On Sept. 9, University administrators opened Levin Ballroom for the first of this academic year’s several Town Hall meetings to discuss and address students’ various concerns, including dissatisfaction with the on-campus food service and questions about the University’s ongoing commitment to sustainability.

Interim President Lisa Lynch opened with remarks about her excitement for the budding academic year, promising that despite the state of transition with the presidency, this is “not a year of pause.”

Lynch spoke to an audience of approximately 30 students with a handful of fellow administrators, including Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel and Vice President of Operations James Gray. After making announcements about the upcoming Brandeis Alumni Achievement Awards on Oct. 24 — which will honor Roy DeBerry ’70 and Susan Weidman Schneider ’65 — and University Prof. Anita Hill’s (Heller) lecture “Undoing Generations of Rank Discrimination; Inclusive Communities and the Future of Anti-Bias Forensics” on Sept. 24, Lynch opened the floor to discussion.

The first several questions had to do with student dissatisfaction with the University’s food options and service. Anindita Chanda ’18, following the publication of her article “5 Ways To Immediately Improve The Brandeis Einstein’s” on The Odyssey, cited the “extremely slow service, one person making food, one person making coffee, mixing up our orders” as challenges that Einstein Bros. Bagels and its patrons have observed since its remodeling this summer. Lynch said that the confusion and disorganization are simply an issue of “physical structures and human training.” The Einstein’s staff is “settling into a rhythm of some kind,” Gray added.

One student, a junior, followed up Chanda’s concerns about Einstein’s with a query about why the Kosher food section of Einstein’s had been removed, in conjunction with unwarned closings of the Hoot Market (a venue that sells Kosher food) on holidays and the Sabbath. He emphasized that “the bigger issue is communication,” so that a student who keep Kosher can plan meals when both venues are closed. Gray — who noted that he was previously unaware of the issue — said that he would address this concern with Sodexo.

The discussion then turned to meal plans. One student, a third-year Transitional Year Program student, raised the question of why students were forced to buy a meal plan each year, regardless of individual circumstances. “The meal plan is forcing me to take out a couple extra G’s for this food that … I don’t really like,” she said. “I’m paying for this food that I’m forcing myself to eat.” She voiced a point of aggravation for many students who may prefer to prepare their own food or can’t afford the offered meal plans. Flagel acknowledged that when starting the current meal plan program “social justice came up” in discussions with a student panel involved in the selection process. However, the rest of Flagel’s response emphasized that in order to offer as many dining options as the University does, the most economically feasible choice is to require a meal plan for all students living on campus, just as many other universities with diverse dining options do.

A sophomore representative from Brandeis Climate Justice, in response to President Lynch’s mention of the University’s new sustainability program headed by Mary Fischer, asked Lynch what plans were in store for student participation in discussions on climate change and fossil fuel divestment. Lynch said “[The] university-wide sustainability task force [is] looking for student participation” and input on “ways that we can reduce our greenhouse gas emissions on campus and more generally reduce the use of resources.”

Though a campus-wide email was later sent out on Sept. 10 regarding changes in the issuing of the Mod party permits, a sophomore student addressed the fact that two parties in the Foster Mods were shut down after being granted permits and, in one instance, before the party had begun.

Flagel said this sudden policy change was in response to the eight alcohol-related ambulance transports, mostly involving underage students, that occurred Labor Day weekend. He added that students need to be “taking care of each other” during parties involving alcohol. Consequently, Mod parties were put on hiatus for a two week period, ending on Sept. 25. “There will be parties in the future, but I hope we’re going to be doing them a lot more responsibly,” Flagel finished.