Students’ Union, WLU seek student feedback

Nearly a month after the semester has begun, many Wilfrid Laurier University students, staff and faculty are still voicing many concerns about food services on campus.

In order to help subdue these frustrations, both the Wilfird Laurier University Students’ Union and Aramark have launched different programs to get feedback from the campus population in an attempt to alleviate concerns and address any relevant problems.

WLUSU has recently been promoting their “Fix My Laurier” (FML) program on campus for students to voice any concerns they may have about the school as a whole.

“It’s a tool designed to give students the opportunity to provide feedback on every aspect of their Laurier experience,” explained Chris Walker, vice president of university affairs. “The dining hall is something that has come up a number of times.”

While the FML program was launched last February, this semester has seen a major push for student participation.

“We’re trying to launch it a little bit more strongly at the beginning of this year, obviously using issues that have been happening on campus as a way of promoting the service, so again referring back to the dining hall; there’s a number of people that have brought up concerns about that,” continued Walker. “Our marketing strategy is to promote FML through issues … so it’s a bit more meaningful and you can see a tangible connection.”

The concerns raised through FML regarding the dining hall are no longer major issues, such as those raised last month concerning the wall and lockers.

Now, they are smaller issues that can be addressed easily, such as specific dietary aids and microwave use.

However, WLUSU is still encouraging any type of feedback regarding the dining hall, as well as other issues that may arise across campus.

“We’ll take any and all feedback,” Walker stated.

“It’s critical that we have an idea of what tools students need to be successful.”

Dan Dawson, the vice president of university affairs, echoed Walker’s sentiment of needing valuable feedback from the Laurier population regarding food services.

Earlier last week he forwarded a survey to all students, staff and faculty, on behalf of Aramark, to gain feedback regarding food services on campus. This was the first year the survey was extended to staff and faculty.

While the survey has been done for the past five years, this year it is increasingly important because of the new system put in place in the dining hall.

“We’re received some concerns from faculty and staff with the changes we have done, so I on purpose sent it to staff this year to try and get some feedback from that category,” explained Dawson. “The more feedback we get the better, good, bad or indifferent, I’d rather hear what people are thinking or concerned about so we can fix them.”

After receiving the results from the survey, any necessary changes or improvements will be discussed and decided upon.

“We’re genuinely trying to make people understand that we’re here to listen.”