Janelle Patterson
jp004@marietta.edu
As complaints about Marietta College’s food service continue to mount, several students have recently made claims of gender discrimination pertaining to Gilman’s portion sizes.
Junior Katie Transue wrote about a recent personal experience in a comment card directed to Parkhurst.
“Dining hall workers discriminate against women athletes,” wrote Transue. “I just witnessed a football player walk away with a plate full of food, and when I get a half of [a] plate and ask for more, I am denied.”
Transue is not the only student to leave the dining facility dissatisfied. Junior Diana Zhan feels that male students in general receive preferential treatment.
“There are workers there who won’t even ask me what I want,” Zhan said. “I have to prompt them and ask extra nicely to please have some food. But then they just smash what I asked for on my plate and aren’t even nice about it. But if it’s a boy then they will be really nice and talk to them and give them more food.”
Senior Mitch Geers says that the difference in treatment is just a simple testament to how men and women are viewed.
“When they look at me, they see that I’m a bigger guy, so I probably will get a little more,” Geers said.
However, Transue, a member of the women’s crew team, feels that she could eat as much as any guy.
“Since I know that I’m going to eat more than like five peas – yes, I would like to have more,” she said. “I get to Gilman after a practice where I just burned over 2,000 calories… I could eat just as much, if not more than any football player, and I don’t want to make five trips when my legs are already shot from practice.”
Another comment card posted to the wall in Gilman echoes Transue’s views claiming that the women’s rowing team could eat more food than the football team. The card stated this should be grounds for larger portions per serving.
Director of operations at Gilman, Carolyn Dempsey, responded to both comment cards with a typed statement.
“All line servers will be retrained in portion sizes,” Demsey wrote. “There is a portion size for each item on the line. This portion is to be the same size for all students with additionally trips for more food.”
When John Shaffer, Parkhurst’s general manager at Marietta College, was asked about the issue, he said that while he cannot control his staff at all times, they are trained to fill a plate based on predetermined portion sizes.
“Please understand that the difference in treatment is not intentional,” Shaffer said. “We vary in our portion sizes because of the relationships that we have built with the students. Of course we haven’t built relationships with everyone, so though nobody should get special treatment, sometimes people do.”
Shaffer said that the corporate answer to these complaints would result in an even tighter control of the portion sizes. But mandating the stricter policy, he said, would go against the primary goal of Parkhurst.
“Our main mission is to become like family to those we serve, so that their plate here looks like a plate that they would get at home,” he said.
Another concern for Shaffer was that students choose to adhere to different food lifestyles.
“With 70 employees, they are all trained to adhere to certain portion sizes,” Shaffer said. “But they should be able in their minds to adjust to the difference between the student who gets the protein, the carb, and the vegetable, and the student who only eats the vegetables.”
Shaffer said the goal of the portion sizes is to control waste, but that if students are only partaking in certain parts of the dinner, adjustments should be made. However, if students feel that they are being treated poorly, Shaffer urges them to report their complaints directly to him.
“If [a Gilman worker] is being sexist or if something inappropriate is said, I need to hear about it and that employee will either be disciplined or gone,” he said.
With the issue of the number of times students have to return to the line for food, Shaffer said that he will work on a solution. However, he said that the balance between food waste in an all-you-can-eat facility and minimizing the number of trips for the student is still a dilemma that he wonders at how to solve.
Senior Cody Rice said that portion sizes should be increased as a way to minimize mealtime disruption caused by excessive return trips.
“I think that the portion sizes are ridiculous,” said Rice. “But if you just put a decent amount on the plate, you wouldn’t have people walking back six or seven times.”
Transue claimed the multiple trips are actually impeding her ability to complete schoolwork and other obligations in a timely manner.
“It takes me 40 minutes to eat dinner because I have to keep going up to get food,” she said. “I feel like if I was given an adequate amount of food the first time, I’d actually get to enjoy my dinner and then get out in 20 minutes.”
She believes that the repeat trips are making her eat more than she thinks is healthy. She criticized Gilman saying that the facility is not achieving the goal of mimicking the plate she would receive at home. That plate, she said, would fill her appetite the first time, whereas at Gilman she finds herself still wanting more after three or four plates.
This concept of mindless eating to overconsumption is a trend not only common on campus but also across the country. According to Dr. Brian Wansink, Ph.D, “most of us don’t eat because we’re hungry.” Instead, the environment in which we eat affects our habits.
“We overeat because of family and friends, packages and plates, etc.,” Wansink said.
In an article published in the Annual Review of Nutrition, Wansink postulates that overconsumption is due in part to the distractions that coincide with the meal as well as the length of the meal. This is because “the distraction can obscure one’s ability to accurately monitor how much has been eaten.”
Rice believes that this overconsumption could in part be eliminated in Gilman through correct quantities at the first serving. He said that the portions at the facility should reflect the appetite of the students regardless of sex.
“There are guys and girls that eat a lot and vice versa – there are both that eat a little,” said Rice. “But if there’s a decent amount to start with or if we can get more when we ask for it, then we wouldn’t have to keep returning to the line until we’re full.”
Shaffer asks that students bring their suggestions and concerns to him directly as he works on a solution to bring about higher satisfaction. He said his goal is to continue building relationships with the students and eventually find a balance between portion control and food waste.
