Nassau Community College students, faculty protest closure of school's food service
Nassau Community College students Monday protested the sudden closure of campus food and dining services, saying the move increases food insecurity and adds an obstacle to completing their education.
On the campus plaza, a few dozen students and faculty said the reduction will hit hard those who commute to the college and can’t easily access off-campus options throughout the school day.
“Students work, they come here, they do their jobs as a student, and they need to have something to sustain them throughout the day,” said sophomore Godlee Sainvilus, 20. “This is completely unacceptable.”
The rally comes on the heels of Nassau Community College saying this month that a Starbucks on the campus, along with the food and dining services, would shutter. Their replacement, college officials said, would include vending machines.
With just about a few weeks to the end of the semester, the college’s food service provider — Compass Group — submitted a termination letter, according to an agenda item for the March 12 meeting of the college's finance committee. Compass said it was no longer financially possible to provide the food services under their agreement, the document said.
Compass wanted roughly $320,000 a year for seven years — an amount that was too high, college officials had said. Compass Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
“Nassau Community College is committed to the students and the faculty and is doing everything possible to provide food services for the population that we serve,” Jerry Kornbluth, NCC vice president for community and governmental relations, said Monday in an interview.
The college is in talks with food truck vendors and has requests for proposals from other food services for the fall semester, according to letters sent Monday to faculty and students. The letter also said other services for students in need includes a food pantry, some food options in a bookstore and microwaves in certain locations.
“We’re not going to let anybody starve on this campus,” Kornbluth said.
But that has not done enough to quash concerns of some students and staff amid the school's deficit of more than a million dollars and the faculty’s recent approval of a no-confidence vote of NCC leadership.
Enrollment at the college has dipped in recent years, moving from roughly 24,000 students in 2011 to around 11,000 currently.
“We’re all very outraged by the fact that the dining services are closed,” student Kaldwin Lerandy Ladislas said in an interview after the protest.
The 19-year-old, who is transferring to Stony Brook University next semester, later said, “It feels like we are being dismissed again.”
Suzanne Kaebnick, professor in the English department and secretary of the faculty union, said, “It’s time to secure Nassau Community College and its students.”
“Stock the cafeteria and feed the students hot, delicious, nutritious and affordable food,” she told onlookers.
With Joie Tyrrell
Education: Howard University
Tiffany Cusaac-Smith came to Newsday in 2023 after being a race and history reporter at USA TODAY, where she wrote enterprise and spot articles examining how the past shapes the present. Previously, she worked as the race and justice reporter at the USA TODAY Network of New York, covering issues such as criminal justice reform, housing, environmental justice, health care and politics. At The Journal News/lohud.com in Westchester County, she covered Yonkers, the state's third-largest city. She also worked at The Associated Press in Atlanta.
Honors and Awards: Criminal justice reporting fellowship with the National Press Foundation; New York News Publishers Association award for distinguished investigative reporting; Contributed reporting for Best of Gannett honor; Member of Table Stakes, a program funded by the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund and managed by the American Press Institute to transform local news.
