food | ESU Bulletin

Written by Bulletin Staff
Thursday, 31 March 2011 14:25
1 Comment

Weiss

Ok, so we all know that the cafeteria is disgusting. We’ve heard it a thousand times and most of us have experienced it first hand. It’s flat-out awful. I’d rather eat garbage than go back to that place.

Well… that might be a bit of an exaggeration; I probably wouldn’t eat something out of a garbage can. There are, however, some people who only eat what others have thrown away. These people are called “freegans.” They dumpster dive for food, and then carefully clean, prepare and consume it. Besides being cheaper than buying brand-new food, freegans see that Americans are very picky, even wasteful with their food. They recycle perfectly good food, which others consider to be unworthy of their digestive tracts.

What can we learn from this strange lifestyle? First off, we need to stop coddling our immune systems. By that, I mean we Americans are getting rather germophobic. We need to realize that germs are an everyday part of our lives. Trying to eliminate them is not only an unrealistic goal, but also completely unnecessary. By exposing ourselves to germs on a regular basis, we are building up our natural defenses against them.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t wash your hands regularly or be careful to cook meat thoroughly. There are plenty of instances where being cleanly is not only appropriate, but necessary to a healthy lifestyle. I just think we’ve taken it a step too far.

Everyone reading this has to admit that we are downright spoiled by the amount of food available. Around the world, even in Emporia, people go hungry. This happens while we throw out vegetables that have lost their perfect crispness. Fruits that have bruises. Bread that is slightly stale. It makes me wonder, how can we sleep at night knowing that our waste could be a meal?

That being said, if I find a hair in my food, I will probably still eat it. If I drop something on the kitchen floor, I will probably still eat it. I don’t do it to make some grand statement about consumerism in our society, and I don’t do it just to build up my immune system. I do it because I’m not picky enough to deem it inedible. It won’t kill me.

And you know what? I don’t feel grossed out. I feel blessed. I am so grateful just to have this piece of food in my hand. Someone around the world, or even across town, would feel lucky to come across something as precious as this morsel of sustenance.

I beg of you, don’t buy more food than you need, don’t be unnecessarily picky with comestibles, and donate to charity whenever you have the means.

And finally, though my aforementioned views are based on articles I have read, I highly recommend that you do some independent research and find information from a more reliable, scientific source.

Ellen Weiss/ The Bulletin

Food theme bridges gap between programs

Written by Bulletin Staff
Thursday, 24 February 2011 13:59
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John Sheridan, dean of the university library and archive, discusses next year’s theme for the general education program Wednesday afternoon in the Memorial Union Colonial Ballroom. Jon Coffey/ The Bulletin

Choosing a theme for general education in order to improve the experience of students was the main focus at the General Education Enhancement Workshop yesterday afternoon in the Memorial Union Ballroom.

“We use the metaphor of a silo,” said Gary Wyatt, associate dean of liberal arts and science and director of general education. “You hop into the history silo at nine and climb out, and then at 10 you hop into the biology silo and they’re completely different – we want to bring connections.”

The forum chose to use food as the theme for the general education program next year. The forum hopes that incorporating this theme will connect the different general education classes to one another as well as the real world and will help students find more relevance in the courses, Wyatt said.

Some of the topics presented by faculty and students including social networking, death and climate change. The forum participants addressed all of these points in small groups and then voted as a whole through three rounds of narrowing down the subjects.

The idea of choosing a theme to make connections from subject to subject stemmed from previous meetings of faculty and students and Wyatt said that other schools he had heard from had found success with this strategy.

During the debate, food received support because it was broad enough to encompass all of the subjects but not so broad as to dilute the subject so the connections could not be made. Jim Bartruff, director of theater, believed that freshmen would be bright enough to make those connections even with such a broad topic.

“I think the theme will be general enough for people to stay interested, and not a huge political stance like it could have been,” said Traci Schremmer, senior communications major.

Climate change was overlooked because of how polarizing a subject it could be, which could immediately turn off certain students, said Deborah Gerish, associate professor of social sciences.

Death was dismissed as a theme because of previous experience with such a dark subject was poorly received by students in an English course taught by Rachelle Smith, associate professor of English. She was a supporter of the theme but acknowledged the darkness of the subject.

“The overall theme, especially the uplifting one of food as compared to death, I could see that being fun for incoming freshman who can come in and see that all of their classes will have food involved. I’m very excited to see what’s going to happen next year,” said Liz Coffey, senior earth science major.

Charlie Heptas

Feb. 24, 2011 Edition

Written by Bulletin Staff
Thursday, 24 February 2011 12:45
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Campus Governance Committee discusses posters and food policies

Written by Sarah Shaw
Thursday, 27 August 2009 13:08
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Kevin Rabas, assistant professor in the English, Modern Languages, and Journalism Department, leads the Committee on Campus Governance meeting Tuesday afternoon in the KSN room of the Memorial Union. As it was the first meeting of the year, not much business was up for discussion. KELLEN JENKINS/THE BULLETIN

Nine members of the Committee on Campus Governance, a special committee of Faculty Senate, congregated for the first time this academic year on Tuesday afternoon in the KSN room.
The COCG’s main focus is to help facilitate evaluations of administrators and to review the concerns of other committees.
The discussion of the meeting centered mainly around concerns voiced by George Durler, associate professor of accounting, who was not present at the meeting.
His first grievance was against the Center for Student Involvement’s policy that requires all flyers and posters distributed on campus to be branded with the power E and “Emporia State University.”

The topic sparked little discussion and will likely be brought up at a later date. Durler said that this policy sends the wrong message to the community and is due for a revision.
The second concern received more comments from committee members. It pointed at policy 3M.08 FOOD as legislation to be reviewed. Students may know this policy as the one that prohibits ordering pizza in the dorms or having outside food served at events.

It is also the policy that has allowed Sodexo to become the primary food provider on campus. Durler said that this policy also sends the wrong impression to area businesses.
Stan Felix, assistant professor of music, considered Durler’s point.
“I think that is a legitimate concern,” Felix said. “Also, the idea is that they are not catering to the Asian population or different groups that are coming through campus, so they have to go off campus a lot to get food.”
A decision has not been reached on either of these concerns. However, the committee will meet again on Sept. 8 for further discussion.

Sarah Shaw/The Bulletin