Hungry Hungry Camels?

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Hungry Hungry Camels are chomping away, but it doesn’t seem as though Connecticut College is ready to play just yet. In what should be a banner year in New London with a nearly complete return to normalcy from COVID, athletics looking stronger than they have ever been, and the largest freshman class this institution has ever seen, there are still some areas that need to be addressed. One of the most pressing issues is dining services. Only seniors remember the days when Toll House Pies were served on Thursday nights, when you could order turkey bacon at the grill in the mornings, and when we had more than one fully functioning dining hall where students could eat. However, these amazing food options, along with what feels like much of the dining services staff, quickly vanished when we were all sent into lockdown and have not returned.

Since the beginning of the school year, the lines at Harris for hot dinner around 6:30pm can take over 20 minutes just to get food, cutting into valuable studying time. When standing in an interminable Harris line, the large number of hungry students disproportionately outweighs the limited staff that often appear overwhelmed by the sheer mass of students. In speaking with several of the dining services members, some preferred to remain rather quiet about the matter, while others were willing to speak rather freely, with the most glaring and upsetting comment being “this place effing sucks.” They have also alleged that issues with their working conditions/how they are treated has been exacerbated since last year when the campus was reopened and most covid restrictions were lifted. It is quite upsetting to see the people who have worked so hard to make sure that students are well nourished and prepared to study effectively be treated this way

Now that college is back in full swing, many workers have not returned after being put on reserve status, and now, there are not nearly enough workers to feed the students. The employee who stayed alleged the college is “mistreating the help” and they are “lacking the respect (they) deserve”. All this has contributed to the substantial decrease in dining halls (loss of Smith, Freeman, Knowlton, Burdick, and half of JA over the last 10 years, which has led to “a larger workload” on dining services members. Dining Admin Chris Manfredi explains that this is not due to lack of staffing, but has been done over the last 10 years as a way to increase dining options at Harris such as the wok station and vegetarian options. 

That said, the equipment in Harris has not been refurbished since “around the 80s,” a rough guestimate of one dining services member and is desperately in need of a major overhaul, something that the college has been trying to get done since COVID, but has been having supply chain issues. While many people think that these issues involve equipment such as the grill (which broke down last year), or the dishwasher (which broke down for a short time this year), it is the smaller equipment that also requires attention. A few years ago, dining services were given weights to measure the amount of food that they were serving. However, these were allegedly taken away by the College so that they didn’t have to know their carbon footprint and the sheer amount of food that we are wasting. Although it is great that this food is given to the less fortunate in the community at the end of each day, it might be better to portion control, budget our food a little more, and give fresher food to the New London community if needed. What dining services members are looking for is not more money, but to get “the necessary small equipment to be able to feed well”.

The issues kept growing and growing as I began looking around the actual facilities in Harris. “It feels as though they’re just trying to patch things up and not looking at all towards the future,” says one dining services member. This staff member also went on to say that the working conditions, cleanliness and quality of supplies/equipment are “not at all” suitable for either students or dining staff. There are holes in the ceiling as you walk in as well as where people are eating. There were mice crawling through the walls, which were only repaired with some duct tape. Within the first few weeks of this year, a heavy sign that was above the deli area fell about ten feet and injured a student, cutting up his back. If the College is planning to renovate Harris, then that should have been made a priority above Palmer, Tansill Theater or a new sign at the front entrance. The College is putting a band-aid on a major wound.

Despite all this, it is incredibly important to note that dining administration is trying to make Harris a better place, but the many in the hospitality industry have quit as a whole since COVID, and there are very few people who want to take their place. When I discussed this with dining services members, their reason for continuing to work at Conn was because they “love what they do and to help out the students”. On top of that, Manfredi stated that supply chain issues are hindering the College’s ability to meet all the required repairs. 

Perhaps, rather than dramatically increasing the College’s investment portfolio for the future, the College should have a better balance between investing current students, faculty and staff. I spoke with a few students and alumni to see how they felt about how dining services has been doing this year compared to pre-covid, and one quote from Micaela O’Malley ‘23 stuck with me: “It feels as though this college spends most of its resources advertising to make Conn look like a great place rather than actually making it the great place it has the potential of being”. The College should have more transparency about what goes on behind the curtain, have better treatment of dining service members and better treatment of the students that eat there. Most importantly, the college should create a panel of students, dining services and school administration to see what can be done for Conn to reach it’s full potential in the future.