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Students create petition for changes in Snyder-Philips dining hall

September 15, 2015

They're confused. They're upset. They're hungry.

Students of the Mason, Abbot and Snyder-Phillips residence hall, also known as MASP quad, put together a petition voicing grievances with the Snyder-Philips dining hall.

The petition gained 430 online signatures after only five days and has been adding more each day hoping to reach 500 supporters. The group has directed the letter towards Eat at State and plan to show their petition to them in hope for changes.

They list grievances with The Gallery at Snyder-Philips as follows: lack of fresh cut fruit all-day, the departure of the weekly Wok-A-Palooza and the early closing of Bliss – the dessert area of the dining hall.

“They are trying to fix something that's not broken," said English sophomore and petitioner Lauren Semack.

Semack said the money factor is her main issue because people pay so much money, but ultimately cannot get what they want.

A DineOn Silver dining plan comes to $2,781 per semester for students who live on-campus.

Semack said the recent menu changes were unnecessary and do more harm than good. Several students have also been voicing their opinions on change.org where the petition is live.

Anthropology junior Molly Ostrem wrote on the website that she signed the document because she believes in Delivering Outstanding Spartan Experience.

The dining hall is open to student voices through comment boxes and overall student input.

"When all of these things were getting implemented...they were getting implemented on a trial basis,” said Benjamin DeHart, arts and humanities junior and student supervisor at The Gallery. 

Dehart said the dining hall tries its best to listen and adhere to student concerns. He said there have been quite a few changes to the menu this semester, including fresh fruit not being available all day.

“We have these things that go out to the students that they can write their proposals and complaints,” DeHart said.

He said the survey type sheets go out to the students each semester often.

“They are actually read, we go through all of them,” DeHart said. 

Semack said she created the petition to make it easier on people who share similar complaints with the dining hall.

"The ultimate goal would be to get the old menu back," Semack said.

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