Today: Mar 28, 2024

Conn Hall passes inspection, students still raise concerns

Anisa Jibrell – News Writer

The results are in: Connecticut Hall passed its recent health inspection issued by the City of New Haven Health Department, raking in a wholesome 89 point score out of 100 points.

Juan Dominguez, resident district manager of Chartwells Residential Dining, said the dining hall gets inspected twice a semester.

The report states that the dining hall had a total of six violations including a moldy breakfast refrigerator, an unclean beverage dispenser, an unclean coffee cream machine and an unclean can opener.

The dining hall is required to have at least 80 points to pass an inspection, according to Dominguez.

Despite meeting state standards, some students like senior English major, Carlin Huckel remained skeptical.

“I’ve heard countless stories. Someone mentioned that they found an animal trap in there,” said Huckel. “I don’t think that they do as good of a job as they should.”

Madison Johnson, sophomore, said the last thing she wants to be looking at while she’s eating is an animal trap.

“That trap has been there all week, I don’t understand,” said Johnson. “I think Conn does a pretty good job at keeping things clean, but that animal trap or whatever it is should probably be put away. Things like that raise questions.”

Johnson said overall she is pleased with Connecticut Hall and hasn’t had any questionable experiences.

“I hear horror stories all the time, but I have yet to experience anything weird at Connecticut Hall,” said Johnson. “People love to complain.”     

Dominguez said that during the summer, someone opened the windows, allowing two birds to enter the dining hall.

“It is very difficult to get them out so we brought birdcages in to lure them in with bread, and peanut butter,” said Dominguez. “Different things. It’s not a trap it’s a cage.”

Dominguez said they eventually got both out in July, but the cages were left out just in case the birds were still in the facility. Dominguez said Chartwells has asked the school to screw the windows shut to avoid opening the windows in the future.

The device is currently situated on the back wall on top of a ledge above the SCSU banner and the windows.

Huckel said if the birds are out, the traps should be out too.

“I would feel uncomfortable if I saw any sort of animal trap in a place that I was eating,” said Huckel.

Huckel said the last time she went to Connecticut Hall she lived on campus. She said Conn Hall would not supply her with soy milk and generally doesn’t accommodate people with specific food preferences or allergies.

“I know several people with nut allergies and they’ve both spoken to Connecticut hall about labeling food so they know what’s in their food, and they’ve been told that there’s nothing that they could do,” said Huckel.

When Huckel spoke to Connecticut Hall about her lactose and vegan needs, she was told that ingredients could be found on the app, but to no avail.

She said in her experience the application only tells you what calories are in a serving and that she could not find the ingredients anywhere.

“I don’t think they’re accommodating at all,” said Buckle. “Their gluten-free items are locked up in a cabinet, and it’s nice that they have them but, it’s kind of insulting and embarrassing that you have to have it unlocked by a manager just so you can eat food. That’s a bit dehumanizing, quite frankly.”

Photo Credit: Tyler Korponai

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