Students frustrated after Hofstra closes down campus salad bars

Due to the salad bars closing, the one in the Student Center Café has been replaced with beverages and fruit. //Photo courtesy of Giovanni Salsa/ The Hofstra Chronicle.

With the recent controversy regarding the increase in food prices on campus, students have expressed frustration due to the salad bars in Bits & Bytes and the Student Center Café being closed for several weeks without notice. On Oct. 24, Chermele Christy, the associate dean of students at Hofstra University, reached out to the Student Advisory Panel GroupMe to announce that the salad bars in both locations will be closed until further notice due to complications with the machinery.

“The salad bar in Bits & Bytes is currently out of service due to a faulty compressor, and the salad bar in the student center has reached its life expectancy and will no longer hold temperature below 40 degrees,” said Michael Ogazon, the director of budget and administrative services at Facilities and Operations.

A new compressor was purchased and installed for the salad bar at Bits and Bytes on Wednesday, Nov. 8, and the salad bar has been reopened since Thursday, Nov. 9.

The replacement process for the salad bar in the Student Center Café is much more complicated than just a technical issue.

“The salad bar in the student center is a bit more complicated,” Ogazon said. “This unit is over 25 years old and has reached its life expectancy. The unit is scheduled to be demolished and discarded during the Thanksgiving break when student population is low, which will also provide the time to make necessary repairs to the space. The university has purchased four new salad bar units that will service the campus community.”

The temporary closure has raised concerns among the Hofstra student body who were looking for healthy alternatives for the time being.

“The shutdown of these salad and fruit stations across campus definitely concerns me to a large degree,” said Ashley Blum, a sophomore pre-med health sciences major. “As someone who has been trying to be much more health conscious, it’s already extremely difficult to find healthy options on campus, and now we practically have none.”

Some students had no knowledge of either salad bar being closed or why they were shut down. Many students were upset that Hofstra did not send out a mass email to all students regarding the reason why the salad bars were out of order and when they were expected to return.

“I feel that it was deceptive and unacceptable for Hofstra to take away such a massive healthy option for students without properly informing them,” said J.J. Vogt, a junior film and criminology student.

Blum, who is an active member in the Student Advisory GroupMe, was also upset with how the information was presented.

“I feel that an email could’ve been sent out to all students regarding the issue, since the topic of healthy food options on campus doesn’t just relate to us students who are in the student advisory board chat,” Blum said. “Students who don’t have access to that chat had to find out ‘through the grapevine’ and through second-hand sources, rather than hearing it from administrators or dining staff.”

Ogazon stated that Compass Dining opened a smaller salad bar in the Student Center Café at G8 and smaller pre-packaged salads have been increased in production across campus.

Regarding the rising prices in food at Hofstra, a $7 value meal has been put into place in the Student Center Café and Bits and Bytes to offer cheaper meal options for students who are running low on their meal plan. Ogazon stated that this combo meal option was based on their meeting with frustrated students on Oct. 10. For more details, see the Chronicle’s articles “Hofstra students voice their outrage about food price inflation” and “New affordable dining options come to Hofstra.”