I think everyone can agree that no one looks forward to going to either of La Salle’s dining halls for the food. Sure, it’s fun to sit with friends and socialize, or maybe it’s a good place for you to do work during the day.
Most people visit the Blue and Gold Dining Hall closest to North Campus because if it’s location, even though most people agreed that Treetops, down in South Campus, is better in terms of cleanliness, food preparation, and general attitude. Several students surveyed said that the workers at B&G are rude, and don’t put much love or effort into the food or the student. Meanwhile, at Treetops, you are greeted with a smile at the door, workers will ask how you are, if the food is okay, and if they are enjoying what is available to them.
We all know the dining halls suffer from the food being bad, the lack of options, and dirty plates and utensils, and other gross things, like this:
Photo Courtesy of a La Salle Sophomore: April 2019
The male staff, primarily at B&G, has continuously made female students at La Salle feel uncomfortable through their conversations, behaviors, and actions.
One La Salle Graduate student has shared things she’s overheard at B&G and some other interactions with the staff.
“They were talking about f**king b**ches from behind. The one old guy was like ‘you just need to come and bend over and let me f**k you’. He was saying weird and graphic stuff, it was creepy, and it made me feel uncomfortable. I was sitting there like ‘oh my God, I can’t believe they’re talking about this.” “The one old guy…I always try to ignore him because he feels the need to touch me or hug me. He always hugs all the white girls, and they just allow it. For a student acceptance day event, a lady asked me a question, and I didn’t know the answer. He was the closest to me, so I turned to him to ask. He used that as an invitation to come to talk to me and give me a hug…well he tried to anyway.” “Another time, I was at the salad bar, and one of the staff members came over and started mumbling something…he said something like ‘hey sexy’, or something along those lines. And then he said ‘damn, look at you.'” “Collectively, all the workers made me feel disgusting and overly sexualized. I can tell that other women they approach don’t like it either. People continue to hug the one older worker because he reaches out, but I don’t think they know that they don’t have to reciprocate it.” “I’ve complained to one of the staff members that I know personally a couple of times, and I’ve noticed certain behaviors stop for a while. But I feel like since I’m not at La Salle all the time, I don’t have to deal with it.”
“It’s a huge issue. Out of all the schools I’ve been to, and I’ve been to three schools, I’ve never experienced the treatment that I have here.”
“This definitely needs to be addressed.”
Another Junior student shares her own experiences with the B&G staff.
“The guy who’s always giving hugs, his hand always lingers way too long on my lower back and it makes me so uncomfortable…I don’t like it. Sometimes when he’s talking to me and not giving me a hug, he’ll just touch me on my side boob. I’ve been giving him dirty looks and just pretending like I don’t see him coming toward me to avoid stuff like that happening more often.” “One morning, one of the staff members was trying to get my attention by saying ‘AYOO’. I didn’t answer, because I didn’t know who he was talking to. Being a girl in Philly, I’m used to keeping my head down when I hear a guy say that to me on the street, and B&G is no different. A few days later, another worker came up to me and spoke to me about how the first staff member felt about me ignoring him. He told me that ‘next time, I should say hi’. That made me feel weird because the first staff member felt so bothered by it to say something to another co-worker, who then said something to me.” “I also feel like the workers say things loudly and purposefully, so I can overhear.
“One has said ‘oh she’s so fucking beautiful. She’s a chocolate goddess’ while staring at me. That made me feel weird because I’m a student here. Since then, he’s stopped speaking to me.”
“All of it makes me feel really uncomfortable, and grimy, almost like I need to take a shower.”
One more Junior shares her thoughts on the B&G staff.
“I definitely think that a lot of the workers at B&G come off really creepy to a lot of the women on campus who have to go into the dining halls. Some of them are really nice, you can laugh and giggle with them. But then others have very weird energy.” “One example that I have: one of the workers would stare at me a lot and ask me to smile if I wasn’t smiling at him. That’s something that guys do that throws me off. There was another instance where he was singing to me, and that made me feel uncomfortable.” “There’s one guy that walks up to you and will hug you. I don’t think he’s trying to be weird, but it makes me uncomfortable because I don’t know these guys. They cross the line from being kind to invading my personal space, and it makes me feel really weird.”
“I feel like as a student you shouldn’t be scared or uncomfortable when you’re just trying to get a meal.”
“We have to walk up to these guys, they serve and they make your food, and it makes me think about the types of guys who are mean and rude, and who you don’t know. Imagine if you turned them down, or you don’t act the way that they want you to act, what if they did something to the food to make you sick? I know that’s extreme, but as a woman, I think about the worst possible case. It’s hard for you to stick up for yourself and to say that something bothers you because you hear all these stories about how woman are treated terribly when they speak their mind.” “Maybe if the food was better, I’d brush it off. But there’s no reason for them to try to hug students or talk about students’ bodies or eye them up and down. You would think that they know how to act especially because it’s their work environment. They’re not college students, and it’s crazy to me how casual they are with us. Being casual is fine most of the time, but when they break the touch barrier or say something inappropriate… it throws me off. They’re much older than us and I feel like they should know and understand how to behave where they work.”
For those that may say these three individuals are overreacting, remember women often need to keep our guards up in situations like this. There are different levels of harassment, and different relationships call for different behaviors, as do different situations. The dining hall isn’t the place, and these students are not the people to express these thoughts and feelings for, ESPECIALLY if they are not accepted or reciprocated.