Since returning this fall, Emory University students have experienced an unexpected feeling toward their campus dining experience: nostalgia. The Cox Hall food court, a fixture for student dining, is closed for renovations until fall 2025. In its stead, Emory has brought food trucks to Asbury Circle with the goal of filling the hole that Cox Hall has left — a task that has proven more challenging than the University likely expected. Lines for food trucks are long, the portion sizes are limited, the options are inconsistent and the Dobbs Common Table (DCT) is nearly always at capacity. While these changes are temporary, they expose Emory’s lacking commitment to food accessibility.
Setting the inconveniences of the current situation aside, what has truly upset the student body is the increase in meal prices without increases in quality. The food itself is often mediocre at best — bland, uninspired and lacking in nutritional variety. Students frequently complain that meals feel more like cafeteria food than the high-quality dining experience the price tag suggests. And rightfully so, as a single meal swipe during dinnertime at the DCT costs $22.48 while a meal from the new food trucks can cost $15 or more. The University claims that these food trucks are meant to compensate for Cox Hall’s absence, but the only impact these trucks are having is on students’ wallets. Whether they are underwhelming options at the DCT or overpriced, subpar food truck offerings, there is a palpable disconnect between what students are paying and what they are receiving in return.
Affordable food options should be a priority for ensuring a good quality of life on campus, but t. This is far from the current reality. Emory may want to pat itself on the back for its recent ranking as No. 1 in “Quality of Life” from The Princeton Review, but if the $16 chicken tenders are any indication, this ranking is nothing but a reason for false pride.
According to an FAQ page about the project, the upcoming changes will be the first “meaningful renovations” in the food court’s community facing areas in more than 20 years. This is true, and renovation is indeed a welcome reform, with Campus Life writing on the FAQ page that the dining hall was “limited by poor line queuing and customer flow.”
However, the system that Emory has implemented in the meantime is not practical, efficient or affordable. Rising costs of meal plans, when combined with inaccessible alternatives, are emblematic of a larger problem with how the University handles food access. Instead of seeing dining as a fundamental necessity that should be readily available and affordable for all students, Emory seems to have neglected the urgency of the issue.
Emory administration’s response to student concerns offers little reassurance. When asked to comment on the price hikes and the logic behind the food truck initiative, Emory Dining Senior Director Chad Sunstein wrote in an email to the Editorial Board that “Emory Dining works hard to keep the increases consistent and minimal while providing top-quality food and service to our student body. The cost of dining is inclusive of the price of food, goods and labor.”
While the cost of food and labor has undoubtedly risen in recent years, this response does not address the fact that the burden of these costs is still passed directly onto students. Inflation soared following the COVID-19 pandemic, causing other universities to implement measures to subsidize food and other essential costs for their students, recognizing that students should not be left to shoulder the financial burden of inflation alone. However, Emory has not done enough for students, instead continually hiking up prices and providing fewer affordable options with Cox Hall’s closing.
Students living on campus, who are required to purchase meal plans that can cost upward of $4,000 per semester, are left with few alternatives. Meanwhile, underclassmen who might want to save money by cooking for themselves find limited access to kitchens in residence halls, forcing many to spend extra money on DoorDash or UberEats. One kitchen allocated for more than 30 students, which is the case in dormitories for first-years and sophomores, is not a solution — it is a logistical nightmare.
Emory’s decision to charge full price for meal plans while offering fewer viable food options is irresponsible, especially during a time of broader economic uncertainty. As inflation continues to rise, students are feeling the pressure in more ways than one. According to a survey by Assurance IQ, 44% of Gen Zers reported skipping a meal to save money. A study by Temple University (Penn.)’s Hope Center found that 34% of students have experienced food insecurity on campuses around the country.
Emory does offer some resources for students experiencing food insecurity, such as the Community Fridge and Pantry and the Food Security Safeguard Program, which grants three meal swipes for students who fill out a form. We appreciate Emory’s understanding of immediate- need services, but these initiatives often fall short in addressing the broader issue of food accessibility on campus. For instance, if a student applies for the safeguard program more than once in the same semester, Student Case Management and Intervention Services is alerted, reinforcing the stigma of food-insecure students having to repeatedly prove their need for basic sustenance.
Slow Food Emory, a student-run organization, aims to address the issues of Emory’s dining practices by packing and redistributing meals that would otherwise be wasted to students who need them. Slow Food Emory President Sabrina Li (25C) said the group usually packs about 100 meals per day. “We know that if we stop, they'll just go back to throwing away the food,” Li said. Slow Food Emory creates a more equitable, sustainable dining environment — aiding the student need that the University has left unsupported.
If Emory is serious about addressing the concerns of its student body, it must start by subsidizing food costs and further supporting initiatives like Slow Food Emory. “Our model is ‘no questions asked,’” Li said. “We don't want students to feel like there's like a stigma associated with picking up meals.”
Instead of relying on overpriced food trucks or inflexible dining hall policies, Emory can and should create a campus where every student has access to affordable, nutritious meals. Most importantly, Emory must implement practices that are not temporal, but consistent, eliminating food insecurity in the long term as opposed to Band-Aid solutions that have the very real possibility of leaving students behind.
The above editorial represents the majority opinion of The Emory Wheel’s Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is composed of Marc Goedemans, Carson Kindred, Justin Leach, Eliana Liporace and Ilka Tona.
