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Student Association President David Bruen will meet with John Papazoglou, Syracuse University’s new chief operating officer, on Wednesday to discuss bringing meal swipes back to the Schine Student Center.

After the university allowed use of meal swipes at Schine during the 2020-2021 academic year, Bruen said much of the demand to reinstate the system comes from many students’ struggles with affordably incorporating healthier dietary choices into their SU meal plan.

“At the end of the day, it’s addressing a clear financial insecurity need for students, and it’s making some of our higher quality food options more accessible to students,” Bruen said.

The university currently utilizes two types of meal plans — a Block Plan and an Unlimited Plan. The Block Plan allows students to choose a specific amount of meals at SU’s five campus dining halls throughout the semester, while the Unlimited Plan includes 10 guest swipes per semester on top of unlimited meals at campus dining centers.

Students on all meal plans can only use meal swipes at five dining centers on campus, including Ernie Davis, Sadler, Brockway, Shaw and Graham.

After the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters, SU excluded use of meal swipes in Schine, which hosts locations like Biscotti Cafe, Dunkin’ and CoreLife Eatery, as well as a grab-and-go market. Students can now use ‘CUSE Cash or Meal Plan Dining Dollars, which are included in certain meal plans, at various locations that don’t accept meal swipes.

But Bruen and Santos hope reinstating meal swipes at campus dining locations like those at Schine can be a step toward increased food accessibility for students.

“It would be more accessible to students that really don’t have the individual financial means to supplement the cost like outside of the meal plan,” Bruen said.

Bruen added that meal swipes at Schine could be incorporated into certain meal plans, potentially through swipes or loans.

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Papazoglou, who began his tenure on Feb. 1, oversees key student services like dining, housing, hospitality, food services and other on and off-campus operations. Bruen said he hopes to use the meeting to develop a relationship with Papazoglou.

“Meal swipes in Schine is something that students have consistently talked about,” Bruen said. “Now that he’s in his role and he seems like the appropriate high-level person to talk to, it seems like a great time to talk to him about it.”

Students have previously voiced concerns about SU’s meal plans and have advocated to bring them back Schine meal swipes since SU ended them in 2021. A change.org petition with nearly 2,200 signatures listed disordered eating, worse health and various dietary restrictions as reasons to allow the use of meal swipes in Schine.

Bruen said he’s optimistic about the possibility of the return of meal swipes. He said that it seems feasible because the university was able to allow them before, and is hopeful Wednesday’s meeting will result in progress.

SA has prioritized food accessibility for students in various initiatives, including the Grocery Trolley program, proposals to let students take out more to-go containers from dining centers and trips to the dining halls with the Food Safety System Certification organization to address student concerns about mold.

Bruen and Santos both pointed to bringing back meal swipes as one of their goals in the 2022 SA campaign debate. In meeting with Papazoglou, they said they’re looking to get one step closer to increasing the accessibility that increased meal swipe access brings for students.

“It would be extremely popular with students. It would make Schine all that more accessible,” Bruen said. “We’ve got to try, at the very least, to make it happen.”

Published on February 20, 2023 at 12:46 am

Contact Kendall: kaluther@syr.edu