In early August, still enjoying their summer break, Emerson students received an email from Business Services outlining dining updates that included shortened hours and increased self-service options that would be implemented in the fall semester. But it wasn’t long after they arrived back on campus that students began to notice additional—and what some called arbitrary—changes they had not been made aware of.
Riley Miller, the co-president of the Class of 2027, said that when she got back to campus and ordered food at the Max Grill, she was charged extra for an order that had previously cost just one meal swipe, leaving her feeling “confused” and “jarred.”
“It was very shocking, because there wasn’t any prior communication about the price changes,” Miller said.
Throughout the first week of classes, Miller heard from other students that they were noticing more unlisted changes: additional charges for toppings at the Backstage Deli and Griff’s Taqueria in the Lion’s Den, fewer meal swipes offered to off-campus students, and a change that prohibited students from using multiple meal swipes in the same location within 45 minutes of each other.
On Sept. 16, after receiving negative student feedback, Business Services sent an email to the student body to announce the reversal of some changes. Among other adjustments, refunds were processed for students who were overcharged, and the use of multiple meal swipes during meal times was authorized. But a comprehensive list of the policy changes that remain has not been communicated to students.
The Beacon has put together a list of changes it has been able to verify from conversations with students, staff, and email communications with Business Services. Despite multiple requests for an interview, both leadership in Business Services and the Bon Appétit Management Company, an outside company that operates Emerson’s dining as well as over one thousand nationwide dining locations, declined to speak with The Beacon. All of our correspondence was directed to Rosemary Lavery, Emerson’s director of external strategic communications.
Here is what the school said about the changes, and how students responded.
- Upcharges
College Action: There was no mention of any upcharges of food items in the initial Aug. 7 email. However students noticed in the first week on campus that an additional charge of $2.95 was added to certain menu items.
In the Sept. 16 email, Business Services attributed this unexpected change to “a pricing error,” which applied to four menu items: chicken quesadillas, chicken tenders, vegan nuggets, and the steak and cheese sub. The email did not provide additional information about what caused the error. When asked to clarify the policy change by The Beacon, Business Services wrote that the menu items at the Max Grill and Griff’s Taqueria in the Lion’s Den were not included on the meal equivalency menus.
“There was no intention to increase pricing, and this issue was corrected as of Wednesday, September 3rd,” Business Services wrote. The college has since offered several hundred refunds with an overall monetary value of over $1,000 to those affected; students can track the refunds by checking their account balance at goldweb.emerson.edu or on the GET Mobile App. The Beacon verified that the refunds have been issued to students who said they were overcharged.
Two items, the guacamole and beef birria at Griff’s Taqueria, remain with an additional price of $2.95 and $2.00, respectively.
Student reaction: Students felt “angry” and “blindsided” when they were asked to pay extra while checking out at the Max and Griff’s Taqueria. The price change, they said, had not been advertised before they ordered.
“I walked away [from the Max] and I was like ‘What the fuck is this school thinking?’” said Grace Atkin, a junior visual media arts major. “It’s chicken. I’m not getting extra protein or whatever they want to call it. It’s a single meal.”
Students with special diets felt that the changes further limited their dining options. The Beacon covered their frustrations in an earlier report on the initial dining policy changes.
Miller said she felt like it was her responsibility as co-junior class president to reach out to Food Service and advocate for her fellow students’ needs.
In an email with the subject “Dining Options – Concerns and Requests” written to Food Services on Sept. 2, Miller wrote: “Many students create budgets for the semester and are not assuming they will need to delegate money to meals.”
“I feel as though making these changes without alerting students before they’re arriving at the Max, the Deli, etc., is very harmful and shows a lack of empathy for the student body,” the email continued.
In their response, Food Service said that they would be happy to meet with Miller to address her concerns. A week later, Miller and her co-class president, Levi Armstrong, met with Dawn Sajdyk, district manager for Bon Appétit, and Jennifer Rogers, director of Business Service at Emerson. Miller said Rogers and Sajdyk were “super nice” and came prepared with her email printed out to address all of her concerns.
“[Sajdyk] said that she thought she was giving students more options by making this new menu,” Miller said. “And all of the things that were Meal Swipe Plus now, she wasn’t aware were on the menu prior, I suppose.”
Miller said that when Food Service started receiving emails (The Beacon was told Business and Food Service received approximately two dozen emails responding to dining changes) with student complaints about upcharges, they went back and changed those items to meal swipes. But some, like Atkin, don’t believe it was an error.
“This was 100% intentional because the workers got on my ass for asking why there was an upcharge. They just said it’s the new policy,” Atkin said.
Multiple students noted that the dining staff were unclear about why and what changes were made.
When asked if Bon Appétit had adequately communicated policy changes with them, a dining operations worker who was willing to speak to The Beacon said the company had done so sometimes.
“To be honest, it depends. [Bon Appétit] makes the decisions whether we like it or not, and then they tell us,” they said. “I’m not going to tell you anything different from what the company has told you, even if I knew.”
The worker said that the dining staff has had to do a lot of explaining to students who are confused about new policies. They said the changes were out of their hands because they “don’t have the last word.”
They then compared the influence of Bon Appétit over campus dining policy to that of a parent and child.
“If your mom tells you to do something as a kid, do you do it even if you don’t like it? Yes,” they said. “Will you say something even if you don’t like it? No.”
When The Beacon attempted to speak with additional dining staff, it was made clear that they were discouraged from speaking to the press. After attempting to speak with other members of the staff, a Beacon reporter received an email from Lavery, Emerson’s director of strategic communications.
“Any questions about the dining program need to come through the College itself,” the email read.
- Reduced Max Grill Hours
College action: In the Aug. 7 email, Business Services announced that starting this semester, the Grill at the Max, the campus location that offers hot grilled items for late-night snacking, would now close at 11 p.m. instead of midnight. In initial communications with The Beacon, Business Services said that this decision was made based on “a review of usage,” which was collected from the college’s point of sale system that tracked data from the past academic year.
By Sept. 9, the college told The Beacon about intentions to also make grab-and-go hot items available at the Grill after close, a change announced to the wider Emerson community in the Sept. 16 message.
“While this area is more heavily used as a student social space, the actual number of food orders from the grill was very low between 11 p.m. and 12 a.m.,” Business Services wrote.
The college did not share its usage data with The Beacon upon request.
Student reaction: In interviews with The Beacon, students questioned the college’s decision, stating that their observations indicate that the Max is busy during the hour before the grill closes. Miller said the Max hour change came as a shock to a lot of students because, in her experience of the Max at 11 p.m., “it’s bumpin’ in there.”
“We’re college students. We stay up late studying, doing other things, but like, we get hungry,” Atkin said. “Nothing else is open. It’s either [the Max] or we have to go to El Jefe’s and pay $20 for a quesadilla.”
But for theater students, this change has other implications. Oliver Warner, the chair of the Student Theatre Alliance (STA) at Emerson, said that the late-night Grille is a vital option for the performance community, whose rehearsals often don’t end until 11 p.m.
On Sept. 10, the STA posted a petition on change.org and their Instagram page calling for the college to reinstate the original Max hours. Thus far, the petition has garnered 239 signatures.
“The lack of late-night dining at Max Grill not only impacts our access to hot meals, but also diminishes the sense of community we cherished after long rehearsals,” the petition read.
Warner said that in the weeks to come, STA plans on reaching out to the college to present them with the signatures they’ve gathered to prove the demand.
- Using Multiple Meal Swipes
College Action: When students returned to campus, many attested that they were no longer able to use multiple meal swipes per transaction at the different dining locations. However, in their initial correspondence with The Beacon, Business Services noted that this was not a new policy.
“The current and previous policy is that, at our retail/à la carte locations, only one swipe per meal period (breakfast, lunch, light lunch, and dinner as noted on [the website]) can be used,” the email stated.
In their statement to The Beacon, Business Services said that they only recently learned that previously, meal swipes were able to be used multiple times within a single meal period. The policy has since been reversed and communicated to the students in the Sept. 16 email.
“While this was not consistent with our longstanding practices, we recognize that many students became accustomed to this,” Business Services wrote.
Student Reaction: Students were upset by the initial change, arguing that even if it was a policy, it had never been enforced until this year.
“Are they timing my meal swipes? Are they keeping track of when I’m eating?” Atkin said. “That’s weird. That’s creepy. Don’t do that… I just want to eat.”
The reversal of the policy was received positively by Atkin and others; however, it still left them with the feeling that the dining policy at the college had become unpredictable.
“I’m very happy they changed it back. Now I can get my salad and fries. Life is good,” Atkin said. “But I feel like this also just brings up the question of the pricing differences and the inconsistencies with all of the dining here.”
- Other Changes
Off-campus meal swipe reduction: Meal swipes for off-campus students were reduced from ten to seven per semester. The college said the change was informed by the actual usage levels from the last year. Business Services said that students who require more support can request additional meal swipes using the Student Assistance Fund Form or find additional resources from various Boston food banks or farmers’ markets. The resources can be found through Emerson’s Food Access Initiatives and Supplemental Support website.
Lena Hicks, a senior interdisciplinary studies major who lives off campus, said she was “upset” about the reduction in meal swipes. Hicks, a member of the Women’s Basketball Team, would use her swipes for team dinners in the dining center or for easy meals after practice.
“A lot of times after practices, we’re out pretty late, and then to go home and cook and also do homework and other stuff is a lot of effort and time,” she said. “So to just be able to walk to the DH and use a swipe makes it a lot easier for us to get healthy food. Now I have less of that.”
Paramount Café closed for renovations: In the Aug. 7 email, Business Services announced that the Paramount Café will be closed for renovations this fall. “However, new vending machines have been installed at Paramount on residential floors 6 and 9, and on the academic side of floor 5, offering healthy snacks, sandwiches, and microwave-friendly meals for convenience,” the email said.
Business Services did not share details on a potential reopening date of the Paramount Café with The Beacon, but said that they were “working on the planning and designing of the new concept and will share information at a future date.”
Dining Center self-serve stations: Two stations are now self-serve in the Dining Center. In an email to The Beacon, Business Services said that this change was made “based on feedback received from students who want to decide their own portion size.”
Students can still ask for assistance in preparing a plate by visiting the dining manager’s desk on the lower level of the dining center.
Moving Forward
In reaction to the changes, all of the students interviewed by The Beacon said that the lack of communication from the college was a major contributor to their confusion and disappointment.
“I received no official communication about [changes],” Anne Shi, a junior business of creative enterprises major said. “Even the current policies, whatever they are, nobody actually knows what they are. Everything I’ve heard about the changes has been through word of mouth.”
When Miller met with Sajdyk and Rogers, she communicated the issue to them.
“That was my biggest thing going out of the meeting: ‘Can you please communicate?’” Miller said. “People just want to know what’s going on. We need clear and open communication.”
