Signs emerged at the Rock Cafe last week stating that students are no longer allowed to bring outside containers into the building. The signs also indicated that taking food out of the dining hall would now be considered theft.
This change came suddenly, with the signs implemented at the end of the fall semester. It occurred following an increase in students utilizing personal containers to take food home.
A meal plan is mandatory for students born on or after Sept. 1 of the academic year who have not lived on campus for two academic semesters and whose permanent residence is more than 50 miles from campus.
The Ferris meal plans range from $2,400 to $3,000 in the 2024-2025 academic year, depending on the chosen plan.
For students who are required to have a meal plan and have not chosen one, the “gold” meal plan is automatically assigned. This meal plan costs $2,830.
Biology freshman Bailey Smith explained that the cost of the meal plans makes it unfair that students are no longer allowed to bring containers in.
“I feel like we should be able to take out food, because we pay for it,” Smith said. “I feel like a lot of food goes to waste, so letting students have it is better.”
Hot food left on the bar line at closing time is thrown away. Other cold items are stored according to food safety guidelines.
The Quad Cafe offers to-go options, such as the to-go containers, which are no longer offered at the Rock Cafe.
Social work freshman Hailey Froese expressed concern over the classification of taking food out of the dining hall as theft.
“It’s a heavy term to use just for something like this,” Froese said. “You’re paying for the meal plan, you might as well take food.”
The university has not defined what theft is in this context.
Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communications Dave Murray explained that students utilizing personal containers posed an issue for budgeting.
“One of the challenges was students were enjoying a meal, then filling containers with food to bring back to their residence halls or apartments for meals later – in effect, taking extra ‘swipes’,” Murray said. “Some of the containers were rather large, estimated to be the equivalent of four or five ‘swipes.’ Budgeting and meal planning leans heavily on the number of swipes, so allowing students to bring food back to their rooms throws off that planning and budgeting. That has the potential to dramatically increase the prices of meal plans, and the university strives to keep those as affordable and accessible as possible.”
Murray also stated that students bringing containers in posed a health code violation.
Despite this, the meal plan terms and conditions do not expressly state that students are not to bring personal containers into the dining halls.
Business administration senior Gage Grafton expressed that the classification of taking food out of the dining hall as theft is an over-exaggeration.
“If I grab a cookie and walk out and eat is as I’m walking out, I don’t consider that theft.” Grafton said. “It’s all you can eat right? If they’re swiping in and getting their food and leaving, and they’re not sitting down eating and then grabbing a bunch of food and leaving with it, I don’t see a problem with that. I think that it being called theft is unnecessary.”
The Rock Cafe currently closes at 9 p.m. Students with late classes or tight course schedules are now expected to sit down for all meals within the dining hall, rather than taking food to have later.
Froese expressed sympathy for students impacted by this change.
“I’ve had that happen,” Froese said. “I was just like ‘Wow.’ Now I have to go to bed hungry after my long class. I was pretty upset about it.”
At this time it is unclear if the university will bring back the approved to-go containers for the Rock Cafe.