As COVID-19 continues to show no signs of slowing down, schools are cancelling more services this Fall semester, with Sonoma State being no exception. This semester, SSU will not be offering meal plans for any students, nor will any of the campus dining venues be open.
In previous years, freshmen students were assigned a meal plan as a part of their room and board combination. This may seem like a welcome change to the small population of on-campus students who prefer the chance to choose whether they want a meal plan or not. However, this change does not only affect students who use culinary services as their primary means of getting food while at school. This decision also has widespread implications for those who are employed full-time by the culinary department, as well as students who are employed during the school year.
According to the department page for Culinary Services, roughly 500 students and more than 50 full-time professionals are employed by SSU every year. Director of Culinary Services, Nancy Keller, claims the loss of revenue has been “devastating.” She explains that “[they] have reduced expenses in every possible area and have retained employees as long as possible…staff and management employees were notified they may be laid off by July 31st.” In an attempt to offset these layoffs, Culinary employees are being moved to other departments to work there when possible.
Despite these heavy losses, the department has plans to press on and continue to connect with students remotely. Keller mentions that the department is “working on a video series that will start in September, containing cooking lessons, meal planning and budgeting tips for students.” In addition, they are also developing content for Seawolf Living to assist students with cooking at home. Culinary Services, mainly the Cafeteria, has previously offered various services teaching students how to make meals that are easy and accessible to prepare in the dorm kitchenettes, and hope to continue to do so in the shift to a digital presence, for those both on and off campus. Keller also mentioned the potential for students to participate in keeping “food diaries” over a period of time in order to adjust their culinary content to the needs of the student body more appropriately. Culinary Services also plans to use the data gathered as a form of preparation for the inevitable return to school–specifically, to have more extensive information on “the true savings of time a meal plan offers to our customers.” As a form of incentive, they’ve promised participants a compensation of Wolfbucks for their cooperation.
Due to the ever-shifting status of COVID-19’s presence and its effect on SSU, Keller couldn’t give a definitive answer as to what a scenario of returning would entail. “This emergency has been very dynamic and I’d expect a number of developments we’ll need to take into account before providing any guidance for the Spring.” While the current situation certainly lives up to the “dynamic” description, Director Keller and Culinary Services plan to return as soon as it’s safe to do so, as a changed service. Students can look forward to new policies that not only meet the new guidelines at the local, state, and national level, but to go beyond what’s expected by preexisting health mandates for a safer and healthier year.
