount of gluten, it can sideline us for days. Side effects of “getting glutened” range from rashes and acid reflux to full-body aches, fatigue and “brain fog.”

As many of us are aware, Hofstra does not have the best record when it comes to serving students with dietary restrictions. Alumna Sarah Peres started a petition on Change.org in Fall 2018 where she pointed out the lack of gluten-free options available at Hofstra USA, Dutch Treats and Bits n’ Bytes, and things have gotten a little better since then.

However, in Spring 2019, my stomach had been flaring up frequently, so I reached out to our campus nutritionist Jessica Jaeger via email. “I have started to lose faith in the way campus dining avoids cross-contamination in the kitchens,” I wrote. “I'd love to talk with you about how I can make sure I'm eating balanced, gluten-free meals here at Hofstra. Please let me know when you are available for an appointment!” 

Meeting with the campus nutritionist was a step in the right direction, as we figured out some gluten-free products that could be stocked in Dutch Treats and in the Student Center’s gluten-free corner. Since then, I haven’t been “glutened” on campus and had mostly been able to find foods I liked to eat … until I returned to campus this fall amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is understandable that the university’s safety precautions have resulted in changes to the way we eat on campus. However, some of the changes have severely limited food access for students with dietary restrictions.

The Student Center’s “G8” station, where all the food is supposed to be free of gluten and the eight most common allergens, is no longer self-serve. While this limits cross-contamination from serving utensils touching other food, it only works if someone is there behind the counter to serve the day’s allergy-friendly meal. Dutch Treats, famously a 24-hour convenience store, has reduced its hours by half and is now only open from noon to midnight. Bits n’ Bytes closes at 5 p.m. on weekdays when it used to be open until 9 p.m. The Student Center closes at 9 p.m. on weekdays, but the corner where the gluten-free microwave, toaster and snacks used to be is now roped off. 

These are just a few of the changes that were made to campus dining in response to the coronavirus. And as someone who has lived on campus for over three years now and learned, through trial and error, which food stations have safe options for me, I have mostly been able to adapt to them. However, if the systems in place start to break down, that can spell disaster for people like me.

At 7:04 p.m. on Saturday, August 29, I tweeted, “In case any Hofstra folks wanted to eat dinner today, just know that the Student Center is Mostly Broken,” tagging Hofstra Dining’s official account @EatingatHofstra.

I had gone to the student center around 6:45 p.m. to get some dinner. However, the order kiosks outside the main waiting area wouldn’t let me order anything from the deli station or the pasta station: The only thing that appeared to be order-able was a specific hamburger from the grill station, but I really don’t like to eat red meat, so that was out. I looked inside at the G8 station, but there was no one there to serve the food. I can’t eat at the Innovation Kitchen or the Yo! Bowl station because it’s impossible to trace the possible cross-contamination of everything on the menu. I can’t eat at the sushi station (because of my severe soy allergy) and I can’t eat at the pizza station (because of the gluten), so the only place left to go was Freshens … which closes at 7 p.m. on Saturdays. The line was very long since the kiosks were broken, so the people working at Freshens had to cut us off.  

My dinner ended up being a soggy, pre-packaged turkey and swiss sandwich on a gluten free bun. It cost me $8.65.

Naturally, @EatingatHofstra reached out, asking me to DM them about the problem. I sent them a message explaining what had happened, and they replied, thanking me for bringing the broken kiosks to their attention and promising to have “an associate at G8 at all times.” They then offered to set up a meeting between the nutritionist, the director of operations, the director of dining services, the campus chef and me.

I let them know that I had met with the campus dietitian and that she has been very helpful. “However,” I explained, “I don’t feel that meeting with the chefs is going to help me or other students with serious dietary restrictions eat well on campus. We can scrape by most of the time, but when the food stations that are accessible to us are understaffed, have abbreviated hours or are just malfunctioning, it becomes very difficult to find a meal.”

Promising to adequately staff the G8 station is simply not enough.

Tuition to this university is over $60,000 per year – more if you live on campus and have to purchase a meal plan. It is so important to make sure everyone at Hofstra, from students and staff to faculty and even HofCats, stays safe. But if the processes and procedures put in place to help keep us healthy add another unnecessary hurdle for students with food allergies, some modifications must be made. If nothing changes, our nutrition will suffer and we will become more susceptible to contracting – and transmitting – COVID-19.