It isn't always easy to find something good to eat in the dining hall, but it can be even harder for students who keep kosher. Tufts' has a relatively high Jewish population and Hillel is one of the most active organizations on campus, but many students say that the lack of kosher dining options is holding down the percentage of orthodox Jews at the University.
Although other colleges in the Boston area - and nationwide - provide meal plans for students who keep kosher, Tufts offers only a partial plan. And, as of this week, the existing kosher meal plan is in danger of being completely eliminated due to lack of enrollment.
Through a joint program between Hillel and Dining Services, kosher dining options have been available since last year on specified nights in Dewick. The food is delivered to campus by an outside caterer who prepares it according to kosher law. In order to partake in these meals, students must register in advance, and pay an additional $160 over the price of their chosen meal plan.
However, this plan simply isn't sufficient for some students. Last year, sophomore Florice Engler was enrolled in the premium meal plan, which provided unlimited trips to campus dining halls. Despite this, Engler found herself limited by the lack of availability of kosher food.
"Do [the program sponsors] think people only need to be kosher twice a week, and only those students who live downhill?" Engler asked. "I think there should be a kosher meal plan. If they can get meals two days a week, they obviously can get them every day."
The implications of not having a full kosher meal plan are causing a good deal of discussion among Jewish students. Some say that the lack of kosher dining on campus causes orthodox Jews to look elsewhere when applying to colleges. Critics claim that schools like Brandeis, Harvard, and BU - which offer more extensive kosher dining options - are far more successful in attracting orthodox students.
Junior Stephanie Glass was enrolled in the kosher meal plan last year and is planning on enrolling this year. Glass, who was raised in a kosher home, believes that having the dining option is essential to making observant students feel at home.
"I think there are enough students to whom having kosher food available is important... I think it's really unusual that we don't have a full kosher meal plan. I would be very disappointed to see it cancelled," Glass said.
Rabbi Jeffrey Summit has encouraged students to sign up for the kosher meal plan so that it can be preserved. While he has been impressed and excited by Dining Services' efforts to improve the quality of the current meal plan, he says he is disappointed to see enrollment in the plan dwindling.
"The plan can be saved very simply by having a group of students come forward and signing on for two great kosher meals a week. Ideally it would be great to have a fuller kosher meal plan, but the first step is to make sure that this plan succeeds," Summit said.
According to Dining Services dietitian Julie Lampie, the kosher meal plan is not widely utilized by students, and participation has plummeted from about a dozen students to three students.
Enrollment remains low even after Lampie contacted every member of Hillel. Her outreach effort attracted only one more person to the kosher meal plan. The idea of having a cook prepare meals for only three students is not economically sound, explained Lampie.
"Things are not looking good in terms of the kosher meal plan right now. It is our hope now that in the next week, more students will join," Lampie said.
Hillel president Brooke Menschel is more optimistic about the future of kosher dining on campus.
"Although we don't have a full kosher meal plan, I think we've come a long way from where we've started. With the help of dining services over the past few years, kosher dining has drastically improved. I think it will continue to do so in the future, but student support for the program is imperative," Menschel said.
The chances of having an enhanced kosher meal plan in the future is also slim. Lampie reports that the current Hillel center is not likely to provide daily meals in the near future. Its kitchens (one dairy and one meat) were not built to accommodate a daily meal plan, she says - they are far too small for such a purpose.
According to Lampie, when the Hillel center was built, the Administration felt that students should all eat together in the dining hall and thus did not allow Hillel to contain a major dining hall.
"Tufts doesn't have a large orthodox community, and although there are many factors to this, the lack of a kosher meal plan definitely plays a role," Menschel said.
In the meantime, the Tufts community will wait to find out if kosher dining has a place in the University's future. Lampie, for one, isn't extremely hopeful.
"If you don't have support of this small program, you're definitely not going to get support for a larger program," she said.
Tufts' neighboring schools continue to find ways to offer a variety of kosher foods on a more regular basis.
Brandeis, which has a much larger Jewish population than Tufts, offers an extensive kosher selection. Its Sherman Dining Hall offers both Glatt kosher and non-kosher foods on a daily basis. Brandeis even boasts kosher pizza (made with kosher cheese and toppings), while Tufts does not provide dairy dinners even on the nights that the kosher meal plan is in place.
At Harvard's kosher kitchen, dinner is served every night except for Saturday, when it serves lunch - and undergraduates can eat at their Hillel center as a part of their regular meal plans. While Tufts students may use their meal plans to eat at Hillel on Friday nights, they are not given an opportunity to dine there on other week nights.
Boston University has recently received high marks for its kosher offerings through the school's Hillel center. In a survey run by Maritz Marketing Research, Inc., BU's Hillel ranked seventh overall nationwide and first in the residential category for having the most healthful and delicious food items (kosher or non-kosher). The BU Hillel center has a kosher dining room that is open for lunch every day but Saturday, and for dinner every day but Sunday.
