SGA gets first look at changes to meal plans for fall semester

Meal plans are getting a massive overhaul at Southeast for Fall 2022. At their meeting on Feb. 7, Student Government Association (SGA) got a look at what SEMO Dining and the university has planned.

Chartwells director of marketing and student engagement Alicia Ticer and Chartwells resident district manager Matt Ludwig presented their plan to move from meal plans to block meals, add new classifications of dining areas on campus and implement new dining concepts coming to campus.

Southeast associate vice president of Student Life Bruce Skinner prefaced the presentation by saying the plan wouldn’t be perfect, but they’re trying to improve the student dining experience.

“There are two things on a college campus that no college does well. One is food service, and the other one is parking,” Skinner said. “It is probably the largest change to the dining service program in at least a decade.”

In Ticer’s presentation, in a sample of 22 Resident Assistants (RA), they lost a collective $150 in one week with the current meal plan. Another finding from the survey said the sample of 22 RAs lost 45 meals. Ticer and Ludwig said the current meal plan “leaves a lot of money on the table.”

Meal plan changes

As opposed to students being allotted 15 meals a week to use at any location, SEMO Dining plans to open the use of an entire semester’s meals referred to as “block meals” at the beginning of the semester.

At block meal locations, students would first swipe their ID and receive a ticket. They would then use this ticket to select their meals. Meals include a protein, three sides and a drink. Block meals would be limited for use at the soon-to-be Towers Landing, St. Vincent’s Commons and Houck’s Place.

Right now, students have a meal plan that comes with flex dollars. With this change, the number of flex dollars students get will increase overall from this year. When students select a meal plan for next year, meal plans with higher amounts of block meals will have fewer flex dollars than plans with fewer block meals.

Flex dollars would be available for use at RedHawks Market, Starbucks, Panda Express, Subway and Rowdy’s. Flex dollars would remain as a dollar-for-dollar exchange and only be available to use at the mentioned flex locations.

Ludwig said, block meals won’t have a monetary value like current meal plans, in which one meal is equivalent to $8.06. Ludwig also confirmed RedBucks will still be available for students who plan to purchase them next semester.

With the new plan, guest meals will no longer be available. However, students will be able to swipe their cards again if they have a guest to pay for.

Harrison College of Business and Computing senator Heather Hoffman asked how meal availability would change during weekends.

“Blocks will absolutely be open on the weekend,” Skinner said. “What retail [flex] locations will be open on weekends are something we’re still deciding on.”

New dining concepts

Some on-campus dining locations will see a significant change in menu and atmosphere, to accommodate for block meal and flex locations.

Towers Cafe will change to Towers Landing in the fall semester, holding six dining concepts as opposed to an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Rowdy’s will see a revamped salad bar and the inclusion of a loaded sandwich concept.

Houck’s Place will shift to a student-choice dining experience. Students will vote on the concept for the dining location, and it will change throughout the semester based on votes.

Plans are still being finalized during this semester. Ticer encouraged students to get involved with Redhawk Dining Advisors, an organization where students can share their perspectives with Chartwells.

Other business

The dining updates presentation and discussion lasted for approximately 40 minutes before moving to other business for the evening.

Students in their cybersecurity capstone plan to revamp the Southeast app and streamline many campus resources into one, easy-to-use place.

“I think this is absolutely phenomenal that you guys took this initiative, because we all know that our app is seriously lacking,” treasurer Sophie Machen said.

Five new senators were confirmed at the end of the meeting, including first-year senators Luke Triplett and Jason Steiner, Holland College of Arts and Media senator Kayla McCain, College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics senator Mackenzie Pugh and College of Education, Health and Human Studies Katie Williams.

Senators approved Men’s Club Volleyball as a student organization, marking the newly sworn-in senators’ first senate vote.

The Southeast Arrow livestreams SGA’s Monday meetings every week on Facebook. For SGA’s agendas and minutes, click here. To watch the entire presentation from the Feb. 7 livestream, click here.

To get more information on the new meal plans and get involved with Redhawk Dining Advisors, contact Ticer via email at alicia.ticer@compass-usa.com.