The Student Government Association (SGA) at UT Tyler discussed students’ experience with the new campus food provider Sodexo in general assembly last Wednesday after hearing negative feedback from students about the company’s performance. The organization plans to poll students on their experience in the coming weeks and present the results to Sodexo in an effort to improve students’ food and dining experience.
SGA President Divya Srinivasan (307 votes, 40.13 percent) broached the issue saying all members of the Executive Board have heard something negative about the new company.
Sodexo replaced Aramark this fall after the university chose not to renew Aramark’s contract, according to Srinivasan. Sodexo provides food, dining, catering, and other services to the university.
The Negative Feeback
SGA members shared positive but mostly negative feedback about the food company. They said non-traditional and work-study students have complained about being unable to receive to-go boxes from the campus cafeteria.
They also complained that students’ friends are not allowed to sit in the cafeteria with them during meals unless their friends also purchase a meal and that the food quality of the new hamburger restaurant, Wholly Habaneros, “wasn’t that great.”
One member said that the wait time at the Subway and the coffee shop in the UC seemed unusually long, even at non-rush hours. “It’s given me a negative connotation when I think of Sodexo. I think there are some things that can change.”
Other members mentioned students being disappointed by the closure of the library coffee shop saying it was a valued convenience, but now students have to walk to the business building for service. Another said that food options in the café at the pharmacy building are significantly reduced.
The Positive Feedback
However, College of Arts and Sciences Senator Miles Zeorlin (184 votes, 26 percent) spoke positively of Sodexo, saying he was impressed by the company’s performance while visiting another university over the summer.
“I have a predominantly positive outlook as far as the path that Sodexo can take with us,” he said.
Senator Steven Golden of Eagle’s Landing (131 votes, 21 percent) stated he had noticed an increase in the overall food quality since Sodexo started at the university.
Purpose of the Discussion
Despite the predominantly negative feedback, Vice President Templeman (651 votes, 91 percent) said he was pleased with the discussion and that its point was not to disparage Sodexo, but to acquire information that can better help the company serve the students UT Tyler.
“[Senator Zeorlin’s] point is why we do what we do because he’s saying, This is not a terrible company. They have been successful in many places. It’s our job to kind of guide them as to what we want uniquely for this campus so that they can be successful here, as well,” he said.
“So that’s what we’re trying to get out of the discussion tonight. So, this is very, very good tonight.”
Next Steps
Templeman said the first step to seeing the service improved is to take the students’ feedback directly to Sodexo. However, in the event that Sodexo does not resolve the issues after SGA delivers this feedback, the next step may be to rely upon language in the company’s contract.
“I would like to probably take any feedback that we have…and we can take it to them first,” he said. “If they don’t fix anything after a certain amount of time, the next step would be to…see what quality stuff is in their contract and see if we can work with them that way.”
Templeman said he has asked the Student Affairs committee to have the student feedback questionnaire ready for general assembly’s review this Wednesday.
How Students Can Give Feedback
The Student Government Association meets for general assembly in BRB 1030 each Wednesday at 5:15 p.m..
Open Forum is a segment during general assembly when students can speak directly to SGA and provide feedback on any topic. Students must sign-up 15 minutes before general assembly begins and may speak no more than five minutes. SGA limits Open Forum to four speakers.
Students can also contact SGA by email at sga@patriots.uttyler.edu or enroll in SGA’s page on Blackboard for a list of senators and email addresses.
Follow this conversation on Twitter under #SodexoAtUTT!
James Hescock is on Twitter at @jhescock.
*Disclosure: the author of this article lobbied SGA in the 2015-2016 school year on the issues of SGA’s smoking policy and accessibility to students. He also helped manage the campaigns of the Stewards of UT Tyler slate elected to SGA in the spring.
The Bell Tower Press 
Wow, this is almost as bad as all of your other articles! Liberals RULE!!!!
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