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Catering Controversey on Campus
Posted on 10/11/07
P. Klein
There has been controversy at Loughborough University over the last week over what the University has planned for catering arrangement for students in the future.
At the moment a large number of students live in catered halls, where meals are provided for them. This helps what is known as part of the Loughborough Experience where students from different departments meet for meals and generate a hall spirit. Each hall has its own distinctiveness and carries a sense of hall identity and spirit. Through hall chants, annual sing offs , RAG activities and day to day contact catered halls generate so much more than cooked food.
The catering is run on campus by the Universitys company Imago. The students union is claiming that Imago is planning to cease all catered halls by 2012 and that four new style dining rooms will be located around the campus in their place. The union also claims that this change will also mean they will be unable to become involved in negotiating hall fees and rents.
The Union also claims that they have not been consulted about these plans and that part of the reasons for the local university rising to the top of the league tables is the experience that the catered halls offer.
David Gerty of Loughborough Students Union explained in their publication Label: "Dining halls gave me the opportunity to meet everyone from the hall 3 times a day 5 days a week. It was a brilliant chance to catch up with all your mates from different blocks, people who you wouldnt normally meet and talk about anything and everything ranging from the latest sports news to last nights antics. Dining halls are a central part of the wonderful Loughborough experience and to remove this could well have catastrophic consequences for the University.
The Union has embarked on a campaign to prevent the change and has asked the students to get in contact with the Vice Chancellor Professor Shirley Pearce to prevent the changes that may have been proposed.
However one student Claire McDonald said:I agree that there is not enough protest these days. I also think (at the risk of being universally slated) that this campaign is unfair as it skews everything towards one viewpoint. The article in Label was blatant propaganda not news, which for a serious magazine is almost a cardinal sin.
"As someone who lived for two years in Towers, and studied in the engineering department the freedom to eat in any dining hall would have been a blessing as it would have meant that I wouldnt have got indigestion from running the length of campus twice to get lunch and return to lectures.
"This issue is by no means as simple as the Save Lufbra campaign makes out.
Chris Steele, another student went on to say: Yeah I definitely think more theres more to it than whats made out...cant really comment much more than that.
The Universitys Vice-Chancellor Shirley Pearce as a result of the Unions activities emailed every student and member of staff on the campus to ensure that people received the Universitys position on catering for students on campus. In her email she states:"The Loughborough Experience will remain at the centre of our discussions about residential provision. We recognise absolutely the importance of the Loughborough Hall spirit and the part it plays in Loughboroughs success.
" Not all our students want the same things and so we plan to continue to provide a range of choice in residential provision to ensure that the needs and preferences of different students are met.
"Catered halls will therefore continue to be integral to residential provision at Loughborough.
"We will strive to provide maximum flexibility of catering provision whilst maintaining the hall spirit which we all value so much.
"We do not seek to generate "profit" through the operation of Imago Services (which provides our student residential and catering services), we simply aim to break even.
"Following continuing consultation and a review of the practical issues concerning the strategy for catering provision discussed at the July meeting of the University Council, I can confirm that we will be recommending to the November Council that we do not move to four restaurants and kitchens by 2011.
"When halls of residence come up for refurbishment, as they will do over the next decade, we will need to consider in each case how this is managed. Recommendations to Council on these matters and on hall charges will be made by the Residential Provision and Management Committee and, following recent discussions with Loughborough Students Union, we have agreed to increase student representation on this committee.
So it seems that the proposed changes to the provision of catering have been thwarted, however they are not quite off the table yet.
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