<p>Fordham was rated the WORST college food in America. Fordham has been on the worst food list for years and we had major health code violations in 2011 but hopefully this will FINALLY convince the school to take major action to improve things (they said they are reviewing it now, but action should have been taken long ago). Here is one of many articles. Happily my dorm has a kitchen this year.</p>
<p>Fordham University’s food is ranked the worst
Tuesday, August 21, 2012</p>
<p>Fordham University provides students with a fine and rigorous Jesuit education that “prepares them for leadership in a global society.”But it can’t seem to serve them a decent meal. The Bronx-based school, where tuition is $41,000 a year, was ranked No. 1 by The Princeton Review in the category of worst campus food. What’s not to like about a residential dining service that offer options like “Pasteurized Liquid Eggs” and “Blueberry Bagel” for breakfast? While “Cheeseburger on a Toasted Bun” sounds like a classic collegiate lunch, topping it off with “Lemon Jell-O Parfait” reeks of grade school.</p>
<p>Yes, a well deserved rating for poor food. Students have been complaining about it for years, so now the adminsitration will HAVE to address this and change this unfortunate situation. I think it was Randolph Hurst who said: “Sometimes, you need some bad publicity to get people moving to create good [publicity]”</p>
<p>I cannot understand why Sodexo is so “bad” at Fordham. They are one of the largest providers of institutional dining in the world (even at daughters summer program in France). My thought is the the unique factor is the dining staff/cooks. It may sound mean, but lets face it, Sodexo is adequate at other locations but somehow at Fordham they drop the ball. If you put in a new contractor but rehire the same staff you will have the same results</p>
<p>You know, it always make me scratch my head why people would post this stuff. The only conclusion I can reach is they want to harm Fordham and embarrass it. </p>
<p>First of all, Princeton Review is just a bunch of kids, asking random other kids questions and its very UNSCIENTIFIC. Its an opinion poll and nothing more. Its less trustworthy than Forbes (which is horrific) and USNWR (which is bad enough). Sadly, kids read that stuff and believe it.</p>
<p>Fordham’s Rose Hill Cafeteria is not perfect and there was an issue last year that was handled by the Administration. But I have eaten in the “caf” for breakfast lunch and dinner MANY times and whiles its classic cafeteria food, its not even close to being as bad as many spoiled students complain about and the Princeton Review writes about.</p>
<p>Could it be better? Of course. Are other school food plans better? Yes. The manner to get that accomplished is not by harming Fordham here, as Fordham Administrators (except some admissions people creeping around) don’t read these boards. The manner to do it is to go direct to the people in charge in ResLife and Student Services. In fact, I would make an appointment (preferably with a responsible group recognized on campus/club) and ask that they address these problems. You can even email Fr. McShane, SJ, Fordham’s President and ask him to deal with it.</p>
<p>Will that work? Who knows? But blasting Fordham here and sending an ugly message to potential students we WANT to recruit is not helpful.</p>
<p>Every school has problems and no school is perfect. Will this rating push Fordham to make changes? I suspect it will. But please be careful when posting here so recruits dont get the wrong idea. </p>
<p>its cafeteria food. Its not home cooking and never will be.</p>
<p>I tend to agree with AZMOM. It could be the employees who are there, with poor supervision. But I also know that Sodexho has different levels of plans…and perhaps there are some penny pinchers at Fordham, who knows? </p>
<p>sovereigndebt, I personally think that it would be silly to pick a school or to eliminate one based on the cafeteria (with the possible exception of someone with serious food allergies, who could not be accommodated.)</p>
<p>That said, it really never works to try to squelch free speech. If readers come to a forum with a suspicion that only positive comments are allowed, then they will not trust the source. </p>
<p>I’m sure that the Fordham admin is aware of the Princeton Review ranking, which was widely reported in the media, not only on this forum.</p>
<p>@sovreigndebt - I am currently a junior at Fordham. Obviously cafeteria food is secondary to the amazing education and environment of this university. I posted this not to embarrass the school but because I want things to change. Like many other students, I was frustrated when the administration made no substantive changes after years of being on the worst food list combined with the fairly recent failing reports of some of the auxiliary dining facilities (not the main caf). I think students and parents alike need to press for change and this is a golden opportunity to face an ongoing deficiency head on rather than sweep it under the carpet. I spent two years eating many meals at the caf and while the food could be adequate, it was limited and I almost always skipped the meat courses in favor of one more plate of pasta. There is much room for improvement at RH and from what I hear, LC is worse (I never ate there).</p>
<p>A great university should try to improve in every way when there is a chance, and this is a chance. Azmom is right, Sodexo does much better jobs elsewhere (for example I visited a friend at Muhlenberg last year and they have an amazing cafeteria which I was shocked to see was run by Sodexo). So someone needs to find the root of the problem. Are the cooks/kitchen staff at Fordham subpar? Does Fordham pay Sodexo less than other colleges? Does the university’s kitchen need an upgrade? I don’t know the answers but I hope that Fordham takes this opportunity to improve the lives of its students.</p>
<p>And yes soverigndebt, I understand that Princeton Review surveys are not the gospel. It is based on student surveys. But if a school’s students rank it low in any category year after year, it should be cause for concern.</p>
<p>I believe that one should love a school for its strengths and still look to improve its faults. I love Fordham and I want it to get better.</p>
<p>My point to all of you is that this is not the forum to bring about change. It works against you, frankly. </p>
<p>The best method is to take it to the responsible parties (and I think you know who they are) directly, perhaps with several other students joining you, or a group/club. Polite, firm, direct. </p>
<p>I am not defending Sodexho or even Fordham on this. I am saying Princeton Review is just the opinions of a few students they interview. Its not scientific. And the cafeteria could use improvement. </p>
<p>Its not about squelching free speech either. Its about being selective about what and where you say it, careful not to bring about a result you dont want or just blowing in the wind. </p>
<p>Prospective students and their parents DO read these boards and yes, some of them may well make a decision, particularly early in the process, about student life; cafeteria quality. It happens.</p>
<p>A few months ago I read this board as the parent of a prospective student. I was interested in reading a balance of negatives and positives. Anyone who chooses a school based on its cafeteria is a fool-- but, more to the point, the report about Princeton review is information that is widely available in other places. There is no reason to suppress it from appearing here. </p>
<p>I appreciate that you are a great booster of Fordham, but this is a public forum, not an extension of the universitys department. It serves the school better if the forum presents balanced and unrestrained commentary.</p>
<p>Have to agree that there is good reason to post and discuss this here as it is part of the Fordham experience. </p>
<p>There are many reasons to choose Fordham but food is just not one of them. In fact, the meal plan (or lack of) is my greatest complaint about FCLC. It would surprise me if ANY student was eating well balanced meals on a regular basis.</p>
<p>My daughter and her roommates have stocked their kitchenette with pots, pans, silverware, and even baking tins. (No food in sight yet, due to being kept busy 24/7 with orientation.) They have high hopes of cooking for themselves in their McMahon suite. I do hope it turns out to be possible for them!</p>
<p>In my one year of experience, the kids have every intention of cooking, but once classes get going, it’s hard to have the time to prepare things. My daughter would rather eat out than eat at the LC cafe. There were only a few things there that she would eat. Often, she had no idea what things were, they are under red hot lights so it’s hard to see the color or texture of what the food is. And if you ask, the workers barely speak english, so she often couldn’t understand them when she asked what something was or what was in it.
There is no reason for the food to be so bad.</p>
<p>At least at RH, you can try things and if you don’t like them, you can toss it out and get something else. At LC, you pay for everything you put on your tray. So you are less likely to experiment.</p>
<p>My kid is vegetarian with allergies to eggplant and zucchini. So far the only veggie option for lunch has been eggplant Parmesan sandwiches. But, she didn’t really complain-- I had to drag it out of her. I suppose she can stock up on items like yoghurt and carrots and try to pack a lunch.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone here is out to hurt the image of Fordham in any way: I have been an ardent supporter of Fordham, a FAST member for some 30 years and stay active with the school as much as possible. Fordham has come a long way and is moving back up in stature and image: it was one of the very best Catholic school in the '50s and '60s, got caught up in the economic downturn and decay of NYC’s in the '70s, worked it’s way back and is now poised to climb back up to the upper echelon: we are ranked 53rd from 83rd, already firmly part of the (unofficial) “Catholic Ivy”, so anything that can be done to get better, stronger can and should be done. We may never become a top 20 ranked school, but we can try to come close…as they say: “Shoot for the stars and you will reach the moon”</p>
<p>Now, for as long as I can remember, the food has been a weak link in an otherwise strong chain that is getting stronger. My D, who is in her senior year at FC, has often talked about how most kids don’t like the food. While it is very subjective and not very substantiated by the surveys of some unhappy students, right or wrong, the fact that it made the Princeton Review for the worst food cannot be ignored. </p>
<p>We just opened the new Hughes/Gabelli B School and it looks terrific. Lincoln Center is 2/3 complete and also looking fantastic. Yet we now have this minor blot on our image that needs attention. With all the great things Fordham has accomplished, we can address this as well.</p>
<p>I see this as a correctable issue; I see this not as a horrible problem, but as a challenge that has to be meet. I don’t want to be like some other “Fans” of certain schools who see their school as perfect, ignoring their schools flaws while aggressively pointing to the flaws of others. The goal: not to ignore this issue (as it has made the news), but to set the goal that NEXT year, we are not even on this dubious list.</p>
<p>RamRay, since you seem to know a lot about the college, can you tell me what is planned with the construction at LC? I was told it was a new dorm building, to be completed in 2014,but is there any other information about what they are planning (I assume, among other things, that a new dorm building might mean a new cafeteria.)</p>
<p>Some years ago the first phase was started with the building of a new dorm (McMahon) on the 8 acre campus. Now, an even bigger dorm rising above the plaza is almost built, with a new, very modern law school that will double the space of the old law school built at the base.
Future projects include more buildings for graduate schools, raising the library some floors, building a performing arts center; see plans.([FORDHAM</a> UNIVERSITY LINCOLN CENTER PLANS](<a href=“http://www.fordham.edu/FordhamUPlans/proposal.html]FORDHAM”>http://www.fordham.edu/FordhamUPlans/proposal.html))</p>
<p>When you add this to what has been done at Rose Hill, it is no wonder Fordham stock is on the rise. Sovereigndebt would have a lot more information and I hope she jumps in.</p>
<p>According to the Ram (School daily newspaper)</p>
<p>“Fordham hires independent consultant to evaluate the University’s food service program, including food quality and customer service, according to a statement sent Friday to the Fordham community via email. A new food service contract likely to begin by Fall 2013.” </p>
<p>Hopefully the committee will get to the root of the problem (be it Sodexo, kitchen facilities, staffing, money etc.). Fixing this would be a positive for Fordham students going forward.</p>
<p>Sodexo’s product is based on what price they get on their contract. </p>
<p>My sons high school has a boarding portion and the dining hall is run by Sodexo and the food is horrid. I had a friend who was a liason between the school and Sodexo for years. When I brought up other Sodexo food that I had eaten that was palatable; she mentioned it all boils down to the amount of the contract. If the school purchases an economic contract they get cheap and very bland foods. </p>