For years J Street has attempted to change to better meet student needs.
And while the University cannot accommodate every dietary restriction or preference, in cycling through different venues, it has left out a key group: those who keep kosher.
Since the kosher eatery Nosh shut down this summer, J Street's kosher options are limited to a half-filled refrigerator of sandwiches and salads. The Hatchet reported Monday that 40 to 50 students have complained to GW Hillel that Orthodox Jews have few options at J Street. One student said she eats mainly fruit, yogurt and reheatable meals from Whole Foods Market – a scant diet that seems unsustainable.
Students – especially freshmen – should not be forced to spend the required $1,400 yearly at J Street on food they cannot eat.
A deli-style venue with a wide range of options could have broader appeal to the student body while also taking into account those who keep kosher. Delis are commonplace in large cities and it is fairly simple to cook normal foods, like sandwiches, salads, bagels and even pastas while following strict kosher guidelines.
If spending is mandatory at J Street, the University is obligated to meet the needs of students with religion-based dietary restrictions.
Why are students who keep kosher a “key” group? We’re talking about 50 people here! Clearly you aren’t using “key” to indicate numbers, since I’m sure we could produce many more people on campus with Celiac disease (statistical occurrence indicates this is true, though obviously I can’t prove it), clamoring for more gluten-free options.
Maybe we didn’t stroll through the same J Street, but Nosh was 1. terrible and 2. always empty. The last thing I want is space in the Marvin Center taken up by a crappy deli that won’t even throw together a turkey and cheese sandwich for me.
You really want your tuition dollars going to subsidize niche dietary CHOICES? There’s also some serious verb confusion here. It’s not that those who keep kosher “can’t” eat the other food at J Street – they choose not to…which is fine, but not my problem. The University’s obligations come down to the actual can and can’t logistics of J Street. They must provide a handicapped accessible entrance because someone in a wheelchair otherwise can’t enter the premise. They must provide reasonable choices. That’s pretty much it. Stop wasting space writing about this.
I agree with the above poster. For those with more than 2-3 years of perspective (which clearly the writer of this editorial does not have) we never had a Kosher deli and everyone made do with options offered. The bottom line is there are options available. It is not a significant enough population to devote that much space. What about the vegans? They basically have a few options that rarely rotate. Point being, the university does a good job offering options but also making sure the rest of the university has great options. I know you have to have something to write about as “Editorials” but really stop trying to make non-issues issues.
I agree that there should be more kosher options as well as options for other dietary needs/restrictions. But the Hatchet is going about this with unproductive logic. We need a complete restructuring of dining at GW. This editorial’s logic follows that what we really need is more shitty Sodexo food that happens to be kosher (or vegan or…), and that completely hides the need for a restructuring and giving up Sodexo.
“The Hatchet reported Monday that 40 to 50 students have complained to GW Hillel that Orthodox Jews have few options at J Street. ”
I wonder how many of them have an attorney on speed dial, ready to sue at the drop of a knish?
Billy Mitchell’s comment is PATENTLY offensive, racist and flatly anti-Semitic. The Hatchet should remove that libelous shmear.
His comment is as asinine as one would expect from a person named Billy.
Hey Anon, at least have the stones to post with a handle. Now back to the issue, no need to get verklempt about it. You can bet your bagels that there are a few GW students that actually have a hunger for such delicious delicacies as gefilte fish and chopped up liver with raw onions.
While it’s understandable that those who keep kosher want to be excused from the mandatory J street spending (actually who doesn’t want to be excused from it?) it doesn’t make sense to have a kosher deli in the school’s main cafeteria for the 50 or so students who have that dietary restriction. Up until last year we had a kosher deli and it was awful, no one ate there.
My religion says I can only eat Memphis style BBQ ribs…when are we gonna get a BBQ joint on J-Street?
On a more serious note, Nosh was ridiculously expensive. The only reason I ate their last year was because I had more J-street money than I know what to do with. I single hot dog and fries were like $12.
as the parent of a potential GWU engineering student i find this quite enlightening — I’ll make sure my daughter does NOT waste her money applying somehwere where she needs to spend 1400 per semester on food that she CANT eat. (a diet that you view as spiritually poisonous CANT be eaten) — how about you vegetarians — if all meal choices had animal products would you consider that acceptable?