The mission of the University of Miami is to transform lives through education, research, innovation, and service. In order for students to learn, innovate, and develop as young adults entering the workforce, there are three fundamental categories that must be met: Proper sleep, good mental health, and a nutritious diet.

The University of Miami educates over 17,000 students and holds over 16,000 faculty. The University of Miami offers a dining plan to all undergraduate students living in any residential college or any commuter student. The dining hall is also open to outsiders with a payment option if they wish to eat at the dining hall. The University offers a wide variety of different meal plans for students and faculty if they wish to choose to purchase one as well. With all these options, is the dining hall’s quality of food worth it? The cost of a meal plan at the dining hall is in the thousands, and food quality should be reflective of this price.

Pricing/Meal Plans

As of November 2021, the three weekly meal plans (unlimited +$100 dining dollars (DD), 19/week +$100 DD, and 14/week +$150DD) are created to get students lower-priced meal plans, however, require that students purchase DD, which can only be used at restaurants on campus. For many students, dining dollars are a burden to spend, as the restaurants on campus have very restrictive hours of operation, have minimal options, and typically serve food made with added preservatives/unhealthy ingredients. These meal plans are constructed to provide an obscure number of meals, encourage students to opt for the unlimited (most expensive) meal plan or spend more out-of-pocket money at either the dining halls or on-campus restaurants. In order to better serve the students and faculty, UM Dining should expand its 19/week meal plan to 21/week to provide a plan that allows students to have 3 meals a day, every day versus scrambling for 2 additional meals. Additionally, the mandatory dining dollars ($100-$150) to not serve as fillers for these meal plans that are short on provided meals as the on-campus restaurants do not offer the same flexibility for choices of food/allergies and do not have hours of operation that are similar to the dining hall (ie. being closed on the weekends).

Quality/Options

On social media (primarily @umdining), UM Dining boasts hand-crafted, beautifully prepared, and a wide array of dishes that make every student feel welcome and cared for. This misrepresentation of available food is shown from various images and experiences shared by students, with some even sharing photos to an Instagram account (@umdiningunfiltered), which exposes only some of the terrible items served at the dining halls. From uncooked Chicken to under-cooked pasta the list is never-ending and is reflective of the quality of food UM Dining provides. While UM Dining does provide vegan, gluten-free, Halal, and Kosher options, the quality of the provided, specialty food is another issue. Quite frequently, UM Dining will reuse carbs and vegetables from the day before, either from one of the specialty dishes, or even the regularly served food. For gluten-free options, the small space that stores these items is an absolute mess, and contains ripped apart boxes of frozen bagels, expired waffle batter and is often left with boxes that are either inedible food or no food at all.

For healthy eating options, UM Dining provides everything from pizza covered in olive oil to grilled chicken (which, as of this year, is hidden, and only available upon request. For vegetables, the salad bar stands as the only vegetables available that are not covered in some sauce, oil, or bizarre seasoning, and will often have rotten produce, over-ripe fruit, or vegetables with pieces of cheese in the mix. This problem of cross-contamination and food mixing is an additional problem, especially with the salad bars. Additionally, the Hecht/Stanford dining hall has had an ice cream bar, where students scoop their own ice cream, are expected to clean the scoopers after each mix. What this ice cream bar truly looks like is 2 large vats of brown, white, and pink, melted ice cream, with big puddles of foamy, ice cream water surrounding the counter, and the toppings sections with toppings mixed across each bucket, making it nearly impossible to have a bowl of ice cream that hasn't had cross-contamination. 

 

 

The University of Miami prioritizes the well-being of its students with the Wellness Center that runs round the clock and excellent faculty, but why is not dining on its priority. This is the real problem the University must overcome as dining and food are influential to body function and cognition. It is often overlooked constantly as fitness is associated with physical activity, but fitness also encompasses diet. Many students partake in dining hall plans. According to U.S News, 37% of students live on campus, with 67% living off-campus and commuting. This leads to at least 40% of the student population eating at the dining hall consuming its food daily. UM only has two dining halls that cause large lines at peak hours, leading many students to stray away and not attain their food, especially if they are in a rush. According to many students, this leaves room for not much time to eat, with lines averaging around five to fifteen minutes. There are only fifteen minutes between every class, and not everyone has a free period during lunch hours. Many students have expressed strong distaste for the dining hall and have expressed their distress with UM for years but do not seem to be getting any headway. This leaves the question of does UM Dining care to improve the dining halls when the alternative is for students to eat at on-campus restaurants, an additional revenue stream for the business?

UM Dining, to best serve the student body and faculty, must make necessary changes to the dining program that facilitates a passion for food, well-being, and provide consistent, high-quality options to all students equally. The current state of the dining hall is adequate and in the words of students, “just enough to get by”. The University of Miami is an institution that strives for excellence in everything, and UM Dining should be reflective of this mentality. Having limited options with premium pricing reflects poorly on the dining service, and the university as a whole. There is a way for change with collaboration with local markets such as the farmers market that comes to campus almost every week or working with other universities to implement a new dining program that has been successful at other institutions. A new mindset and having a goal with the betterment of both students and faculty can help bring about a new age of dining at the University of Miami creating a brand-new era on the campus. With the development of near housing facilities on campus, it is more important than ever for change to take place, and it needs to start now.

Work Cited

McDavid, Jodi (2020) "The Social Dilemma," Journal of Religion & Film: Vol. 24 : Iss. 1 , Article 22.

https://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20170622/how-bad-for-you-are-fried-foods​

https://www.niche.com/colleges/university-of-miami/​

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https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Chartwells/salaries​

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/university-of-miami-1536/student-life#:~:text=University%20of%20Miami%20has%20a,of%20students%20live%20off%20campus​

https://www.beatalewismd.com/blog/is-nutritional-deficiency-causing-your-depression​

https://www.umass.edu/veterans/average-costs-attendance-undergraduate-students​

https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/university-of-miami/paying-for-college/room-and-board/