"Vending Lacks Variety, Students Say"

Following a flood of complaints regarding often broken vending machines, the Faculty Student Association has fixed the problem, but many students say they are still dissatisfied with the machines' perceived lack of reliability and poor food selection.

"Initially at the beginning of the year we did have a problem with card readers on the machines," said Lorenzo Guzman, president and CEO of FSA.

Found across campus, the vending machines are provided by the Aramark Corporation, but maintained by FSA. Recently, some units have been broken for days or weeks at a time.

Guzman said the problems are mostly related to the special readers attached to the machines that allow students to spend their Campus Cash or Dining Dollars. After only a few card uses, the energy-saver units within the vending machines would shut down the machines in order to conserve energy.

Guzman added the machines will still sometimes have problems and simply not work correctly. Some issues include cards breaking in the machines, damaged readers, or even drunk students damaging them.

Guzman stressed that students should speak up if they have complaints.

"I try to keep the interests of the students in mind," Guzman said. "We're always listening for suggestions or opinions, but they (the students) don't bring them to us."

But even if the machines are working properly, some students said they are dissatisfied with the extensive selection of junk foods like chips and candy bars, and a lack of healthy alternatives.

"Personally, I'd really like to see more vending machines that offered more than just junk food," said James Woods, a senior computer science major. "They have some machines now, but they are few and far between."

"The food is complete trash," said SA President Anthony Burgio. "There's just nothing but sugar and fat. It's nice to have some of (that), but it's also nice if there's a granola bar or a Nutri-Grain bar."

Burgio was critical of FSA's role in food selection and hoped that they would improve their service in the future.

"The food is garbage and it's generally reflective of FSA's food in general," Burgio said. "I think FSA has to look to other universities in order to provide a higher-quality product, and I think we need to start taking notes on them."

Others students, however, said they didn't believe such changes in the food provided would be realistic.

"I don't think it matters that much because I don't think people will go to vending machines for apples," said Xiao Liu, a sophomore undecided major. "They don't really care if they're feeding you anything nutritious."

Liu said as long as selling unhealthy food makes money, there is no reason for anyone to change the policies.

"The vending machines are designed to make money off non-perishable items. The companies would have to re-design their machines because you can't have an apple drop from the top of a machine," Xiao said.

"You could have nutritious food in the vending machines, but it won't be 75 cents. Apples would cost $1.00 when they're $2.00 for a pound," he added.