Excitement over newly added Merchants on Points vendors has been replaced by students' frustrations with the restaurants' service.
Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee members discussed problems customers had reaching Chai's noodle bar and bistro and T.G.I. Friday's at their meeting Monday night.
Students trying to call restaurants often heard a busy signal or a continuous ring tone, said DUSDAC Co-chair Jason Taylor, a junior. Members said they will recommend that the restaurants get another phone line or find an alternative way to take the large number of orders coming their way.
Franca Alphin, director of health promotion at Duke Student Health, spoke to members about the importance of healthy eating on campus. She asked the committee to consider dining options that offer healthy fare and a variety of options so students would not have to limit their choices based on dietary concerns.
"We're looking for a variety everywhere so people can go anywhere and have healthy options," Alphin said.
She also pointed out the need to address the lack of healthily prepared vegetables and whole grains on campus.
In other business:
Junior Chelsea Goldstein, Duke Student Government vice president for academic affairs and a candidate for DSG president, also came to the meeting. She outlined her ideas for strengthening the relationship between DUSDAC and DSG while still allowing them to function independently.
"DSG has gotten too big," Goldstein, a junior, said. "We should be a lobbying organization between students and administration...not swallowing up other organizations."
DUSDAC Co-chair Sarah Ramig, a senior, also said the independence of the committee is key to maintaining a critical distance. The students who make up the committee have familiarized themselves with the processes required by Dining Services and the administration.
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