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'People should be able to eat': Students, parents frustrated with IU dining over Grubhub, long wait times, food shortages
IU dining fields questions in webinar By Izzy Myszak
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Students look for their food orders Aug. 29, 2021, in Wright Quad food court. GrubHub is a service that IU Dining uses for students to order food on campus in some locations. By Nic Napier npnapier@iu.edu | @nicnapier1
Walking into Hubbard & Cravens, a coffee shop in Bookmarket Eatery under Herman B Wells Library, a lone employee worked on coffee orders. He spoke with
the customers, made multiple drink orders and dished them out to waiting students. Handing his shift over to the next employee, the student worker looked at the stack of orders needing to be made. She sighed and began working.
Many students are attempting to purchase meals from IU dining halls but are experiencing long wait times or abandoning buying food from IU altogether. To add, IU welcomed the largest freshman class in its history. A petition was started
asking IU to fix its dining services to better serve students, claiming they have encountered food shortages, long wait times, closed restaurants and low-quality food. IU freshman Brendan Bondy frequently walks to Wright Quad’s dining hall to grab food and said he has encountered all of the same frustrations. “Every time I've been in there, it's been super busy,” Bondy said. “I can actually see sometimes probably 50plus orders sitting on their tables ready to be given out to people.” When he has used the Grubhub app specifically to order from Erbert and Gerbert’s, Bondy said there have been wait times upward of three hours. On top of wait times, he said the food has not met expectations, making him question the quality of what he is eating. When ordering from a restaurant in Wright, he said he once received chicken that either had too much fat or was under-
cooked. “In general, I would say the food choices and quality, for such a large university, have been pretty poor just compared to what I was expecting coming in,” Bondy said.
“As someone who really cares about food issues, food justice, food security and food equality on campus and throughout Bloomington, I believe that people, no matter if they have money or not, should be able to eat." –Jessie Wang, IU senior
IU senior Jessie Wang, IU catering assistant manager, said they see this issue from both the perspective of a student and an employee for IU dining. Wang said their opinSEE DINING, PAGE 4
Whitten's freshman year: Pamela Whitten, IU's 19th president, speaks on goals, vision By Nic Napier npnapier@iu.edu | @nicnapier1
President Pamela Whitten, over two months into her new position, is taking the reins of one of the largest institutions in the state as the first female president in IU’s over-200-year history. Whitten and her administration will continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic as well as confront challenges such as a lack of diversity. She hopes to connect with students and affect change in her new role. In looking toward the future, Whitten reflected on her path to the presidency and discussed her goals. Reflecting on her experience Adding the role of IU’s 19th president to her resume, Whitten brings a variety of experience from colleges like Kennesaw State University, the University of Georgia and Michigan State University. In her academic career, she earned a bachelor’s degree in management at Tulane University and a master’s degree in communication at the University of Kentucky. Whitten also graduated with a Ph.D. in communication studies at the University of Kansas. Whitten took up a position in 1993 as a teaching assistant at the University of Kansas. From 1995 to 1998, Whitten served as the inaugural director of information technology services and research, as well as an assistant professor in the department of family medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Afterward, Whitten moved to Michigan State to become a research fellow in health care studies. She worked her way through many professor positions, ultimately being promoted to dean of the College of Communication Arts & Sciences in 2009. Her highest ranking leadership positions have come within the last 10 years. At the University of Georgia, she became the senior vice president of academic affairs as well as the provost. Then in 2018, she became the president at Kennesaw State.
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IU President Pamela Whitten sits Aug. 27, 2021, outside of Bryan Hall. Whitten said that connecting with students is one of her main priorities as president.
Whitten has also been recognized for her expertise in telemedicine. When Whitten was working in the field, she said she received large federal grants that would be used to insert telemedicine technologies into multiple health settings. She said she once worked on a project where she and a team placed telemedicine equipment into elementary schools so kids who were sick could instantly be linked to a doctor in real time. Children could then get a diagnosis without their parents having to leave work to come take them to the doctor. From working at a medical school to another Big Ten school in the Midwest, Whitten said she feels her range of expertise in the more than 30 years she’s worked has prepared her to be IU’s president. “It's just kind of an interesting portfolio package that I think gives me some good insight,” Whitten said. Being IU’s first female president Whitten said women were not often university presidents when she was in col-
lege in the ‘80s. She said she can’t remember any female presidents of large, public and prestigious institutions. “It's incredible in that short amount of time to have come from not even being something you would envision to being something that's natural and accepted,” Whitten said. Whitten said she can also appreciate her inauguration as the first female president as an important milestone for IU. “I will say that the response here — it's been wonderful,” she said. “Everyone is just delighted and excited that we've hit this milestone across the board and frankly, I think that speaks very well of Indiana University as well.” Listening to the student perspective As IU’s president, Whitten will inherit many of the challenges the university is still confronting, such as a lack of diversity, graduate workers on strike and the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Whitten said she is committed to listening and learning from the students she serves.
“Part of what I've asked my office is that we never lose sight that every week I need to be spending time with students,” Whitten said. She said she can do so both informally and formally, whether that be sitting down with students for a few minutes or scheduling meetings with student organizations like IU Student Government. In June, an online survey was shared so students could submit their thoughts, issues and concerns to Whitten. The responses gave her office a starting point on how to address the issues students really cared about, and the main concern, she said, among others, was how students would return to campus this semester. “They wanted the opportunity to have a normal college year again, with all the experiences that brought with it,” Whitten said. It’s nothing personal to Whitten if some students don’t yet know her name, as she plans to connect with more students and learn about their passions and interests. If you don’t know much about her, she said some fun
facts are that she's gone skydiving and loves M&M's. Confronting the COVID-19 pandemic Due to the highly transmissible delta variant, COVID-19 has spread across the United States among the unvaccinated community and caused rare breakthrough infections with those who are vaccinated. COVID-19 cases continue to climb in Indiana, with over 5,000 cases recorded on Sept. 2, whereas July saw case counts generally below 200. As of Sept. 2, the vaccination rate of students was reported at 86.7%, while faculty and staff were reported at 91.8%. Whitten said she was proud of the high vaccination rates because they help make campus a more protected environment. “Our campus is one of the safest places right now because of the extraordinary vaccination rates and because of everyone's efforts to do the things to keep everybody safe,” Whitten said. In July, Whitten said in an email that she tested posiSEE PRESIDENT, PAGE 4
imyszak@iu.edu | @MyszakIzzy
Many students have expressed concerns regarding IU Dining wait times, Grubhub issues and food shortages within the residence halls. Members of IU Dining answered student and parent questions Thursday during a webinar moderated by IU Spokesperson Chuck Carney. One of the most common complaints from students has been long wait times with Grubhub. Ken Field, IU Director of Residential Dining, said one of the main causes of this issue is that students are all ordering at the same time at the beginning of the day. “When the venue opens we are getting hundreds of orders immediately,” Field said. Residential Programs and Services Executive Director Lukas Leftwich said if a student experiences a situation where they make an order, the order is paid and they are unable to get that order for whatever reason to reach out to IU Dining and the order will be refunded. While all venues only took Grubhub last year, some venues are making the change to in-person or hybrid ordering, Rachael McAleer, IU Director of Retail Dining, said. One of the most popular spots on campus for students to get lunch is the Indiana Memorial Union. This makes it difficult for students to all be served in a timely manner during lunchtime, Leftwich said. “There is no way we can feed the entire campus out of the IMU at lunch in a 45-minute period,” Leftwich said. To help the students ordering at Whitfield Grill, the restaurant will be moved to in-person ordering only during the lunch period, McAleer said. At the beginning of the academic year, The Lantern, located in the IMU, was inperson only. It will now move to a hybrid style for ordering. The Quarry Pie Co has been switched, as of Tuesday, to inperson ordering only. The option for pizza by-the-slice is in discussion to be added as an alternative to ordering a personal pizza, McAleer said. For students who are concerned they will run out of I-Bucks before the end of the semester due to the All-YouCare-To-Eat program pricing, the dinner price is being eliminated and students will only be charged the lunch price, after the breakfast pricing ends at 10:45 a.m. For I-Bucks 60 plan members the dinner price is 6.39 I-Bucks and the lunch price is 5.19 I-Bucks. IU will be transitioning to a swipe program for the next academic year. Students with remaining I-Bucks will be notified how these will work within the new program during the transition, Leftwich said. Leftwich said RPS is currently trying to enhance the relationship with Grubhub to help students have a better experience with the program. “It was an unbelievable tool as we went into a pandemic last year and as students’ behaviors have changed dramatically as they are back on campus we have to see how students utilize it to best get students fed healthy, great choices in a quick amount of time,” Leftwich said.
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IU Dining employee Cassi Abts puts food into boxes Aug. 29, 2021, at Wright Quad Dining Hall. The IU Dining website includes a disclaimer about current labor shortages.