Meeting Minutes – May 12, 2008

Present: Jim Dontje, Judy Douglas, Colin Gettle, Lisa Heldke, Steve Kjellgren, Joe Lencioni, John Mattson, Kayla Tacke
Guest: Alysha Thompson

Steve updates

1. Dishes:
   1. Senate will contribute 30% of the cost of the new returnable to-go containers. The ballpark cost estimate for 750 of each size, plus half again as many lids, was $7500.
   2. The Dining Service will again collect dishes at the end of the year, in hopes that some of the prodigals will return to the fold.
2. Portion size: A student worker who was also enrolled in the Public Discourse class did a project on portion size. They created the signs that were displayed in the class. Steve noted that there is a “portion creep” during the year, as workers tend to give larger portions in response to real and perceived demands. There’s a need for both workers and consumers to revisit this, and reinforce the need to take what you want.

Colin wrap-up

1. There’s been good feedback about the new to-go container project
2. There’s also been good response to the table tents, the last of which was about the rising cost of food prices.
3. There’ll be an editorial in an upcoming issue of the Weekly.

Judy report

Mindful Eating week activities (led by a student) were very well received. Judy suggested doing a “quiet dining” event once a month.

Internship follow-up

We have a candidate for the internship, and are in the process of making reference calls. [Lisa follow-up: we now have an intern for the fall semester. Angela Janda is a Communication Studies major who will be a junior. We’ve met with her a couple times, and will be having regular meetings during the fall semester.

Health Service staffing change

Nissa Fell is an N.P. who will be joining the staff. The staff hopes to do more programming next year. Steve expressed a desire to hire George Elliott, dietician, for a larger number of hours.

China activities during Global Focus year

Committee brainstormed some ideas for how to use Dining Service to capitalize on China

1. President’s Banquet for incoming students to include Chinese food?
2. Feature Chinese cuisine for the upper class student bash?
3. Make connection between Chinese students studying here in Communication Studies during the summer, and the Dining Service. [Lisa note after the fact: I’ve been in contact with Phil Voight, who will be working with those students. Phil is trying to develop a unit of his course that will involve those students doing “food network” style presentations about Chinese cuisine.

Guest Presentation: Alysha Thompson

In connection with her Public Discourse class, Alysha came to talk to the committee to advocate for the use of milk produced using RBST milk. She presented a fact sheet of information about the artificial hormone, and presented her arguments about why she thinks that the milk dispensers in the Dining Service should say that, while the college serves milk produced without the artificial hormone, the labels on the milk should stipulate that no difference has been found between the milk produced by cows given the hormone and that produced by cows not given the hormone.