Hofstra convenience stores inconvenience students due to a “miscommunication”

Signs read at several locations across Hofstra’s campus that students could no longer purchase non-food items with meal plans. // Photo courtesy of Jacob Lewis.

Days before the spring 2022 semester commenced, frustration ran throughout the Hofstra University student body, as a new meal plan policy was implemented. 

“Non-food items CANNOT be purchased using your meal plan,” read signs posted at the Starbucks in the Student Center and other on-campus convenience locations, such as Dutch Treats and the Netherlands Core. 

Kayla Johnson, a senior criminology major, saw one of the signs in Dutch Treats on Friday, Jan. 28. Out of shock, Johnson took to her social media accounts to talk about the new policy. 

“I posted it on my story about how shocked I was, and there was an outpour of students that were commenting on it,” Johnson said. “I was like, ‘okay, I’m not the only one who feels this way, so let me make a petition.’”

Johnson created a Change.org petition on the same night she saw the sign. By the first day of classes, the petition had reached over 1,500 signatures, and the policy was overturned by Hofstra’s Compass Dining Services. 

“WE DID IT Y’ALL!!! Hofstra has reversed this policy and students are now able to purchase toiletries and cleaning supplies from Dutch Treats and The Netherlands Core again,” Johnson wrote in an update to the petition on Monday, Jan. 31. 

The Compass group decides whether to implement new campus dining policies at Hofstra, and the signs that were put up were not part of a policy change, according to Jose Rodriguez, resident district manager of Compass.

“It was a miscommunication between staff. Someone got confused, thought that was a new policy and put signs up,” Rodriguez said. “We want the best for our students, that’s why we took the signs down right away.”

However, Dutch Treats employees were told by Kim Leonardo, director of dining services at Dutch Treats, to charge for non-food items separately so that students couldn’t pay using their meal plans, according to a current Compass employee who would like to remain anonymous. Leonardo declined to comment. 

“We were told not to check stuff out that is not food,” the Compass employee said. “They said it’s our responsibility [to make sure] it doesn’t [scan] because it will still ring up if it is accidentally scanned.”

It is unclear who in the Compass staff is responsible for this miscommunication or who put up the signs. The Compass employee also stated that Rodriguez called to reverse the alleged miscommunication two days after the petition was created. 

Compass is offering a refund to students who were charged for non-food items.

Caitlin Fitzpatrick, a sophomore creative writing major, was aggravated by the situation and believes more should be done to prevent these types of mishaps.

“They should have thought through it before implementing it,” Fitzpatrick said. “Staff should have to check on it before immediately releasing it, so if it’s a staff problem, then that’s an oversight on their part, but it made us suffer.”

Lens Louis, a senior criminology major, does not believe that this was a mistake. 

“It seems like somebody is probably just trying to change the narrative of what they were trying to do,” Louis said. “As a student, from what I’ve seen, and from that [sign], it is clear that they were trying to make students purchase these items with their own personal money [instead of] their meal plan and I don’t think that it was a miscommunication. Like I said, the message was clear, it was delivered and we just didn’t accept it.”

Students can contact Rodriguez at Jose.Rodriguez@compass-usa.com for a refund or credit if they were personally charged for a non-food item.