2008 Woodie Awards
Downer changes continue this year
Emily Passey
Issue date: 9/29/06 Section: News
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Last year, Downer Commons announced that changes had been made. Students saw a physically improved Downer with new paint and artwork, making the entire experience a little nicer, and also a few new menu items including ethnically diverse foods.
In an effort to make Downer more student-friendly, new signs designated foods as vegan or vegetarian.
Despite these changes, senior Corin Howland feels that the quality provided at the main eatery on campus has not improved.
Howland has compiled his own list of three years' worth of complaints, including isolated incidents such as discovering an insect and a large piece of plastic in his food to more "epidemic" problems such as food tasting of cleaning solvents and finding rancid milk in the milk machines.
Howland's complaints also encompass some vegetarian issues. Howland notes that often, the soup labeled vegetarian is actually made using chicken broth. Upon asking staff, Howland has discovered that they readily admit this, not seeming to see the misnomer. Also, he once took a burger that was labeled as vegetarian only to discover it was actually meat.
Though many of Howland's concerns stem from his vegetarianism, Howland says that he is most concerned with "food purity and nutrition," feeling that there may even be possible health risks involved.
Two years ago, Howland attempted a petition to make the meal plan voluntary. In this way, students may choose if and when to go to Downer. Howland believes that many students would still remain on the meal plan because of the convenience.
At the time, Howland met with then-Director of Dining Services Lynn Hagee. He felt that her response to proposed changes was, "Don't even try."
Howland also said that students have met with chef Robert Wall to speak about the way that most vegetable dishes were cooked in butter, making them unavailable to vegan students. Wall was reluctant to abandon the long tradition of using butter when cooking vegetables.
Director of Dining Services Patrick Niles, beginning his second year at Lawrence, echoes every concern of Howland's. Niles speaks passionately of the changes in Dining Services and emphasizes that there are a multitude yet to be made.
In an effort to make Downer more student-friendly, new signs designated foods as vegan or vegetarian.
Despite these changes, senior Corin Howland feels that the quality provided at the main eatery on campus has not improved.
Howland has compiled his own list of three years' worth of complaints, including isolated incidents such as discovering an insect and a large piece of plastic in his food to more "epidemic" problems such as food tasting of cleaning solvents and finding rancid milk in the milk machines.
Howland's complaints also encompass some vegetarian issues. Howland notes that often, the soup labeled vegetarian is actually made using chicken broth. Upon asking staff, Howland has discovered that they readily admit this, not seeming to see the misnomer. Also, he once took a burger that was labeled as vegetarian only to discover it was actually meat.
Though many of Howland's concerns stem from his vegetarianism, Howland says that he is most concerned with "food purity and nutrition," feeling that there may even be possible health risks involved.
Two years ago, Howland attempted a petition to make the meal plan voluntary. In this way, students may choose if and when to go to Downer. Howland believes that many students would still remain on the meal plan because of the convenience.
At the time, Howland met with then-Director of Dining Services Lynn Hagee. He felt that her response to proposed changes was, "Don't even try."
Howland also said that students have met with chef Robert Wall to speak about the way that most vegetable dishes were cooked in butter, making them unavailable to vegan students. Wall was reluctant to abandon the long tradition of using butter when cooking vegetables.
Director of Dining Services Patrick Niles, beginning his second year at Lawrence, echoes every concern of Howland's. Niles speaks passionately of the changes in Dining Services and emphasizes that there are a multitude yet to be made.
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