Students with late-night hunger pangs will soon be experiencing a much healthier array of snacks in their dormitory vending machines.
Freshman Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senator Diler Erdengiz undertook a campus-wide initiative, her first project as a TCU senator, to replace chips and candy bars with more health-conscious alternatives.
"My ultimate goal at the end is to put healthier snacks into students' diets and thus improve their health," Erdengiz said. "For example, instead of buying a pack of Peanut M&M's, a student might get into the habit of purchasing a granola bar instead, which will improve his health in the long run."
The project is near fruition after about a month of negotiations and cooperation with Tufts Dining Services. Although the changes were meant to have been implemented last Friday, Erdengiz said that the modifications will instead occur within the next week.
The plan involves no change in vending machines or in the food distributor, Canteen, Inc. Instead, "the healthy choices will replace other snacks which" are the least popular, statistically, among the student body, Erdengiz said.
As a result, there will be no increase in vending costs to Dining Services, nor will students need to pay more for the healthier snacks.
Sophomore TCU Senator Zach Landau, co-chair of the TCU Services Committee, noted that this project is beneficial to all students, especially freshmen.
"It will be nice to have healthy alternatives in the vending machines, especially for freshmen who can't order from [Meals on Points] and have limited choices in terms of healthy food once the dining halls close for the night," he said.
Landau said that the TCU Senate, and Erdengiz in particular, worked closely with Dining Services to ensure a rapid transition to healthier vending choices. "We're grateful to Dining Services and [Director of Dining Services] Patti Klos for all of their help with this," he said.
Nutrition Marketing Specialist Julie Lampie, who works for Dining Services, expressed excitement at the notion of students having greater choices in terms of their diets.
"I think we have students who have a wide variety of tastes," she said. "There need to be choices for all students, and having healthy options is no exception."
Lampie noted that, by implementing these changes in vending options, Tufts is following a national trend. "These sorts of changes are happening in public schools all over the country right now," Lampie said.
Lampie said that, while some students will undoubtedly embrace the healthier options in their vending machines, other students will be dismayed that some fattening staples will be eliminated. Erdengiz stressed, however, that only the least popular snacks currently being sold will be replaced with the healthy snacks.
"I hope that students understand that just because a snack is healthy, it doesn't mean that it's not tasty," Lampie said. She added that if the healthy snacks do not sell, Tufts' vending system will probably return to more traditional snacks.
According to Erdengiz, the new snacks will include Mr. Nature Raisins, Unsalted Trail Mix, NutriGrain bars and Nature Valley Granola bars.
