By Chris Falcone
There is a continuing debate on campus regarding the significance of a campaign to promote using china over paper plates.
A policy change was put into effect last semester calling for china plates and silverware to be promoted over takeout containers. This policy states that china and silverware are to be served unless a student asks for paper.
The reason for the change, Director of Dining Services Eisa Shukran said, is “simple. “
“With china, the quality of food looks and tastes better,” he said. “We feel that it gives the students a sense of home and the presentation is nicer.”
China plates have always been around, but they were not promoted mainly due to lack of concern on behalf of the students.
Last semester, however, Students Against Injustices (SAI) joined dining services to help implement a change.
“The student organizations support us,” Shukran said. “They’re very vocal, which helps. This is a mutual goal, which entails changing the minds of students, something not easily done.”
However, SAI’s involvement was for a far different reason. They felt it was important to promote the use of china, since the University does not recycle the takeout containers. Rather, American Refuel, a waste incineration site located in Montvale, N.J., burns them.
“This is important, because we would be minimizing waste and environmental harm,” said Christal Boutte, member of the Recyclables Subcommittee for SAI.
The University is lacking in most, if not all, areas of recycling, she said. All the garbage on campus is incinerated. Construction debris is the only thing that the University recycles.
The process has been slow and tedious. Dining services believe that since it is such a long process, it has to be taken one day at a time. The students need to be educated, because it is so much easier to just grab a takeout container and go. Overall it is considered a work in progress, but there are visible results from these efforts, Shukran said.
“The plate usage has gone up and we feel that you will be able to see an immediate change by semester’s end,” Shukran said.
Due to the feedback that dining services has received, they are reordering 500 more plates. Also, almost every dining station on campus has plates available and servers are instructed to ask students which they would prefer, Shukran said.
This enthusiastic approach does not necessarily display a true picture of dining services involvement all along, Boutte said.
“The only way we got any help was by continually nagging Shukran,” she said. “The policy hasn’t been firmly changed and he didn’t want to change it to begin with.”
Shukran won’t commit to change because he is afraid to, Boutte said. What they need is for Shukran to make a real effort and to thoroughly train his staff, she said.
Boutte believes that students getting confused, and china plates being too heavy and inconvenient, is just an excuse Shukran is hiding behind. Ideally, she said, Shukran would simply want SAI to go away.
“If he could, he would drop the plate policy, go back to takeout and paper, and not bother with it at all,” Boutte said.
Although, Boutte admits that more china is used in the mornings when the pace is slower, she feels that the staff is the key variable in this equation. Some managers don’t follow the policy at all.
When members of SAI tested this procedure, they found that their predictions were correct. Most were using takeout containers.
“Part of the problem is the language barrier,” Boutte said. “A good portion of servers can’t speak English; therefore, they don’t communicate with students and, in turn, don’t follow the policy.”
To show the commitment and passion of the SAI members, Boutte recently took her message to the students themselves. She stood on the balcony overlooking the main caf in the Student Center. Readied with a megaphone, she spoke candidly and tried to explain the meaning behind such an issue. Boutte received mixed reviews.
“When I was done, some booed and some clapped,” she said.This impassivity is not, however, uncommon for the University’s student body, Boutte said. These are students who are normally so preoccupied with other issues that they don’t seem to have the time or energy to join a campaign such as this.
Surprisingly though, some students have decided to take a side in this matter and are voicing their displeasure about the prospect of using strictly china and silverware in the dining areas.
“Well, the takeout containers, I feel are less of a mess, and more convenient because if you decide not to finish, you can take it to go,” senior Ilyssa Rosenblum said.
Junior Jennifer Procario echoed a similar sentiment.
“When I heard about the new plate policy soon to be enforced in the Student Center, the first thought that came to mind was ‘gross,'” she said. “Although the china will be cleaned, I can’t eat off of the same plates as the rest of the campus, because it would ruin my appetite and meal. Using paper or plastic plates, however, I feel is more sanitary.”