A comprehensive six-month plan for improving the dining experience at the ARAMARK-run Great Hall was unanimously approved at Duke Student Government's meeting Wednesday night.
Some of the initiatives of the resolution will come into affect immediately, but all will be implemented by the start of next semester, Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee Chair Jason Freedman said. Freedman and David Randolph, Resident Manager of ARAMARK, presented the Legislature with changes, which all were the result of student input.
"The overwhelming sentiment from the student body is that the food seems good, but it wants more changes," said Freedman, a senior. "Students have made a lot of recommendations, and so far, ARAMARK has yet to refuse a request."
The new changes include a self-serve specialty bar that will rotate chicken wings, French fries, chicken fingers, teriyaki chicken and shrimp, mozzarella sticks and falafel; a made-to-order pasta station; redesigned menu mixes and made-to-order vegetarian dishes in the Home Zone; new gourmet breads of the day; a fresh fruit bar; a redesign of the ethnic dishes cycle; and an area for desserts, cookies, muffins, toppings, a three-meal-a-day waffle bar and bulk candy products.
Several aesthetic alterations will also be made to the Blue and White Room of the Great Hall, most likely over winter break.
"ARAMARK welcomes any recommendations from students," Randolph said.
DSG also passed a resolution calling for permanent institutionalization of the Student Accessible Course Evaluations System. In its unanimous decision, the Legislature recommended that the Arts and Sciences Council extend SACES into the Spring of 2002.
Trinity College Dean Robert Thompson was on hand at the meeting to offer his support to the resolution. Thompson said he hopes the Council will consider extending SACES at either its December or January meeting, and then implement the system permanently in March.
"I am confident the [December or January] motion is going to pass," said Thompson, adding that posting this semester's courses evaluations on ACES Web has the full support of the Council's executive committee.
The Council approved a similar measure last spring, and results from the new course evaluations form were available during the Spring 2002 registration period this October. Thompson said the form that students in Trinity College classes will fill out in the next several weeks is in its seventh--and hopefully final--draft of the form.
IN OTHER BUSINESS, the schedule for the upcoming Young Trustee election was unveiled by DSG President and Young Trustee Nominating Committee Chair C.J. Walsh. Two information sessions--one last night and another next Tuesday--will be held in the Faculty Commons Room. Applications are due by 5 p.m. Jan. 10, 2002 at the Office of the University Secretary in the Allen Building.
From the applications, the YTNC will select eight candidates to interview on Jan. 26, and will then choose three finalists. The Committee and the DSG Legislature will then select the next Young Trustee Feb. 6.
Carrie Johnson, DSG vice president for community interaction and former chair of the YTNC, is the only student to announce her candidacy.
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