FSU Students Weigh in New To Go Box Policy – Cross Creek Early College

On Friday, January 29, an email was sent to all faculty, staff, and students at FSU from Chancellor Anderson announcing that, as of February 1, there will be no more to-go boxes given to students, staff, faculty, or visitors. This is not a decision that was made by anyone at FSU; the Environmental Health Program Specialist for the Health Department, Ms. Chalisa Y. Davis, R.S., informed university officials that providing to-go boxes violates Cumberland County health code and if FSU continued to violate the health code, the dining hall could be shut down, and the university could be required to pay monetary fines. Health codes are set to protect and promote the health of all individuals and the university, naturally, FSU has opted to comply.

In the instance of student illness, a to-go box can still be delivered if the student has a note from a physician, nurse, or Health center. Additionally, to accommodate students’ eating times, the dining hall will no longer have breaks during the day; popular stations will remain open for students to visit from opening until closing time.   Amid the efforts the university is making to ease the transition, there are mixed feelings about the change.

Jazmin Lynn, freshman, feels that she and other students were tricked. “We were told at open house that there would be to-go boxes available at this university. We assumed that would be true,” she commented.

Destiny Smith, Cross Creek Early College, states that even though she is a high school student, she feels the change is a bad thing since it may “hinder study time for students.“

Shamesha Grant, junior, admits that she “doesn’t do to-go, anyway. But, I do like the new extended hours.”

Shaun Williams, Cross Creek Early College, says that he doesn’t always finish all food in one sitting. “The lack of to-go boxes might lead to more food being wasted,” he stated. “Nobody wants to waste food just because they aren’t hungry.”

Other students such as Brittany Burns, freshman, have neutral attitudes about the change. “I really only eat during fried chicken Wednesday, so this change doesn’t even really matter to me,” she says.

Yet, others think that the lack of to-go boxes is “utterly ridiculous.” An FSU employee who wished to remain anonymous stated, “I just don’t have time to sit and eat most days because I have such a heavy workload. I do understand the sanitation and health issues, but it’d be too easy to put a system in place with reusable to-go boxes. When you swipe in and are given a to-go plate, this could be shown on your card. Until you bring the box back, you are not given another one. This is similar to what they do in the military. Employees just have too much to do to be forced spending time sitting in the dining hall.”