New renovations and growing food options were the topics of discussion when Mitch Green, director of the Faculty Student Association, addressed the Student Association Assembly Monday afternoon for the first time in two years.
Adam Sherlip, speaker of the Assembly, said the purpose of having FSA at the meeting was to educate students on what FSA does on campus.
"The goals of them speaking is to allow the Assembly to understand where the FSA directors are coming from," Sherlip stated in an e-mail.
Green addressed assembly questions regarding proliferation of FSA's Campus Cash system to locations outside UB.
"We're working with a 10-year-old computer system," said Green, "We've nearly filled up the system, so in terms of making campus cash more available with off-campus vendors, it's really a problem of technology."
Green added he has been trying for years to make Campus Cash available at local grocery stores, but the complexities of the different systems and the troubles of local stores such as Tops have made the option less attractive to the different chains.
"We've been trying for five years to get a grocery store to take Campus Cash," he said, "and believe me, if Tops came in today to say they wanted to accept Campus Cash, it would happen very quickly."
Green and Assistant Directors of Dining Services Cindy Youngers and Jeff Brady then gave a summary of FSA's accomplishments over the past year and shared what was in the works for the coming year.
Youngers told the Assembly about renovations FSA had completed in the various dining services this year.
"New this year are the renovations to the Ellicott Food Court, the new convenience store and a new bus stop," she said. "Mini renovations to the Richmond and Red Jacket dining halls were also completed, such as enclosing the high-rise dining areas and installing new carpeting."
Youngers went on to describe new programs and food options available on campus, such as the new Perks Coffee and Ice Cream shop and the now-permanent Very Vegetarian options in the dining halls.
"Very Vegetarian was a pilot program last year, and because it was so successful, we decided to make it a permanent addition to the Richmond dining hall," she said. "Before, people who wanted vegetarian options were limited to the salad bar and a few entr?(c)e items, but now we have vegetarian and vegan alternatives such as soy chicken, pepperoni, and vegan and vegetarian pizza."
Youngers also outlined future renovations in the Governors dining hall and new services available at all dining halls. Highlights include Sushi Sundays, a cart serving sushi at the dining halls, the Bahama Blast travelling smoothie cart, enhanced vegetarian options at all the dining halls, and a "Recipes from Home" program where students were solicited to submit recipes to be prepared for a themed dinner later this year.
Brady continued to describe other improvements at Pistachio's and various satellite food service options around campus. He described a new salad bar option at Pistachio's and announced extended hours at Putnam's in the Student Union. He also described renovations at the CFA Caf?(c) and a focus on improving service all around.
"We really wanted to focus to make service more friendly and to increase the speed of service," said Brady. "We found that students really preferred to get their food faster and have more options when they had to get to class quickly."
When asked about selling alcoholic beverages at sporting events, Green said UB administration prevented any such plan.
"About two and a half years ago we put forward a plan for a beer garden at Alumni Stadium," he said, "but it was not approved, as it was deemed inappropriate for the environment."
Toward the end of the meeting, one student asked the question that was on everybody's mind - what happened to the chicken finger wraps?
"It was a matter of keeping the chicken hot," said Youngers, "And they'll be back at Bagels and Wraps in Ellicott soon."
