Point News, 1989 April 25

              The Point News
VoL73 No3~ St Marys City, Md. 20686 April 25,T9B9
New Food Service To Make "A Visible Difference"
D i n i n g Services Contract U p F o r Renewal; T h e W o o d C o m p a n y W t n s
by Kim Jarrett
Six years ago, the Marriott Food
Service Company won the dining
services contract at St. Mary's.
There are few staff members, and
even fewer students who remem­ber
this change. The director of
Public Information, Chris Cihlar,
is one who remembers this turn­over.
The improvements Marri­ott
made were drastic, according
to Cihlar. "They set a new level of
expectations for the food service
and for the college."
That was six years ago. For St.
Mary's College, it is time to move
on to more improvements. The
dining services contract was up
for renewal again this year. The
Wood Company from Allentown,
Pennsylvania came up victorious.
The Wood Company was cho­sen
from eight finalists in the bid
process. The Bid Evaluation
Committee, consisting of student,
faculty, and staff representatives,
evaluated the needs of the col­lege
and the needs of those who
use the food service. The Wood
Company is an educational food
service company. This means that
Could this be the answer to the problems facing the food service at S t
Mary's? The Wood Company proposes to install salad bars resembling
this one in the cafeteria in an effort to improve appearance and food
quality.
they specialize in serving students,
and addressing student concerns.
In their bid, the Wood Company
addressed such issues, and pro-ing
ideas of their own to add vari­ety
and maintain interest.
"Students may see a visible dif­ference
when they arrive next fall,"
says Dean of Students Lynn Willett,
a member of the bid evaluation
committee. "Wood gave careful
thought to variety and food com­binations,"
says Willett.
In addition to the regular six
week rotation of meals, Wood has
proposed s^me very original spe­cial
meals and features for next
year. Sno-Cone Booths, Baked
Alaska Night, and a chocolate
covered banana bar would be
welcome additions. Special din­ners
would be prepared for all
major holidays including, Octo-berfest,
Candlelight Christmas
Dinner, and a Hawaiian Luau in
May.
Instead of driving to Solomon's
Island for a restaurant style din­ner,
students may be offered the
opportunity to order from a menu
on Saturday evenings in one of
the side dining rooms. This would
cost extra, but even though the
posed creative and interesting regular cafeteria will still be open,
solutions to the problems that it may be worth a try.
exist within the lbod service. They Customer satisfaction is a pri-also
thought up some interest- ority for the new company. They
f
I S
plan to continue the use of the
food service committee, and in­stitute
comment cards, and pref­erence
surveys. Also, a brochure
explaining the food service will
be included in the August mail­ing
to all students.
The meal plans in effect now
will still be available next year. In
addition to the 19 meals/week, 7
meal/week and commuter lunch
plan, a 14 meals/week plan will be
available to the townhouse resi­dents
and commuters only. The
school is too small for this plan to
be offered to all students at a rea­sonable
price, says Dean Willett.
The Wood Company also aims
to reorganize the self service area
of the cafeteria to make it more
attractive and efficient. They want
to eliminate the stainless steel
"institutional" look of the dining
hall.
All in all, expectations are high
for the Wood Company. Their
track record proves them to be
efficient and consistent. Their
average tenure in one contract is
fifteen years. Site surveys showed
complete satisfaction. Maybe we
will see them for fifteen years at
St. Mary's.
D r u g s A t S t . M a r y 's : A P r o b l e m A r o u s i n g C o n c e r n
by Carolyn Ross
Contributions by Holly Stewart and
Sarah Newman
In late January two St.
Mary's students became ill after
attending a party. They went to
the health center, and soon after­wards
a memorandum was re­leased
on campus warning the
college community to be careful
of what they eat and drink.
It was suspected that the stu­dents
had somehow been slipped
some drugs during that January
evening and although the inci­dent
was not serious, it has raised
some questions as to the current
drug situation on campus.
In the early '70s drugs
ran rampant on the St. Mary's
campus and violence often oc­curred.
"We used to have riots all
the time," says former St. Mary’s
Public Safety officer Dick
Voorhaar, now a county police
lieutenant, "it was like Kent State
except nobody was killed."
Voorhaar, who was especially
tough on drugs, remembers inci­dents
where students built furni­ture
barricades to prevent a police
car from moving and one time even
held up the Public Safety Office.
"We couldn’t even make any phone
calls out for help...I'm talking at
least 200 students took over."
Although this kind of
thing no longer goes on, drugs are
not at all unpopular at SMC.
How big are drugs on campus?
In an effort to shed some light on
the subject, The Point News sur­veyed
224 students during lunch
on April 17 concerning their atti­tudes
and drug use habits.
More than half of those sur­veyed,
52% answered yes to hav­ing
used some illegal drug (alco­hol
not included) while at St Maiys.
6% said they tried it only once,
and 49% say they never use drugs.
26% say they have used drugs a
few times, while 12% participate
in the drug scene only at parties,
and 7% claimed they used drugs
often.
"There is definitely drug abuse
on this campus," said a one time
user. "What is scary is hearing
people get excited about doing
drugs. That is really sad."
A majority of this apparently
"sad" drug abuse is invested in
marijuana. 77% of those an­swering
the question prefer the
mild stimulant. Acid was the
next drug of choice while harder
"Drugs on campus
are as common as
classes..."
drugs like cocaine and crack are
generally avoided. "That's bad
stuff," commented one student.
Other drugs named were mush­rooms,
as well as peyote, and
heroin.
Perhaps the most significant
of the survey results is the reve­lation
that 57% of the 132 people
answering the question, said they
Ui
nev
ces>-
obtain their drugs on campus.
How prevalent are the "drug
dealers" on campus? Are people
just getting the goods from friends
or is there a lucrative business
being maintained?
"I know who the dealers are!"
wrote one student. It is specu­lated
that these dealers do not
make much money, if any. "They
usually sell it to their buddies."
As far as availability, one stu­dent
says, "it is not something
everyone knows about unless they
want some." Another claims drugs
to be "as common as classes."
Nevertheless, most students as
well as college officials from
Residence Life to Public Safety,
discount the drug problem, stress­ing
alcohol abuse as much more
common and dangerous at SMC.
Before coming here, Health
Center nurse Emily Guy worked
at a hospital Emergency Room.
"We got lots of cases involving
intoxicated or inebriated people...it
is very hard to feel any sympathy
for these people," admits Guy, who
is disgusted by the amount of irre-
>y nc M
usioi icr sa ■! * i a p-
< > v (or t 'K* nev*. ‘nn!’ . I’he
sponsibility with which people
approach drinking. She also notes
that the misuse of over-the-counter
drugs by college students
is possibly more dangerous than
that of most illegal drugs.
On March 22, Guy, as a col­lege
representative, attended the
county's program to increase
awareness, CHALLENGE "89.
The program was organized to
address the seriousness of issues
as underage drinking in the county
as well as the existence of open
air drug markets right here in
Lexington Park. According to
Phoebe Barth of the County
Commissioner's Office, "St Marys
is no longer a quiet little backwa­ter
county, we are a part of the
network."
Attended by 500 people,
CHALLENGE "89 was the spring­board
for the creation of a County
Alliance for Drug and Alcohol
Continued on page 3
See Drugs
• 1 / f ?