Michelle Hennessy – News Writer
Students are lining up with plastic plates, eying up today’s options before filtering out to the seating area. On the way in there’s hamburgers and chips a plenty, with the salad bar hidden behind the corner; it’s lunch time at Connecticut Hall.
The salad bar has a selection of different cold meats, salads and dressings, though it’s not as widely promoted as the selection of unhealthy foods upon entrance, according to business freshman, Bryan Mccerkhy.
“I feel like there are some healthy options here,” said Mccerkhy, “but I feel like since they’re all the way in the corner, people don’t really notice it as much. I didn’t have a salad until two, two and-a-half weeks in.”
He said the unhealthy options are at the heart of the dining hall, with the salad bar hidden away.
“It’s in the center of everything,” said Mccerkhy, “so it’s the first thing you see and over in [the salad] direction is dessert, if you walk over there you’ll see dessert and you have to pass it on the way out. So you don’t really see the salad or the sandwiches or anything like that.”
Though Connecticut Hall makes some effort to provide a healthy balanced option for students, it’s not always enough, according to nursing sophomore, Alex Achloptas.
“They do just enough to make it seem healthy, but it’s really not,” said Achloptas. “You go get a stir fry and then there’s just a big thing of oil lathered in there, so yeah it’s stir fry with vegetables, but then it’s still greasy and oily.”
Though Achloptas was into healthy eating before coming to college, he said since starting at Southern his diet has got worse.
“I used to be a health freak,” said Achloptas, “I used to eat all the kale shakes and the whole nine yards but ever since I’ve came here – sometimes you can’t eat healthy, there’s just no choice.”
A study last year by Auburn University, Alabama, showed that 70 percent of participants gained weight over four years with BMI’s also increasing. The results showed 18 percent gained 20lbs while at college, with men gaining significantly more.
Elbiona Coma, a freshman at Southern said she would like to see more healthy food options available to students.
“It’s a buffet so there’s a variety of things but mostly unhealthy,” said Coma. “I eat the same thing every day: Salad and fried chicken.” (SP 10)
Though resident district manager, Juan Dominguez, said he thinks the food services at Southern provide enough variety and healthy options for everyone to get a balanced meal.
He said students that want to eat healthily will never think enough options are available in Connecticut Hall and said it will never be able to please everyone.
“Students that are looking for healthy options, they will always think that it’s not enough,” said Dominguez. “It’s very personal on how you evaluate that. We try to please everybody but there’s always going to be a couple of people that want to change it the other way.”
Dominguez said every year students worry more about their diet at Southern, which led to cards with the nutritional information of most meals being placed next to each dish.
“Year after year it becomes more of an issue,” said Dominguez. “In the last semester we have put the nutritional information right in front of the station where it’s available for students.”
