Walking into the Blue & Grey Café (B & G) my freshman year, I was overwhelmed by the choices that were offered. It seemed I could have gotten just about anything that I wanted or was craving. The best part was that I could use Swipes instead of Dining Dollars for a meal. 

There was a fresh salad bar that made a salad for you right there when you ordered it, and specialty salads were offered throughout the week. There was a sandwich station where you could make any type of sandwich or wrap that you wanted. You even had the option to panini-press it if you wanted to spice things up and have your sandwich warm and toasted. 

You had the grill, which offered everything from chicken fingers and fries to pierogis to burgers (the Moe’s burger was my favorite) and grilled cheeses. You could also get grilled chicken, grilled chicken sandwiches, mozzarella sticks, and even mac and cheese bites. 

Then you had Pandinis, which freshly made a personal pizza for you the minute you put your order into the system. They offered anything from plain to specialty (like chicken, bacon, and ranch), or my favorite, a Panzerotti. A Panzerotti is a fresh-baked white pizza with a specialty topping consisting of either chicken Caesar salad, chicken parmesan, or a vegetarian option. It is then folded in half to make it easier to eat. On the weekends they offered a special pasta, usually a delicious mac and cheese, that they served with garlic bread. 

Imagine my surprise sophomore year when I walked in and almost all of these options were gone and replaced with Mexcellente, Crush, and Garbanzo. This limited my options to burgers, chicken fingers, fries, and Mexican and Mediterranean food. They got rid of meal Swipes in the whole B & G, and then they upped the price of meal plans to accommodate the extra Dining Dollars students would need to use the B & G on the same schedule they used before. 

Now, options are limited, especially if you do not like Mexican or Mediterranean. Dining Services took away the comfort food of the grill and replaced it with burritos and quesadillas (mind you, you were able to get a quesadilla at the old grill), they took away the freshness and healthier aspects of the salad bar and the sandwich station, and most of all they took away the ability to have a good, fresh pizza when you wanted. 

They brought in Sodexo workers (who are very nice people) and took away the relationships that students had with the student workers who helped prepare their food at the old B & G. 

The new B & G definitely has its perks, especially when it comes to the milkshakes and smoothies or the burritos bowls when you’re craving something just a little bit more.

But at what cost do these “perks” come? A limited option of food selections and quality? A loss of togetherness instead of students interacting with the workers? An increase in spending on the students’ end just to eat there? Did the students even want an upgrade on the B & G and the food selection?

These are all questions that, in my opinion, the school did not fully consider.