Students express their concerns with dining services on a poster designed for community feedback. (Isabella Diaz-Mira | Student Life)

The start of the semester was disappointing for some students when they discovered that WashU’s dining services had shortened hours and increased food prices, leaving some students unable to get adequate meals.  

Now, after a series of changes rolled out by Dining Services in response to student complaints, some students are finding it easier to find healthy, affordable meals.

Others, however, are still struggling with long waits and a lack of options.

Sophomore Emily Segura is one student who is still struggling to afford enough food with her meal points, even after Dining Services made changes meant to improve student experiences. 

“Last year, I feel like I was able to comfortably eat three meals a day, and it’d be totally fine,” Segura, who has the most expensive meal plan, said. “I feel like I’m having to cut out a meal a day now just to make sure that I have enough to have left over at the end of the semester.” 

The initial dining changes were made primarily at the Bear’s Den (BD), Danforth University Center (DUC) and Village, and included things like significantly shorter hours at the DUC, less variety of food at the stations, and higher prices.  

In response to feedback and suggestions from both students and parents about the numerous changes to dining, WashU’s dining administration released an email to students on Tuesday, Sept. 3, detailing their plans to “improve the dining experience.”         

Raven Lumpkins, Director of Marketing and Communication with University Services, said dining administration sent out the email to provide transparency to students. 

“We are being responsive and trying to be forward thinking and reactive, versus ignoring things that are coming through and just kind of operating as usual,” Lumpkins said. “We’re trying our best to really accommodate and make sure we’re doing the things you’re asking.”

The email explained changes including extending the hours in the DUC and BD, adding a produce bar in Paws & Go, and expanding variety at some of the stations like Simply Made and at the Bistro Grill. The changes went into effect on Sept. 9.  

However, some students, such as first-year Melina Fernon, are still frustrated with how some aspects of dining are operating, including limited weekend hours.

“It really feels like there’s just Subway and one or two things in BD, and then it feels like there’s this pressure to go off campus and I don’t want to spend that much money to go off campus for three or four meals every week,” Fernon said.  

Segura also pointed out that some features promised in the email, such as Ibby’s Express, a “to-go” option, have not been launched yet.

“I don’t know if that’s just been an issue on their end, that they’re just trying to figure out all the kinks,” Segura said. “But I feel like they have promised a lot, and it just hasn’t happened yet.” 

When the dining administration was asked about the lingering issues with pricing and menu accuracy a week after changes, they said making dining changes is a continuous process.    

“Not everything’s going to get fixed in a day…I know that the pricing review is still underway,” said McClellan. “That said, I know that some pricing has been adjusted, so I would challenge that perception [that prices have remained the same since the beginning of the year].”

Sophomore Chantal Ogbeifun, who serves as a student member of the Dining Services Advisory Team, said that she has seen administrators make changes to help students but understands why some students feel like the progress has been slow.

“Fresh produce, that was something that a lot of kids had been wanting, and they implemented that as soon as they could this year,” Ogbeifun said. “It’s nice to see that they are hearing us and Dining Services isn’t just a faceless entity like in the distance.” 

Jason McClellan, Assistant Vice Chancellor for University Services, told Student Life that the changes to dining at the beginning of the semester were primarily informed by last year’s data on students’ dining preferences. 

Dining collects data by tracking sales data, gathering results from an annual student dining survey, and by evaluating responses to scannable QR codes they have placed around the dining halls.    

WashU Dining Administration did not provide Student Life with access to the sales data or the results from the student dining survey conducted during the 2023-2024 school year. When asked if the data was incomplete, McClellan stated that he did not think it was. 

“I don’t think that there’s flaws in the data, because some of that data was our sales data, so that’s literally looking to see where students are spending their dollars,” McClellan said. “We see how often sales are happening on a 15-minute timeframe.”

For sophomore Cora Johnson, what she eats throughout the day is anything but a casual choice. She has allergies and a chronic illness that flares up depending on what she eats, and WashU dining has been unable at times to meet these specialized needs.

“As someone that has a lot of food sensitivities and food allergies, I’m finding it a lot more difficult to find things that I can eat regularly, both on campus and on the South 40. The most restrictive thing right now is just the hours,” Johnson said. 

After dining staff implemented the changes on Sept. 9, Johnson noticed some improvements to her experience, but said that it is still an imperfect system.

“I still find myself at 8:30 [p.m.] being like ‘oh my gosh, I have to run to BD to eat!’” Johnson said. “At 9:30, I don’t know what stations they have open, and it seems like Grubhub isn’t completely accurate.” 

Gregory Minner, Executive Director for University Services, said that portioning issues will hopefully be temporary and are the result of employees not being completely trained yet.

“There’s recipes that you’re trying to follow,” Minner said. “Sometimes new employees don’t understand that. [When using portioning utensils], if an employee is going for the wrong one, that portion size might be off because they’ve used a smaller one, or they might have used a larger one when they’ve done that.”

Minner also said that higher prices are due to a combination of issues such as inflation and higher shipping costs. 

Parents have also voiced concerns about dining to WashU administrators through individual emails and a collective letter they sent to dining on Sept. 4, complete with 165 signatures. The letter was organized by a Facebook group created at the beginning of the semester called “WashU Dining–concerned parents.” It currently has 558 members, according to a mom who is in the group.

McClellan said that he is willing to engage with parent feedback. 

“We’ve been engaging with many of them who have reached out to our dining team and have been giving them updates based on their inquiries,” said McClellan. “We really want to be able to talk to the students here at the University, so that is usually one of the first questions we ask is if we can reach out to the student to better understand the student’s dietary needs.” 

Danielle Weksler, who is a parent of a sophomore, said that while the University has made strides with their recent updates, there are still issues with food availability and high prices. 

“While there are extended hours and fresher options, they generally sell out quickly and are not available to most students, plus the prices continue to be unreasonably high,” Weskler said. “The wait times for food are continuing to be completely untenable.” 

Johnson said that while it is easier to get food at lunch, dinner still remains a challenge for her. 

“I never know what special they’re serving in BD for dinner,” Johnson said. “While I do know that I can normally eat things from the allergy station, I have some really weird allergies that aren’t normally covered there.”

Junior Natalia León Díaz, Student Union (SU) senator, said one issue with dining halls closing early is that some students might not be able to order food or go out, which may not be feasible consistently. 

“There’s unequal access to food in terms of people who can’t afford to eat off campus,” León Díaz said. 

McClellan stressed that students should provide feedback when they are unhappy with dining.

“You want to list your feedback, and we want to respond to it,” McClellan said. “We want to provide healthy food options in plentiful quantities at locations that are convenient for our faculty, staff and our students. We can only fix issues if we’re made aware of them.”

McClellan also said that when students have issues with dining, they should go to a manager on duty.

“The last thing we want, number one, is for poor quality food to go out. We want to take the opportunity if that happens, to not only fix the situation with the student, but also to help train our staff on the proper way to prepare that food.”

Some students, like first-year Nivek Witt, find that contacting a manager is troublesome.

“Nine times out of 10, no, [I would not contact a manager],” Witt said. “I guess if the portion size was like, you know, laughable, something for a three-year-old, I probably would.”

Other students said that they felt like Dining Services was not being responsive when they did have complaints, including sophomore Nessim Yohros, who did not hear back after sending an email. 

“I feel like it’s not clear to students because I emailed the Dining Services and they didn’t respond,” Yohros said. “Where am I supposed to go? I even looked on websites, I researched it a little bit, I tried to find where I [could] make a report. I only found the Dining Services email, so it’s just very vague.” 

Yohros said that, like many students, the rising prices and stagnant meal point balances have left him frustrated. 

“It’s not just about the fact that it’s $1 or $2 markups, it’s about the fact that it all adds up,” Yohros said.

Additional reporting by Nina Giraldo, Avi Holzman, and Tanvi Gorre