Meeting Minutes – December 10, 2007

Present: Jim Dontje, Steve Kjellgren, Lisa Heldke, Andi Twiton, Kate Goodpaster, Amy Fude, Cindy Johnson-Groh, Judy Douglas

1. Kitchen Cabinet membership: Steve raised the question of how membership is established on the committee. After some discussion, we agreed:
   1. To continue to have the committee serve as an advisory committee to Steve, such that he can have some control over its members. That being said, he wants broad, rather than narrow representation.
   2. To encourage the more active attendance of representatives of student groups, and also to solicit membership more broadly from the student body.
   3. To check back in with persons or organizations whose membership has not been activated.
   4. To publicize to the faculty the existence of the committee, and to invite anyone who wishes to volunteer for membership (recognizing that the committee could possibly become too big to function).
   5. To invite a faculty member who has expressed interest in the committee to join.
2. Allergen survey progress: Steve reported on a small study that a first year student carried out, concerning the incidence of food allergies on campus, and the desirability of a food labeling system in the Dining Service. The results of that survey point to a significant desire for such a system (13% of respondents to the survey have an allergy). It is hoped that one of the spring interns will be able to create this labeling system.
3. Dining service intern meeting: Jim, Lisa and Steve reported on the meeting with our two spring semester “interns” (who aren’t taking academic credit for the experience). They will be undertaking projects connected to some aspect of “purposeful eating,” ranging from a focus on getting people to take time for meals as a way to reduce stress, to a focus on alerting people to the local foods that are currently available in the Servery. Each will work somewhere between six and ten hours per week. They will report directly to Steve, but will meet with the committee periodically to report on their work and/or send out email updates to the committee.
4. To-go box issues: Andi has been experiencing some difficulty in getting the survey disseminated widely, despite having approval to do so. Judy reports that the PA office has the wherewithal to use Survey Monkey to conduct a survey of all students; it may also be possible to add faculty and staff to this. Andi will send paper surveys to areas of the college where computers aren’t common (e.g. Physical Plant). If necessary, Lisa will send the survey to Faculty-L.
5. January Term Dining Service activity roundup: Among the activities planned for the DS in January are:
   1. Twice-weekly “mindful eating” lunches hosted by Jim and Barb Larson-Taylor, which will focus on both eating with intention, and discussing a “food theme” of interest. The first topic will be “food and travel.”
   2. Andi will host a once-weekly “Rundstrom Table” over the dinner hour; there’ll be a sign posted on a table and any Rundstrom residents can join their dorm mates.
   3. The Servant Leaders are exploring the idea of “Random Acts of Kindness” in the Dining Room.
   4. In the spring semester, Cindy will host her regular book group over the dinner hour in the Dining Service. She will also invite some other faculty to consider hosting a “fun” book group. She will investigate the possibility that the CVR might be able to purchase the books.
6. Projects for next semester: We may begin to try to schematize a larger campus discussion about issues of corporate responsibility. This will require considerable buy in from multiple constituencies, including, especially, employees (who have a longer tenure at the place). We will begin next semester to think about shapes this might take. It obviously will extend well beyond the Dining Service.