18 CommentsGrant D’Avino keeps us in the know!
Virgil guides Dante through the terrace of the lustful in Purgatory. CCSC, you are our Virgil.
First, Sean Udell updated the council on the findings of the Tobacco Work Group and on the status of open housing. The Tobacco Work Group Final Report is finished and has been submitted to VP Scott Wright. However, it remains in a purgatory of sorts; there is not even a consensus as to which administrative office has the power to implement (or not to implement) a smoking ban. Few details were available on open housing, but more will be made public once a report has been released to Deans Moody-Adams and Peña-Mora. Next, Ganiatu Afolabi presented the findings of CCSC’s meal plan poll:
- 59% of students rated the dining plans “Good” prior to the changes that took effect this semester. That number has dropped to 17%.
- 41% of the class of 2014 rated last year’s meal plan options as “Good.” They must have enjoyed the meals they had at Days on Campus.
She concluded her presentation with commonly heard student complaints:
- The lines at Ferris Booth are too long, and the tables are no longer accessible as a lounge area.
- JJ’s Place is no longer a hangout spot. As one student told her, the changes to JJ’s “completely ruined the culture of Columbia.”
- Meal Plan D is more expensive than buying the same number of meals individually.
The council then heard a presentation from University Senators representing a handful of graduate schools, as well as CC. Tao Tan, CC ’07 and CBS ’11, emphasized that “you [CCSC] have friends in the Senate” and that a close working relationship between Senators and council members is beneficial to both. “If you’re having trouble writing your CC paper, or your girlfriend dumped you, I probably can’t help you,” he said. “But I can help you find someone who can.” The council then took a three-minute cookie break.
Refreshed following snack time, the council heard from Mary Waldorf, recently hired to work as a student advocate in University Event Management. The new S.A.V.E. (Student A/V Equipment Training) program will allow students to be trained in using A/V equipment and help student groups to save on tech fees. Students trained through the program will be qualified to replace professional technicians groups currently paid for by the hour. The meeting ended with a reminder to attend “A Time To Stir: Columbia 1968,” a screening of the documentary and discussion with its director, Paul Cronin. The screening happens on Wednesday at 6:30 PM in Roone Cinema, and “refreshments will follow the event.”
Fact: food follows CCSC.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
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18 Comments
@Ferris booth is horrendous. They run out of food at seven or seven fifteen, but they stay open until eight. The layout is not conducive to the high traffic they are getting during the structured mealtimes (especially on weekends). Because of this, there is almost always garbage everywhere, and the whole place is dirty. The lines for the made-to-order sections are insane, and the quality of their pasta has plummeted. The food itself is disgusting: I found a piece of meat in pasta sauce that I was assured was vegetarian, probably because of the repeated re-use of serving spoons in different dishes (there are rarely enough spoons at the pasta/meat station).
What I liked about Ferris was the option to get a meal without needing to swipe into John Jay. You could just get pasta without feeling like you needed to get a full meal because you swiped for it. Ferris used to be one of the best places to eat on campus. Now Ferris has become a more crowded, more poorly organized, and lower quality version of John Jay.
@Anonymous People, wow. Stop bitchin’. The only thing wrong here is JJ’s place in that it has lost its status as a genuine hang-out place.
Ferris Booth is light years better now. Before, you would pay around $8-10 for a meal and now you pay almost the same but have multiple food stations available for no extra cost. The only noticeable thing that’s gone is the sushi bar. Everything else is basically there. Other Ivies (eg. Princeton) have a ton of dining halls — this is a working system. If you don’t like it, unlike your Ivy counterparts, you actually live in a real city and have tons of restaurants within a 3 block radius. So remove that mozzarella stick from out of your ass and actually consider the benefits of having this system (again, bar the JJ’s modification).
@'13 Though we may have tons of restaurants in a 3 block radius, that doesn’t ease the loss of the old Ferris. First, the convenience of another spot on campus that took dining dollars, with far better choices than 212 or East-the sushi was better, the salads were better, the sandwiches were better, the whole nine yards. Also, they’ve cut down on what they offer as well as some of the nicer production value. They don’t even toss your salad for you anymore! (Get those minds out of the gutter).
Let’s face it, the new Ferris is worse and fits in with the overall trend of Columbia making it more and more difficult to be off the meal plan. Fuck them.
@still here and hungry Case in point: tonight, 20 minute wait for a stir-fry dish that turned out to be inedible. Yet, they manage to put up the barricades promptly at 8p.m. so it was impossible to rescue the situation by grabbing something else to eat. The staff is overworked and/or undertrained, the selections have all been downgraded, and the experience is stressful. A rip-off on all counts.
Can I get a refund???
@pissed excuse me… so you believe that additional quantity compensates for lack of quality? sounds like someone is on the fast track towards some eating problems here! sure, maybe pound for pound it is cheaper now, but i do not weigh my food choices solely on the basis of volume.
and, since i end up throwing away most of what i “buy” because it tastes so shitty, it is wayyy more expensive now!
@ex-JJer I don’t even want to go into the new JJ’s. I’m told the buffalo wings taste of heartbreak.
@CC'XIV for the love of god, we only answered the ‘How would you rate last year’s plan?’ question because there was NO ‘I’m new here’ option.
@CURFC RIP JJ’s
@Anonymous Tao Tan exists?
@Anonymous Unfortunately.
@Anonymous Yo CCSC, fix JJ’s Place. If we need to open up a can of 1968 “stirring” on dining services, I say we do it.
@at least make the engineering dining hall on meal plans, everything else is
@relevent JJ’s Place and Ferris Booth have been completely ruined.
John Jay should be the only dining hall and should keep it’s terrible food to itself. Revert FB and JJ’s back to how they were!
Also, there shouldn’t be a fine to take out food.
@Ugh I haven’t dared venture into the new JJ’s Place, but Ferris is a bit of a mess. The pasta station no longer has mozzarella cheese, the pizza has been downgraded (possible the shit served in John Jayy?) and the soda cups are miniscule. Good job Columbia.
@relevent The food at JJ’s hasn’t suffered the same fate as the food in Ferris (that shit is terrible and, yes, the pizza is now the John Jay pizza), but it just feels different. More structured. Less fun, I guess?
@Anonymous Pizza isn’t like the John Jay pizza. Eaten both and the Ferris Pizza is much better. Could be the way they prepare it though.
@relevent it was the same pizza the first week of school, but they did change it. despite the change, it still isn’t as good as the original Ferris Booth pizza, and even that wasn’t amazing, just better than John Jay’s.
@Anonymous “But I can help you find someone who can.”
Translation: I can score you some hookers and blow.