"Institutionalized Discrimination Against Allergy Victims" by Victoria

The following is an essay written by Victoria, a University student who conveys her friend's experiences with dining on campus as a freshman. Since she had written the essay, she wanted to note that the university had increased their efforts to assist her friend, but only after having attended a dining hall meeting with several others who had the same problems in the dining hall regarding their allergies. Please feel free to comment on the post. Thank you, enjoy.

Essay submitted by: Victoria 17 September 2009

"Institutionalized Discrimination Against Allergy Victims

I believe that the level of food allergy awareness and accommodations need to be increased in food establishments in American universities.

The dining halls on my University campus are filled with enticing aromas and stimulating to the average individual’s salivary glands, but for a student with food allergies, the dining halls appear to be inconsiderate, business-oriented establishments. My best friend was diagnosed with a long list of food allergies-from gluten to wheat- when she was in seventh grade and since then, she has rearranged her life to fit her medical needs and overcome many obstacles, but none appear to have been as challenging as communicating the seriousness of her allergies to the staff of the University dining halls.

Freshman college students experience a wide variety of stress during their first year at a university, whether from the transition of leaving home, the challenge of self-time management, or the extreme workloads. It only seems obvious that the students need some relaxation time throughout the week to unwind, which explains the tranquil layout and displays of the dining halls on campus. For a lot of students, mealtime is their time to relax, enjoy the quality of the food, and the company of their friends; yet for other students, the experience is just the opposite. When my best friend and I go to the halls to eat, she has a very difficult time finding entrees that do not contain soy, eggs, gluten, wheat, milk, or garlic, among many other substances that pose threats to her health. At every mealtime, she must explain her condition to a variety of staff members, who keep sending her to alternate chefs as though she is a problem that nobody wants to deal with. It takes about an hour for anyone to finally listen to her long enough to prepare her something to eat. The embarrassment she feels due to her treatment by the staff is clearly expressed on her face and is something that no paying customer should be subjected to just to get a meal, especially when the meal plan is mandatory.

In addition to the long amount of time that it takes before anyone can even help the student with food allergies, she or he is only prepared a few types of meals everyday. However, to benefit economically from the mandatory meal plan, which costs over 3,000 dollars, a student must eat in the campus dining halls at least two times a day for the entire academic year. Worse, the chefs apparently expected students with allergies to eat the nearly the same meals, not only twice a day, but 14 times a week. Imagine eating the same meal every day, twice a day for an entire year, especially after paying a great deal of money.

After the anxiety had built up to the point where mealtime began to feel as stressful as exam time, my friend finally confronted the chefs about the issue again. Some simply pointed her to the fruits and vegetables, having no regard for how she would obtain a source of protein, while others acted as though they were offended by her thorough explanations of her situation. They claimed that a majority of their culinary education addressed food allergies and that a student need not teach them, yet they never attempted to apply what they had supposedly learned to her situation. After remaining passive long enough, my friend took her issue to a higher source, the director of the dining hall. He acted as though it would be no problem to accommodate her, but his comments proved to be meaningless because no actions were taken after he made them.

After a few more weeks of eating the same meal, she saw a sign on the dining hall doors about a meeting designed to take the advice of students to improve the dining hall and immediately decided to attend. At this meeting there were 2 directors, and 2 marketing staff for the hall as well as about 20 students ready to give their opinions. After a few students had shared their opinions about things like the dining hours and the quality of the food, a common trend became apparent in the concerns. The room was full of students with food allergies, who had been experiencing the same stressful encounters as my friend. Each of them expressed their desire to have more consideration on the topic of food allergies, not only about the preparation of special meals, but just simply listing the ingredients by the foods so the students wouldn’t have to bother the staff. The large presence of students at the meeting that were experiencing the same problems as my friend indicates a serious problem with the campus dining halls. Although I understand from a business standpoint that it is not profitable to make special items for particular students, it is a humanitarian and equal opportunity that must be addressed to ensure the health of all the students dining on campus, which is a responsibility the dining hall assumes after the students become paying customers. The food allergy community deserves as much consideration as the handicapped individuals on campus who have been provided with wheelchair accessible facilities such as bathrooms, which are far more costly, but were eventually accepted as necessary.

Food allergies cause many deaths and health problems throughout the country annually, and with a little more consideration on the part of the dining establishments, the health risks could be significantly decreased. Eating a meal should not have to be a big hassle for students. In fact, it’s a life necessity that should be easily accommodated. Instead of having to fight for their basic rights, students should be able to focus on what they came to school for: gaining a formal education in an institution of higher learning. It is not fair to make the students suffering from a medical issue feel as though they are causing a problem by simply requesting a safe meal."

-Victoria