FOX VALLEY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – With universities back open, campus officials say feeding thousands of students and having to change operations, during a pandemic, have been a challenge.
Grabbing some food from the Blackhawk Commons, the main dining hall at UW Oshkosh, is a lot different than normal.
“Everything’s a change here!” said Brian Warzynski, assistant dining director at UWO.
He tells FOX 11 the lines of students, waiting to eat are no more,and there’s only one way in, one way out.
“Last year, the students portioned it out themselves, and so now our staff is portioning it out for you, but they can still get as much they want and just keep on asking for it.”
UWO students also have the option of choosing prepackaged food.
Warzynski says, another choice they have is taking the cafeteria meal outside the cafeteria, using new reusable containers.
“They can take it to their dorm, or somewhere else to eat. Then every location with dining at the university has a drop spot for them, so then they can drop them off, and we’ll pick them up and wash them for them.”
Students can also pre-order meals from food outlets on-campus, using cell phone app Grub Hub.
“You can only pick it up, you can’t like say your order here, it’s only pickup, so it’s a little different,” UWO student CJ McPherson said. “I don’t mind it, though.”
At Lawrence University, the cafeteria line is gone. It’s strictly grab and go for meals.
They have to take it with them, and eat outside, which they can do with friends, socially distant apart from one another, or back in their residence hall,” said assistant to the president at Lawrence, Christyn Abaray.
“It’s different, but we’re still trying to provide as much opportunity and variety as we can to students.”
Lawrence University student Eder Bellegarde tells FOX 11 he prefers it this way.
“I don’t know how other universities are doing it, but this way, there’s no way kids get contaminated from touching other objects, and stuff.”
It’s still early in the semester, but so far students we talked with say they are managing all the changes.
“I have always really enjoyed the food on-campus,” McPherson said. “That’s exactly why I actually got a meal plan for this year.”
Joe Vetter, general manager for Aladdin Foods, the food service company UWO uses, tells FOX 11 they’re always asking for feedback from students to try to give everyone what they want.
“We want to try to appeal to all of them. That’s why you’ll see a lot of times, myself or my management out here, kinda talking to students. It’s a little bit more difficult, in these times, but that’s really what drives our business, is feedback from students and, you know, kinda what they’re looking for.”
While university officials realize the meal service, like many aspects of college this pandemic year, isn’t perfect, they say they’re doing their best.
They say the health and safety of students is always their priority.
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