Hofstra students voice their outrage about food price inflation
An increase in food prices on campus has caused students to become outraged. // Photo courtesy of D’Angelo Guevara.
In response to the alarming increase in food prices and growing concerns from students about the disparity between cost and quality in Hofstra University’s on-campus food, a meeting was held in the Guthart Cultural Center Theater on Friday, Oct. 6. The session aimed to provide context for Hofstra’s food prices and allow students to vocalize their concerns.
The gathering was organized promptly after administrators took note of the rising discontent in student leadership group chats. Tyler Kolecki, an RA for Groningen House in the Netherlands and a junior television/video production major, has been a big proponent of this meeting and played a crucial role in garnering support from students.
“I have been working for about a week to try and get this news out, try and get people to come here and show support for this because it is an issue that everyone experiences,” Kolecki said.
Initially the meeting was to be held at the Bernon Admission Theater, but the venue was changed at the last minute, and some attendees, such as William Jiggetts, a sophomore psychology major, expressed skepticism about the sudden shift.
“It felt a little bit disingenuous how quickly they changed venues for this event. Because they originally told us they were changing venues to accommodate for more people, but the Cultural Center Theater isn’t that much larger than the original room they were going to host it in,” Jiggetts said. “And not that many people showed up because of the last-minute change. So, it almost feels as though they did that to reduce the amount of people that came to the event because they knew that there would be some hostility and some backlash and they didn’t want to deal with that.”
The meeting, attended by students, faculty and members of Dining Services, opened with an explanation of Hofstra’s pricing from Joseph Barkwill, the vice president for Facilities and Operations.
“Increases are tied into a CPI index, consumer price index. We did this back about 10 years ago even before the 2017 contract [with Compass], because we had no way of assessing price increases that were coming from a vendor,” Barkwill said. “So we decided to tie it into the CPI. And I’m not gonna get too detailed, but CPI is actually inflation.”
The April CPI determined this school year’s annual price increase for food that went into effect July 1. According to the CPI, inflation for “food away from home” (which Hofstra considers itself under) was 8.6% in the past year. In comparison, the April 2021 CPI noted a 3.8% increase in inflation. This discrepancy is largely due to ongoing complications from the COVID-19 pandemic and various supply chain disruptions.
“I needed a way to bring to the table a balance that we [students and administrators] could both agree on would be the increase, and it was CPI,” Barkwill said. “I had a conversation with Compass corporate and said we could not go above 5% a second year in a row, even though CPI said we could and the contract said we could. We negotiated a lower number, and that lower number was 4.98%.”
Students, however, questioned the allocation of additional expenses.
“[Additional expenses beyond the food] should be something that should come at a cost to the school with the tuition dollars we are paying. That should not be something that the students have to pay for in each individual meal,” said junior Alyria Hunter.
Environmental considerations and other student initiatives were also discussed, leading students to consider whether or not these initiatives were being implemented into the cost without their knowledge.
“I also didn’t know that students advocated for environmentally friendly plates and stuff. So, it’s like, is that a cost that was incurred onto us unknowingly because I had thought that was just the norm at Hofstra,” said Jenna Lopez, a senior speech-language-hearing sciences major.
The meeting also addressed concerns about the high prices of kosher and other dietary restrictions. Jose Rodriguez, the resident district manager at Hofstra University Compass Group, assured students that efforts are being made to bring prices back down to normal.
“We had an issue with Eli’s at one time,” Rodriguez said. “As you all know, anyone that eats kosher, you need a mashgiach for the preparation and make sure that we keep the integrity. We didn’t have a mashgiach, so we had to outsource it because we needed to get food for the students. Unfortunately, when you [outsource], the prices go up, [but] we [recently hired] two mashgichim.”
Amidst the discussions, Jessica Eads, the senior vice president for student enrollment, engagement and success, shared insight into the university’s efforts to provide free food options to students.
“We’re trying to work very hard to make sure that there’s a free option hosted by the Office of Student Leadership and Engagement and my team every single day,” said Eads. She recalled past initiatives such as Food Truck Fridays and free ice cream and pizza days. “We’re constantly trying to add more of those options, and we change the days of the week to do that.”
The meeting also delved into concerns beyond pricing, including the quality of food and the growing exasperation from students about it being their responsibility to bring these issues to the attention of the school.
Percy Benedick, a junior, questioned the university’s efforts. “Do you think that some damage has already been done to the student body? And also do you think that your prior responses to this topic have been appropriate?” Benedick asked. “Because it seems like you’re putting a lot of responsibility on students to bring these [problems] up when these should not be issues in the first place.”
Benedick also shared a prior experience with campus dining. “I found a live wasp inside of a prepackaged Au Bon Pain sandwich at Bits and Bytes,” Benedick said. “And I don’t know what that says about, like, how we’re packaging our sandwiches and how we’re pricing them, but I don’t particularly want to pay $12 and then get stung by a wasp.”
Afterward, Benedick’s line of questioning was met with a round of applause from students. The administration did not have an immediate response. Later, Rodriguez attempted to clear the air.
“We all make mistakes, alright? Sometimes those extra eyes [from students] help us,” Rodriguez said. “I do have a team that [goes] around, and we look at these items, and we’re gonna do a better job of doing that.”
Administrators also considered the possibility of introducing grocery items at Dutch Treats and adjusting meal plan options was discussed.
Jade Cheng, the director of Dining Services, stated that while using meal points off campus was not possible, grocery items at Dutch Treats was definitely an idea she wanted to explore. Lexis Meehan, the marketing manager of Dining Services, confirmed that Hofstra “will be working toward implementing grocery items at our Dutch Treats location.”
As the university takes steps to address the challenges posed by inflation, the hope is that this meeting will mark the beginning of a collaborative effort to enhance the overall dining experience for the Hofstra community.
