BestColleges.com recently ranked Geneseo’s dining halls as the ninth best in the country. Run through Campus Auxiliary Services, the dining halls were ranked ahead of schools like Yale University, the University of California – Los Angeles and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This is the first time Geneseo has been ranked on this list.
The rankings were determined using a point system devised by BestColleges.com. These points were awarded for receiving National Association of College & University Food Services medals, being ranked by The Daily Meal and for placing in last year’s BestColleges.com Best Dining Halls rankings. The website also noted that, “Our rankings emphasize innovation in food sourcing, waste reduction and other sustainable practices. We consulted food industry sources to evaluate award-winning programs.”
CAS Marketing Manager Becky Stewart ’04 highlighted CAS’ commitment to using locally sourced food as one of its stronger qualities with regards to the ranking. “We actually have a very, very strong local purchasing program where we do as much local purchasing as possible and what we as a company define as ‘local’ is within 100 miles,” she said. “The other thing that they called out is our gluten-free ranking, where we have ranked as the number two gluten-free-friendly college nationwide for two years running.”
“I think they have been doing a much better job with it over the past few years,” CAS board Vice President and Student Association Director of Inter-Residence Affairs senior Tyler Sherman said. “I think, overall, we’re making moves toward it, but I don’t think that we are the best at it. But that’s coming from someone who’s not gluten-free, vegetarian or vegan.”
Junior Kimberly Harvey—who was an administrator on the Protest CAS Facebook page and spread information about the CAS forums—emphasized her displeasure and disbelief regarding the BestColleges.com ranking. “Clearly, they did not hear about Protest CAS or the large amount of forums that they were forced to hold because students were so upset and disappointed,” she said. “I don’t know how that happened, but that is a large mistake—unless the gluten-free factors truly pulled it up by some incredible number.”
Although Geneseo was ranked as the number two gluten-free college by NACUFS, Harvey noted that some people have had issues with gluten-free food. “I think that, on paper, they do a good job of offering it, but I’ve heard many, many testimonies that in execution, there are many mistakes,” she said. “I know one girl: her boyfriend had to go to the hospital because he ate something they said was gluten-free that wasn’t and it took nine emails before they admitted fault and apologized.”
Stewart emphasized that CAS was already planning on holding the forums and that the organization has consistently improved. “The forums had already been in our minds; we had planned on doing them prior to a lot of the comments that we had been seeing, it just helped to speed up the process and get us to focus more heavily on them,” Stewart said. “What was most disturbing from our end about that—and honestly most frustrating—was that all of these comments were coming through, but none of them were being sent directly to us … If you’re not happy, let us know.”
Sherman reiterated Stewart’s sentiment. “If you have issues, just please approach managers about it because nothing is going to happen if you don’t,” he said. “Ranting about it online is not going to do anything.”
Looking forward, Stewart noted that CAS is looking to implement new innovations in the coming months in order to maintain its position on NACUFS and BestColleges.com rankings. “We have a number of things that we’re currently working on including mobile ordering, something we’re very excited about,” she said. “There’s a lot of challenges doing it on campus, the biggest one being technology integration. If we were just accepting cash or credit, this would be done; this would be easy. But integrating with the campus meal card and the technology—the back end—into a program is a lot more difficult.”