Dining causes students to compromise beliefs

NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Staff The Yitzhak Rabin Hillel Center
for Jewish Life at UCLA will offer a kosher food option when
completed next year.

By Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected] Campus housing is supposed to be a
home away from home, but for many students it has simply become a
burden. Living in the dorms isn’t always easy for students.
In fact, some students at UCLA who have religious dietary
restrictions are leaving the dorms, to avoid paying for food they
don’t eat. For those students, eating properly means far more
than just feeling or looking good on the outside. “(Keeping
kosher) is what defines me as a Jew,” said Howard Chernin,
internal vice president of the Jewish Student Union. “I can
understand why some students don’t live in the dorms.”
Students living on the Hill are having a hard time not compromising
their beliefs. The most frustrating part for many is the fact that
though they have to buy their own food and sometimes keep their own
refrigerator in their room, they still have to pay a meal fee as
part of their residential contract. “I lived in the dorms for
only four months,” said Rachel Braun, a second-year political
science student. “It’s unfair to pay for something you
don’t use, but it’s not like I had any other option
while living there.” Currently, students pay thousands of
dollars every year for a meal plan that is part of their
room-and-board costs. Charles Wilcots, assistant director of
residential dining services said students know there aren’t
other options when signing the contract. “The meal plan is
already included in the residential fees students pay,” he
said. “Students who want to live in the dorms know there is a
meal fee included, whether they eat the food or not.” For
Braun, the only other option was moving out, she said. She
left the dorms because she simply couldn’t keep her Jewish
practices. Meanwhile, Jaclyn Johnson, a sophomore who has been
living in the dorms since her first year, finds that because there
are different levels of keeping kosher, she is able to eat some
foods provided at the residential halls. “I’m not as
strict as I could be,” she said. “If so, it would be
too impossible to live in the dorms. But if only we could at least
have a kosher meal option, that would be wonderful,” she
added. Muizz Rafique, a first-year business economics student, said
as a Muslim he has certain dietary restrictions as well. But
comparing himself to Jewish students who keep kosher, he said,
“Being Muslim allows me to eat other meats so I am not as
affected as other students are and I can eat most foods in the
dorms.” Rafique said that while the dining halls give
students options of getting coupons for meals at other eating
places on campus, those coupons aren’t enough to buy a full
meal. The dietary restriction called keeping kosher could seem to
many a bit complicated. Though some students would like a
kosher meal option, they also agree that it would be quite
difficult to have it in places like the residential halls where not
everyone eats kosher meals.

Some dietary restrictions for Jews

“¢bull; Pork is prohibited. “¢bull; Meat must be properly
cleansed and slaughtered according to rabbinic law. “¢bull;
Restaurant kitchen must be supervised by a rabbi. “¢bull; Separate
pots, pans and utensils must be used for preparing meat.

Some dietary restrictions for Muslims

“¢bull; Pork is prohibited. “¢bull; Meat must be
“halal,” prepared in the name of god. “¢bull; Alcohol
is prohibited.

“Keeping kosher involves more than just consuming the
food,” Braun said. “It involves how the meat is
prepared and handled.” Not only must meat be properly
prepared, but also the pots, pans and utensils used to eat it
cannot be mixed or used for preparing any other foods. “I
have to keep my own dishes separated,” said Nadev Steindler,
a fourth-year computer science student. “If I use the
microwave I have to double-wrap my food because my roommates also
use the microwave.” Steindler agrees that if students who
live in the dorms aren’t eating the food, they should have
the option of not paying for the meal plan. Advocates of kosher
meal options say that the lack of this food could be hurting
UCLA’s reputation as well as its opportunity to attract
potential students. Rabbi Benzion Klatzon, known as Rabbi K to many
around campus is the director of the Jewish Awareness Movement. He
argues that if vegetarians can be accommodated, students who keep
kosher can be as well. “It would show enlightenment and
maturity on the part of UCLA not to ignore the issue,” he
said. Yet Wilcots says it’s not about ignoring the issue, but
simply that there aren’t any special options for these
students or any other students who require special diets. “We
have no provisions for special diets whether they be medical,
religious lifestyle or preferences,” he said. “Students
know this prior to signing their residential contracts.”
Still some argue the lack of kosher meals could discourage some
students from applying to UCLA. “The problem is that
observant Jewish students want to be around other Jewish
students,” said Deborah Shrier, principal and guidance
counselor at Yeshiva University High School in West Los Angeles, an
all Jewish high school. “Not having kosher meals, I do
believe it discourages students from going to UCLA.” Other
local universities competing with UCLA for potential students
““ like the University of Southern California and UC Riverside
““ offer kosher meals in their residential halls. Wilcots
added that currently the residential dining services is working
closely with UCLA Hillel on the addition of the new building that
will soon offer kosher meals. Students, however, will still have to
pay out of their pockets to purchase these meals. Since her
freshman year, third-year communications student Rachelle Davidoff
has been striving to find a solution. “Every year a group of
us would have meetings with them (residential dining directors) to
request kosher meals,” she said. “It’s good to
know that now we will soon have those meals available.” The
building will be located at the corner of Hilgard and Westholme
Avenues and will be named “Yitzhak Rabin Hillel Center for
Jewish Life at UCLA.” “This will bring great
changes,” said Rabbi Mychal Rosenbaum, associate director of
Jewish Student Life. “So far, it’s been a challenge to
keep kosher; soon students will have two kosher meals a day
available to them.” “I normally bring food from home
because I can’t eat on campus,” said Naomi Lipman, a
third-year student. “I rely mostly on the vending machines
and Baskin Robbins right now. I’m excited about having this
new building.”