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CAMPUS
Editors Lauren Ceronie JENN SMOLA
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2012
campus@miamistudent.net
Dining halls crack down on food portions By Mary Allison Geibel
For The Miami Student
Changes to food portion sizes at dining halls on Miami University’s campus have not gone unnoticed by the students that frequent them. Several dining halls, including Bell Tower Place, have recently been making efforts to control portion size. One noticable practice, in which cooks weigh meat to ensure the right amount is doled out per serving, was officially implemented right before Christmas, according to Bell Tower student manager Randy Chabot. Nancy Heidtman, director of
dining and culinary support services, said portion control has always existed on Miami’s campus in all dining areas. The idea is not new, but the execution of portion control has recently been more enforced in all dining halls around campus, Heidtman said. Bell Tower managers realized reducing the amount of food given to students would help the dining hall be more profitable, Chabot said. The immediate response to this alteration has been simply curiosity on why the new guidelines have been implemented and where they are applied. “We’re trying to incorporate
portion control everywhere in the dining hall, but it is mainly for the meat in the stir fry line and for the Mexican station to limit the portion by scoop sizes,” Chabot said. The cooks are often seen weighing out students’ choice of meat or tofu to make sure it falls within the recommended limits of two-ounce portions, according to Chabot. Students have noticed a significant decrease in the amount of meat, especially within the stir-fry station. “I think the new portions are awesome. I am able to get enough of what I need without it being too much,” said first-year Jess Walpole. “Before the content of meat in all the foods
was a little too high and I would always find myself throwing away so much of my meal.” Students and workers alike have openly voiced their opinions on the newest mandate in their jobs. “I am alright with it because what needs to be done needs to be done,” Chabot said. “I will constantly see people walking through the checkout line with three times the meat they should in their stir fry. It just helps make the process more uniform for the workers and has already reduced the cost for the dining hall.” Though many workers and students are thrilled with the requirement to weigh meat, there are those
who feel slighted with the smaller quantity of meat in their food. “It was kind of a shock to come back from winter break and see such a smaller proportion of meat in the food. It seemed unfair with the cost of the meal compared to the quantity I received,” first-year Holly Klepek said. Student senator Ari Frum brought attention to the issue at a recent Associated Student Government meeting. “It was all about looking into the value of a meal compared to how much food students are receiving. It was implemented to trained student workers for incorrect portion sizes,” Frum said.
Students line up for late night snacks, specials By Taylor Hosey
For The Miami Student
Standing in line at Haines Food Court located inside the Shriver Center, first-year Jake Basile bears the line of students waiting anxiously for their latenight dinners. His mouth begins to water as he watches those in front of him walking away from the Grille within Haines Food Court with hamburgers, French fries, grilled cheese sandwiches and even breakfast bagels. Only a couple more minutes of waiting and he gets what he went there at 1 a.m. on a Saturday night for — the Clinton. The Clinton, which he describes as his favorite sandwich because it is “the best of both worlds,” combines a grilled cheese with a slice of pizza and makes it into a sandwich. First-year and Shriver employee Marie Hickman said the Clinton is one of the most popular sandwiches that sells at Shriver because it’s filling and a good late night treat. As a cashier, Hickman has assisted many people in paying for their purchases and has a sense for what most students like to eat late at night. She also said late-night dining is popular on campus because it gives students the extra option of going somewhere to eat if they’re hungry. “Plus if they’re studying for a big exam, food is one way to keep [themselves] awake,” Hickman said According to Tina Rotundo, executive manager for Haines Food Court, Tuffy’s and Spring
Street Market, the Shriver Center serves around 700 students during late-night weekend hours compared to around 200 during the weekdays. Rotundo said Shriver does not employ security on the weekend and many of the customers that come into the food court are inebriated. While the prices do not increase or decrease at any certain hour of the day, there are certain late night specials that students can take advantage of such as ordering a combination of certain foods and getting discounts at the register. Perhaps this is a reason why lines are seen at both Bell Tower To-Go and Haines more and more often into the wee hours of the morning. “Not only is it more convenient to use my meal plan to get food since I always have my card, but it’s also cheaper than going Uptown,” Basile says. Serving a wide range of foods from cinnamon covered pretzels, to King James’ sandwiches, to salads and pasta, late-night dining gives students the option of having just about whatever they want to eat- without the hassle of cooking and cleaning. Being open at abnormal latenight hours could be considered a benefit for dining facilities on campus because it helps them obtain a wider range of students who come to eat, at a wider time span. “At the end of the day, food is food. It is nice to actually be able to get that food at the very end of my day too, though,” Basile said.
CORRECTION It is the policy of The Miami Student to publish corrections. The Jan. 27 issue of The Miami Student incorrectly published in the article “RedHawks fall to Rockets, lose third straight” that the Miami University women’s basketball team had lost three straight games when they had actually lost two of their last three games. The Jan. 20 issue of The Miami Student incorrectly published in the article “RedHawks could play outdoor hockey game” that the commissioner of the CCHA was Tom Anastos. Mr. Anastos was the former commissioner, while the current commissioner is Fred Pletsch.
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BUMPING AND THUMPING
ANDREW BRAY THE MIAMI STUDENT
Miami University sororities played volleyball to raise money for Kappa Alpha Order’s philanthrophy the Muscular Dystrophy Association Saturday afternoon.
Students still raise questions over ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ a year after repeal By Stephanie Harris For The Miami Student
Dec. 18, 2010, Katherine Miller was riding home for that long winter break that all college students look forward to, text message alerts constantly going off on her cell phone as she was just waiting, waiting for the messages to end and to receive that phone call that said it was done. A few minutes later, her eyes lit up as her friends yelled through the phone that victory had finally come and that it had really happened. All of her hard work had not been in vain, her decision to speak out had been a good one and her vision to influence change was now a clear picture positioned right in front of her. On that day, in a 65-31 U.S. Senate vote, the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy, preventing openly gay and or lesbian persons from serving in the military, had finally been put to rest. Miller, a 22-year-old sociology major at Yale University began her journey with the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy in June 2008 with her arrival at West Point Military Academy. According to Miller, she had known she was gay since the age of 16 but “didn’t think being gay had anything to do with me going into the army,” she said. “I knew that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell existed but I thought it was literally people wouldn’t ask and I wouldn’t have to talk,” Miller said. “Little did I know that this policy would be much more invasive than I ever thought it would be.” Her training unit was much more than just that, they were her classmates who grew to be “much more than my friends, they were my only friends.” Upon her arrival at West Point, Miller was constantly presented with questions in regards to her personal life back at home, which is how her transformation began. “I would always get asked if I had a boyfriend back home, and I had a girlfriend named Kristen, but I just said ‘no’ and that I was single,” Miller said. With this policy in effect, there was no revealing anything to anyone, so her only option was to lie about who she really was and those lies are
what led her to lead a double life. According to Erica Gordon, a firstyear microbiology major in Miami University’s ROTC program, service members would be able to more effectively serve if they didn’t have to conceal their sexual orientation, something Miller was forced to do each day at West Point Academy. “Being Christian, I don’t feel that anybody should be gay but they shouldn’t be treated differently for it,” Gordon said. Keeping up appearances wasn’t easy for Miller. “I still had long hair and looked straight which invited a lot of men to express interest which made me realize that expressing that I was single probably wasn’t the best idea either,” Miller said. So from there, Miller changed to telling people that she had a boyfriend named Kris, “creating a reality that didn’t exist.” However, in the midst of all these lies, Miller was always thinking about how she seemed to have violated the honor code at West Point every time she opened her mouth. The honor code states that, “A cadet will not lie, cheat or steal and will not honor those who do.” Along with this came the consequence that any cadet who has been charged with breaking the honor code two times will undoubtedly be asked to leave. This was a passion to Miller so she found it inside of her to create a very convincing image to those around her. However, Miller expressed, “I started to resent who I was … I didn’t feel like I was becoming the person that I wanted to be or the person the army wanted me to be.” In April 2009, Miller was sitting in class when the topic of gays in the military came up with a group of students who were in her company, otherwise known as a group of students in which a cadet trained, and in Miller’s case, considered to be close friends. Miller was most disturbed by one particular student who she knew very well whose stance was a very strong one. It was his belief that, “gays were disgusting, against his religious beliefs and he was glad that he didn’t have to serve alongside gays.” Miller was shocked by the moment.
“I felt surrounded by people who hated my presence and all I wanted to do in that moment was stand up and tell them that they were talking about me but there was this law prohibiting me from doing so,” Millers said. It was in that moment, that Miller knew that if the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy wasn’t repealed by the time that she was presented with a binding contract, that she would have to leave West Point. “We as Americans have made homosexuality have a bad connotation and because of that everyone looks at them differently,” Miami first-year Ryan Brogan said. It is these same connotations that Brogan expressed, that drove Miller to have to make a decision between what she loved and the person who she wanted to be. In August 2010, Miller released her letter of resignation to the media while she still held her position as a cadet at West Point. From there, she told her story on the Rachel Maddow show, an MSNBC primetime hit tackling the biggest stories of the day, and things took off from there. Miller began to network with a variety of organizations and made it her business to work towards the repeal of this policy that was affecting thousands of other men and women just as it had affected her. She became a spokesperson for OutServe, which is a board of gay and or lesbian service members who spread stories such as Miller’s. In the midst of all of this, Miller enrolled as a student at Yale University. All this is what brings us back to Dec. 18, 2010 when Miller’s goal was realized through the 65-31 Senate vote to repeal the 17-yearold “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy. This act granted openly gay and or lesbian service member the right to serve in the US armed forces. Miller plans to rejoin the military as an officer. Katherine Miller along with numerous others has made it possible for thousands of men and women to be exactly who they are. From Yale University to Miami University, no service member has to be quiet about who they are to serve their country. “It was a huge victory,” Miller said.