If a student wants to buy food between 10:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., meal swipes aren’t accepted. Only dining dollars, campus cash or regular cash can be used.
Campus Dining and Shops (CDS) currently has half-hour gaps between meal times where students may not use meal swipes. Student Association Assembly is looking to change this with a new resolution they passed on Nov. 17.
The SA Assembly passed two resolutions: the first called for UB to further divest from fossil fuels and the second urged CDS to close mealtime gaps. SA Assembly member Matthew Eichhorn wrote and introduced the proposal, pointing out the “arbitrary” time gaps.
The mealtime issue affects almost all students at least once or twice, SA Assembly Speaker, Michael Brown, said in an email.
“The crux of this issue comes down to students being able to use meal credits that they pay for to buy food when they want to,” Brown said. “Note that this would not affect a facility's hours of operation.”
Eichhorn, who serves on the CDS Student Advisory Board, asked CDS to “adjust their policy to remove these gaps,” as stated in the SA resolution.
“As most UB students would agree, while our dining options are great – especially compared to other schools that I looked at when brainstorming the resolution – there is room for improvement,” Eichhorn said.
Eichhorn also stated that he felt the need to speak out for what is “fair” for other students.
“So many students rely on Campus Dining and Shops to supply them with over 600 meals on an annual basis, that it is important for them to have a strong relationship,” Also adding, “I hope that this resolution will lead to a quick response from [CDS] to show students that the dining programs are being created with student interests in mind.”
The Assembly passed another resolution asking the UB Foundation to divest from fossil fuels and invest research and infrastructure into “clean and socially-responsible” energy.
Vanessa Dwyer, SA Senator, President of the Environmental Network and a senior environmental major, proposed the UB Divestment Resolution. It states, “The undergraduate student body of UB calls for the UB Foundation to immediately freeze any new investment in the fossil fuel industry, divest from direct ownership and any commingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities and corporate bonds within five years, and reinvest in clean energy and socially responsible alternatives.”
Dwyer brought the resolution as a continuation of the UB divestment campaign.
“The resolution was necessary to prove it’s not just a few environmentalists at UB that support divestment, but the majority of millennials,” Dwyer said.
The purpose of the resolution is to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for the environmental impact of their businesses, according to Dwyer. She said this could be achieved through a global divestment movement.
“By withdrawing investments in this industry, we are making it clear we will not stand for the destruction of our environment and the pollution of our water and air,” Dwyer said. “We must take away the huge influence this industry has on our society and institutions in order to have any chance of a world that humans can survive in.”
The next Assembly meeting will be held on Dec. 1 in Knox 109 at 6:30 p.m.
*Editor's note: The original article said Eichhorn is an SA Senator.
Sarah Crowley is the assistant news editor and can be reached at sarah.crowley@ubspectrum.com
