Tag: Metz

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Opinions

In Defense of Metz

By Hannah Smith

“Metz is terrible.”

We have all heard that one before. Metz has no options. Metz is nothing compared to home cooking. Metz is simply inedible.This comes up in conversations early in the morning, sometimes at lunch, and definitely at the dinner table. But I argue that there are more people in favor for Metz than we know. It’s too easy to get caught up in the rut of complaining and shortchange a good thing rather than appreciate what is there. 

According to a comment from senior Abigail Young, “It’s not a restaurant, but it’s not bad food.” If we really look at Metz with open eyes, we can see that the options are much more varied than the typical college fare. Bethany Smith from Eastern Nazarene has said that almost every night they have a fried food option: chicken tenders or pizza. There are no self-cook stations or fruit stations. The best that can be done is to go to the store yourself to get some strawberries.

Houghton has cooking stations, a sandwich bar, a fruit bar, a salad bar with dependable vegetables, and a pizza station. Pretty much any option for what you’re feeling or can make yourself. True, there’s not always a hit at the Main Plate section, and it may not be home cooking, but as Abigail previously said, it’s not bad.

Junior Brynn Dixon says part of her own attitude towards Metz is because “I think I get disappointed sometimes because I’m tired. We live in the middle of nowhere and I can’t just run out to Wendy’s and get my four piece chicken nugget meal.” It’s hard! Living in a space where the closest restaurant is the local Chinese restaurant and Dunkin Donuts is twenty minutes out is difficult! Especially when most of us come from areas much more urban than Houghton is.

I think wishful feelings about missing home cooking are felt by a large portion of Houghton students. Home is far away, along with the comfort of a homemade meal, and college food can feel subpar compared to it. But we don’t hate Metz. They do a fantastic job and we appreciate the effort they put into changing and addressing our needs. But there isn’t much they can really do to subdue this feeling of wishing from Houghton students. It is simply the way it is when living in such a rural space. And Three Bums Pizza is not exactly a great option to get away from dining hall food. 

Metz has done a lot to accommodate students in terms of changes to meals and food options. In past years we had limited access to fruit, but they heard our desire for fruit, and this year we have a fruit bar. There were a lot of complaints about Poblanos being all day-every day, and this year we have a weekly rotation on that station. They hired a professional dessert chef. There’s even an ‘Ask Us’ board up next to the coffee station. They make sure to respond promptly to comments students post and do the best they can to make the changes asked for. That’s a 10/10 in my book.

Metz will never be home cooking. It will never cater to our taste buds specifically. But they do their best with cooking for the university body. I think it’s important to remember to be grateful for the blessing of the people who work to make our lives easier. Metz is fun to complain about, but we should be careful not to convince ourselves that it really is terrible, because convincing ourselves that something is terrible is surprisingly easy. ★

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Opinions

Fish Fridays

by Ethan McCarthy

Do you know what Dean Jordan means when he talks about Lent? While the ancient practice may not be present in all denominations, there are some, namely Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Orthodox, along with some former members of these denominations and many other students who desire to follow this traditional Christian season of penance, abstinence, and fasting.

When I first came to Houghton, I expected that it would be easy to maintain this practice of my faith, namely the exclusion of all meat on Fridays throughout Lent, with the exception of fish and other seafoods, such as shrimp. However, the dining hall did not make this easy, with the poor selection of products that do not include meat being restricted to salads, cheese pizza, and the miniscule vegan section. Often this results in students not receiving enough protein. Think of the athlete that only has those options on game day. Does anyone really think that would go well? “It’s really hard as an athlete to not have any protein on what are typically game days when I’m in-season. Even if fish or seafood of some sort was offered at lunch and not necessarily dinner on Fridays, it would allow those who observe Lent to get some much-needed protein in their systems prior to competing in the afternoons…it is offered enough in the dining hall already that simply aligning those days with Fridays seems reasonable,” says Jackson Medeiros, a sophomore pitcher on the Houghton baseball team.

The realization of this fact was very disappointing to a number of students who observe Lent, including myself. I thought that a Christian university which claims to be open to students of a variety of different traditions, which claims on the What We Believe page that this diversity has led to “wonderful and sometimes heated discussions across campus, in classrooms, and in the coffee shop!” would not make it difficult for members of the Christian family to observe their traditions. But sadly, with the current meal setup, they have made it a challenge nonetheless.

Thinking about it, Houghton does serve fish, shrimp, and other hearty meal options that would be perfect for those observing Lent, but despite years of asking, Metz has refused to make a change to help these students in their faith journeys. Even McDonald’s, a secular company, created the Filet-O-Fish to provide food to those observing Lent. It does not sound all that radical to me: take the fish or shrimp that are served throughout the week and serve them on Fridays instead. Even something like pierogies and those mini pretzels would work (something I would certainly enjoy). Of course, there was shrimp served on a recent Friday for supper, but this has not been a common occurrence, since lunch that day did not have a Lenten meal as well, even though there was fish served on Monday and Thursday that could have been served on Friday instead. A Metz employee told me that there is a five-week schedule of meals, and considering Lent lasts for 6 weeks, it is certainly possible for this to be properly planned ahead of time.

When speaking with other students, there has been confusion towards the actions of Metz and the university and compassion shown towards those observing Lent. “It seems like a reasonable expectation that Metz would make the requested accommodation for students engaging in this spiritual practice,” says Gabe Huizenga, a Theology major.

Houghton certainly has a strong community (yes, I said the magic word) of students and staff that supports the different Christian traditions that are present at this university, so this is not a knock at them, but simply a request for Metz and the university to help students accommodate their religious traditions.

For years students have put up comments on the suggestion board and asked if Metz would provide accommodations for them over Lent. Though the Metz employee mentioned above has brought this up with Metz themself and claims that they seem open to the change, I also brought up the issue at the Student Council meeting on Monday, and they assured me that they will bring the situation up with Metz as well. However, I was also told not to expect a change from Metz. While I hope that is not the case, I would not be surprised if nothing were to change, though I am immensely thankful that the student council was willing to bring this up to support members of the student body. 

If there is fish served today, then that will be a welcome surprise, even though this is a day of exemption from the season for Catholics because of the Feast of Saint Patrick. If that is the case, then I am very happy to have seen it occur two weeks in a row, but I hope that this can be applied throughout all of Lent in the future so that students can more easily live out their faith traditions on campus. ★

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Opinions

Metz Misses the Mark… Again

By Anna Catherman

Big Al’s is dead.

The campus center’s basement dining establishment is quiet. Still. Too still.

Metz calls the rebranded ice cream and hamburger shop “Sizzle and Swirl at Big Al’s”. The moniker change is just one of many which have resulted in many students abandoning their once-beloved hangout spot.

The changes to Big Al’s and the dining hall haven’t all been bad. The Poblano’s bar in the dining hall is popular, and the return of hard ice cream is also very welcome. It’s become apparent that Perry’s ice cream is never coming back to the dining hall in its previous all-you-can eat format. Due to pandemic-related production cuts, Perry’s no longer has the capacity to provide Houghton students with unlimited ice cream. The idea of keeping the dining hall open later was also a popular student request. Athletes especially wanted late-night dining options other than greasy hamburgers and fries.

Replacing meal exchange with extended dining hours turned out to be the least beneficial change – and put the final nail in Big Al’s coffin.

Due to the end of meal exchange, the number of students at Big Al’s each night has declined dramatically. Friends would gather to study, play card games, or just talk. Lines used to wrap around the post office during busy times. Now, it’s rare to spot more than a dozen people at Big Al’s. And extended dining hours? It didn’t provide student athletes with the nutritious meals they requested. They’re getting leftovers. Some nights, they have a few options, but many nights they’re forced to choose between either tacos or pizza. 

Oh, and there’s no more free ice cream, not even the soft serve that was present last year, an issue which was heavily protested at the beginning of the academic year.

Dining services are tricky for any college campus, especially one as rural as Houghton.

Students can’t easily get off campus for a healthy meal or for socialization. Houghton thrives when students band together as a community. Cliche, but true. 

With a few changes, Big Al’s could be an important part of that community again. Reviving Big Al’s wouldn’t take as much effort as some might claim. Bringing back meal exchange would be an instant boost. Many students would welcome back the old Sunday-Thursday meal exchange, but a hybrid approach could be a good compromise. Preserving the new extended dining hours while also allowing students to use one or two meal swipes per week at Big Al’s would be the best of both worlds. 

Restoring menu items that students miss and adding new ones could also help. Buffalo chicken sandwiches could make a triumphant comeback. And maybe, just maybe, some healthy options. Salads? Gluten-free buns for hamburgers?

The smallest change to dining services that would bring the university the most goodwill, though, would be returning our soft serve machine to the dining hall, thank you very much. ★

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Campus News

Dining Services Evolve to Meet Complex Demand

By Johanna Florez (’21)

Changes in dining hall practices and offerings quickly come to the attention of large numbers of students. Many are already aware that the semester’s first three weekends saw three different models of breakfast service; less available is information regarding what went on behind the scenes of this and other recent changes to Houghton’s dining services.

The “Dining Service Regular Hours” distributed via all-campus email on January 21st indicated that the dining hall would not be open until 10:45am on weekends. These were reduced hours compared to the fall semester’s consistent 7-9:30am breakfast slot (which was itself a change from prior years’ continuous grab-and-go dining for students on full access meal plans). The decision to turn weekend breakfasts into a later “brunch” was made in mid-December, according to Metz General Manager Bryon Richards. Multiple departments agreed on the adjustment, including Dining Services, the Office of Student Life, Center for Engagement and Hospitality, and the Office of Finance.

Richards explains that weekend breakfast attendance started being evaluated “about two years ago.” “We… saw a steady decline in participation between each semester,” he says. “We also looked at the trends from other colleges in the region and saw that many had discontinued their weekend breakfast programs and moved to a brunch/dinner pattern on the weekends.” The fall 2020 semester also saw even fewer students than usual coming to breakfast on the weekends: “at most only 80 students” had breakfast in the dining hall on any Saturday or Sunday last semester. With so many students learning remotely, Dining Services anticipated even fewer people eating weekend breakfast. According to Izzy Gritsavage ‘24, who has worked in the dining hall since fall 2020, each hot breakfast requires about six employees and eighteen payroll hours, regardless of how many people come to eat. 

Despite the low average attendance at weekend breakfasts, students voiced concerns via Facebook and email. On Saturday January 30, an email from Marc Smithers informed students that they could request a takeout breakfast on Friday and Saturday afternoons to pick up at dinnertime and eat the following day. Richards later stated, “The decision to offer weekend night before breakfast pickup was always an option that was to be available for those students who still wanted an early breakfast on the weekend due to our changes.”

While no one was able to pick up breakfast that Friday to eat Saturday morning, Sarah Evans ‘22 tried the Sunday morning breakfast out of curiosity. While morning classes and sleeping in on the weekend often keep her from going to the dining hall for breakfast, “I just thought it would be nice to get breakfast and not have to get up early for it,” she says. She found a “sad” packed breakfast of orange juice, a water bottle, a banana, a muffin and a pastry. “I would not have picked the items that they put in there,” she says, also noting that the sign-up process did not ask about food sensitivities.

Smithers’ email promised, “A more formal announcement about this option will be coming out next week.” Two days later, another all-campus email announced the resumption of hot meal service for weekend breakfasts. Richards explains that the responsible departments “realized the timing on the decision to discontinue breakfast service was not the best.”

With in-person dining back open for three meals a day, seven days a week, other new changes are still apparent. The dining hall’s takeout containers were switched from styrofoam to more eco-friendly brown boxes. According to Richards, these are made from “natural molded fiber which is produced from byproducts of crop harvests and produced with a chemical free pulping process.” They are both biodegradable in garbage and recyclable when clean. “As soon as we knew for health and safety reasons we were going to exclusively use single serve products (approximately June 2020) we started the process of identifying more sustainable options,” Richards says. Supply and demand issues delayed access to the brown boxes until this semester.

What are your thoughts and feelings on the changes in the dining hall? Comment below or get in touch with us via Instagram, Twitter, or email (star@houghton.edu)!

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News

Internationally Known Artist, Willie Cole, Comes to Houghton

Houghton College’s Ortlip Gallery is currently exhibiting the works of internationally known contemporary artist, Willie Cole. This collection spans over a 35 year period of Cole’s life and incorporates various forms of media, including: drawings, paintings, sculpture and prints. The exhibition, titled “Complex Conversations: Willie Cole Sculptures and Wall Works” gives light to the “urban African-American male experience,” according to Cole’s artist statement.
“Complex Conversations . . .” is a traveling exhibition, having already been shown at Western Michigan University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Elbert Art Center, and Grinnell College before arriving at Houghton College. The exhibition is curated by Patterson Sims, Chairman of the Board of Independent Curators International (ICI) and President of the Leon Polk Smith Foundation.Willie Cole
Cole’s work was introduced to Houghton College by Professor Jillian Sokso during the 2013-14 Faculty Lecture Series. In her lecture, Sokso examined the discourse of race, gender, and identity between the Cole’s work and African American artist Allison Saar. Sokso said Cole’s work “references African cultures and people groups. . . [also found] in the Hudgin’s Collection.”
The Hudgin’s Collection, donated by the late Charles Hudgins to Houghton College shortly before his passing in June 2011, consists of a wide assortment of African Art. A selection of this work is also available for viewing in the Center for the Arts Atrium at this time.
Cole’s artistic sensibility was noticed at an early age and only expanded as time went on. Cole was mainly influenced by exposure to the manipulation of objects through his father’s work as a factory mechanic, the African art and culture he studied at the School for Visual Arts in New York.
Cole’s work utilizes a variety of used consumer products such as irons, high-heels, hair dryers, and many other items. The use of domestic objects gives viewers a glimpse of Cole’s personal life, while remaining universally relatable.
Director of the Ortlip Gallery, Alicia Taylor. said, “Cole’s process creates an expansive dialog, exploring and transforming objects in a carefully crafted rhythm that prompts a shift in our perception. . . Pushing our sense of familiarity by converting household goods into symbols of culture, spirituality and politics, the work provides provocative and fresh entry points for connection”.
Cole’s artwork is currently represented through Alexander and Bonin, New York and is found around the world in numerous collections and museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, and the FRAC-Lorraine in Metz, France. "Complex Conversations"
“Complex Conversations: Willie Cole Sculptures and Wall works” will be available to view in the Ortlip Gallery until October 15, Monday through Saturday, 9am to 6pm. A public reception will be held in the Center for the Arts Friday, September 12th at 7pm. Willie Cole will also be giving an artist lecture on Saturday, September 13 at 11:30 a.m. in the Recital Hall.
Taylor states “‘Complex Conversations . . .’ is not just for artists” and“such distinguished work on campus is an opportunity to challenge ourselves with engaging with the work, connecting with culture, and experience.”