Student feedback presented at forum

“Let loose and tell us everything that you feel you need to,” was the message Director of Building Management Rick Harris gave to the audience of about 35 students who attended RHA’s Housing Forum at Convo on Tuesday.

The purpose of the forum was to allow students to voice any concerns they may have with the way Sodexo, Student Housing, Facilities Management (FM) and Public Safety are handling things on campus. Representatives from each of the departments were present, except from Public Safety, which Katie Kawauchi, a junior political science major who guided the forum, announced was unable to attend.

Before students were invited to address issues, representatives from each department introduced him or herself and said a few words on the importance of student feedback. Timothy Lopez, manager of facilities and multi-craft, encouraged students to e-mail him at timothy.lopez@lmu.edu anytime, “day or night,” with feedback. “There’s a perspective out there that only you can provide to me,” he said.

Richard Royce of FM shared that in his 25 years on the job, student involvement has always been critical. “Communication is key,” he said, “and we’re here to help.”

Sodexo was addressed the most during the forum, beginning with the problem of what many students view as ridiculous pricing. General Manager of Sodexo Lisa Farrell responded to the voiced concerns by saying that some items are contracted by vendors, like Naked Juice, and that Sodexo doesn’t make it in-house so they don’t have control over the pricing. “What we’re charged controls the prices we set,” Farrell said. “Sodexo makes four cents off of every dollar.”

Lopez also addressed the students after this response saying, “We’re not trying to rob you blind.”

Katie Kinney, a sophomore communication studies major, addressed the fact that flat screens are used to display the menus in various food venues. “There are complaints that they’re unnecessary,” she said.

“We’re working on keeping the menus up longer, and it’s cost saving to not have to use paper. It also allows us to run advertisements,” Farrell responded.

The next issue Sodexo was confronted about pertained to the early closing hours of venues like Roski and the Lair. Participants voiced that there are night classes that sometimes take place in U-Hall, and Roski not being open is a great detriment. Farrell responded by saying that hours are discussed in their spring meeting with student groups on campus like ASLMU, which students were encouraged to contact with their concerns. She said that hours are worked out based on where the most students are at any given time, which is why some campus venues aren’t open later.

“I can only look at numbers and what the numbers tell me,” Farrell said. She also explained that hours changed at Roski with the addition of Jazzman’s Café. She said that when it was observed that the draw shifted from where people were going at certain times, the hours shifted with that draw.

Another issue was that students are paying the same price for lesser portions of the same food items, therefore paying almost twice as much for what isn’t even eaten. “Trying to find a middle ground between, say, male athletes and much of the female population,” Farrell said, “is difficult, but the recipe dictates the portion sizes, as well as what’s on the registers,” and these variables limit the idea of making half-sizes available.

Many students also noted that most of the venues close after 2 p.m. on weekends, leaving students with little to no healthy options. Farrell responded by saying that the majority of students do go off campus, but that the “Simply To Go” options exist to try to help with this problem.

Brian Nelson, a junior business administration major and RA said he “has seen a lot of improvements” in food service from previous years. Now, water dispensers are available in all self-service food venues, which weren’t always an option.

Farrell said that the best way to voice concerns with Sodexo was to e-mail her directly anytime at lisa.farrell@sodexo.com, post it on the Web, or use the comment cards in every facility, which are pulled three to four times a month by the Marketing Department.
The first question directed towards Student Housing regarded the recent slowing down of the Internet connection across campus. Associate Director for Resident Services Samuel Jones answered the question with a confident assurance that the issue would be followed up with Information Technologies (IT), but that students should still, whenever issues occur, submit documentation to IT to ensure that the department knows there is a problem. Other issues addressed to Housing included getting better shower curtains and higher ply toilet paper in the restrooms, particularly for the freshmen residence halls.
Mike Garcia, a freshman business law major, asked what happened to the water fountain that had recently been removed from Whelan Hall. Jones explained that it had temporarily been removed due to leakage, but that it would be restored shortly. Garcia then went on to request that benches be added in front of the buildings for those who want to smoke. Jones responded by saying that there isn’t supposed to be smoking within 25 feet of the buildings’ entrances, but discussed potentially creating an area 25 feet away to help.

Following this discussion, the issue of temporary triples and students living in study rooms was addressed. Jones explained that Housing’s goal is to move people out as quickly as possible, but that the process hasn’t been working as well as it has in the past. He said that the reassignments should be taken care of between now and Dec.18, and temporary residents should be receiving an e-mail offering other available rooms. If not by Dec.18, Jones said, it will be sorted out by the first week back from winter break in January.

Another participant asked whom to talk to about refunding money for students who plan to move off campus next semester. Jones said that the contract students signed before moving into housing binds them for the whole year, but there is an appeal process, and the last day to do this is Nov. 30 through LMU Online Services.

Not just concerns were voiced. Housing was thanked for the quickness with which they responded to concerns by some students over bed requests.

FM was encouraged to increase the rate of pickup for recycling bins, which were described as sometimes overflowing in U-Hall, but FM was applauded for their efforts in keeping the campus well maintained.

“You’ve done a really good job following up with FM request forms,” Nelson told Royce.

“Things getting fixed quickly and easily makes life less stressful,” he said.

FM was also thanked for putting toilet seat covers in the bathrooms, a luxury that some other schools don’t provide.

As the forum was coming to a close with the end of Convo hour, it was apparent that some students had a lot more questions they wanted to voice.

Kawauchi encouraged all other questions to be written down on comment cards and handed in to the respective departments if any concerns weren’t addressed in the forum.