Groups work to change Hill food

Efforts to bring kosher and halal food to the dining halls has
intensified in recent weeks as student leaders and administrators
have begun to work together to devise a feasible plan to cater to
the dietary needs of Muslim and Jewish students.

Since last spring, the Jewish Student Union and the Muslim
Student Association have been working together on the campaign
encouraging housing and dining officials to provide specialized
kosher and halal food in the dorms.

Kosher and halal refer to the Jewish and Muslim dietary laws,
respectively. Both sets of laws forbid all pork products, subscribe
certain methods for slaughtering animals, and forbid the
consumption of blood.

Connie Foster, associate director of Dining Services, said it is
still too early to say whether or not kosher and halal food will be
provided or when or how the food will be made available.

One hurdle to bringing the specialized food to on-campus housing
is kosher and halal products are often more expensive than other
food. Additionally, preparing the food would likely require
separate cooking facilities to keep the food away from other food
that is not permissible under the Jewish or Muslim laws.

MSA and JSU jointly brought this issue to the attention of
Dining and the UCLA Housing Administration on Governance Day last
spring when administrators and student leaders came together to
address any concerns that student leaders have, said Nat Schuster,
a third-year neuroscience student and president of JSU.

Discussion continued with Foster and Housing Director Michael
Foraker throughout fall quarter and is ongoing, Schuster said.

Initially, Foraker was hesitant about providing kosher and halal
food in the dining halls because he did not want to cater to one
specific group, said Aliya Hussaini, a fourth-year political
science and history student and external vice president of MSA.

But as discussion continued, the main concern for Dining became
financial, and recently Housing and Dining have been ramping up
efforts to find a solution, she said.

Schuster said JSU has developed a plan to achieve its goal and
has had several meetings with administrators this quarter about the
issue.

On Campus Housing Council and the Undergraduate Students
Association Council have both passed resolutions in favor of kosher
and halal food being served in the dining halls.

Meanwhile, per a recommendation from Housing, JSU and MSA have
been working on collecting names of students who would be
interested in kosher or halal food in order to determine how many
people would eat the food, Schuster said.

“It’s been an intense month and a half,”
Schuster said. “This has been an issue in the Jewish
community for a while but there wasn’t an organized
campaign.”

JSU and MSA leaders are both drafting proposals on possible
courses of action for Housing and Dining to take to make the
specialized food a reality.

“I think that things are looking very promising right
now,” Schuster said, adding that he is hopeful that kosher
food will be available by fall quarter of 2006.

Hussaini said MSA and JSU are not demanding sweeping changes
immediately.

“We’re not asking for everything at once.
We’re willing to take smaller steps,” Hussaini
said.

She said they are currently trying to get cold cuts or a small
refrigerator in each of the dining halls designated for kosher and
halal food. Since kosher and halal food differ, this may mean that
two separate changes would need to be made.

Eventually, they would like to have an entire kitchen designated
for kosher and halal food, Hussaini said.

Schuster said Housing and Dining have been very supportive of
the groups’ efforts.

Recently, Dining has puts signs up in Bruin Cafe, a residential
restaurant on the Hill, indicating which pastries are kosher,
Foster said.

Those kosher pastries are kept on a separate shelf.

“That was a very good show of effort,” Schuster
said.

Foster has also been doing research on which kosher ingredients
Dining is already using, Schuster said.

He said there are many other schools across the country that
provide kosher and halal food for students and characterized the
goals of the groups as “very obtainable.”

Schuster said some students are forced to choose between
following dietary laws at home or in an apartment or not following
the rules as strictly while living in on-campus housing.

He added that students “shouldn’t have to choose
between their identity and living on campus.”

“I think that living in on-campus housing is an important
part of the college experience,” Schuster said.

“When people don’t have that experience then I think
they miss out on a lot and I don’t want anyone to be deprived
of that.”