Kent Interhall Council, or KIC, met in the Governance Chambers on the second floor of the Student Center Tuesday evening. 

During the 90 minutes of discussions, representatives and attendees covered topics related to student dormitory life, security and dining experiences to address issues students face and improve campus quality.

Prior to the open forum portion, the meeting kicked off with a “Cowboy Costume Contest” in anticipation of the upcoming Western-themed Sex Week events.

Once the open forum began, a representative from each residence hall, in alphabetic order, got the opportunity to ask a question. This format lasted three rounds. 

Each round, the residence halls’ representatives had the opportunity to ask a follow-up question regarding the inquired question. 

There was a six-person panel there to answer the questions from the representatives of the residence halls. The panel represented culinary, housing and safety and security departments at the university.

The residence halls represented at Tuesday’s meeting were: Allyn/Clark, Twin (Beall and McDowell), Leebrick/Korb, Wright, Koonce, Verder, Centennial Court C/Centennial Court D, Stopher/Johnson, Lake/Olson and Prentice/Dunbar.

The first question of the open forum was asked by a representative from the Allyn/Clark residence halls regarding people knocking on other’s doors. 

“In Allyn, I know that we are having problems with people going in and knocking on a bunch of doors. They are calling it ‘the boys are back,’” the representative said. “We were wondering if we could somehow maybe install either FlashCard tap-ins to get into our elevators to go up. Or security cameras in the elevators to see who is mostly going around knocking on all the doors.”

The question was addressed by panelists from both housing and security. 

“We are seeing a trend, not just in Allyn/Clark, but across campus of this ‘ding-dong ditching’ thing,” said Nickole Watson, assistant director of housing’s safety and security. 

Watson also encouraged students to contact the safety and security office, which is open from noon to 4 a.m., if they feel unsafe.

Jill Jenkins, senior executive director of university housing and culinary services, offered feedback toward the suggestion of cameras and entering residence hall elevators with a student’s FlashCard. 

“Regarding cameras, we do have a plan to install cameras across all of our residence halls. It does take months to plan it out,” Jenkins said. “Allyn wouldn’t happen this semester, it is not scheduled I know off the top of my head, this year.”

Later in the meeting, a representative from CCC/CCD discussed how there seemed to be an excessive amount of people campaigning for Christianity, and inquired about getting them off campus. 

The groups of protestors and activists have rules and regulations that they must follow, said Gary Goldberg, assistant vice president for student engagement and services.

“The protocol is shared with them. Whether they don’t follow it or they disrupt things, we have a recourse for that,” Goldberg said. “Ultimately we can ask them to not be here.”

A representative from Lake/Olson inquired about the removal of the accessibility automatic door buttons from the residence halls.

“The accessibility actually has been enhanced, it has not been taken away,” Jenkins said. “It is just how you are accessing it. Students who need the accessibility button have it on their [FlashCard].”

Jenkins said the reason for this change was due to a change in the technology used. 

To start the final round, a representative from Allyn/Clark discussed that they have noticed undercooked food coming from Eastway. 

“If someone says ‘raw chicken was served’ –  We will go back, we keep records of temperature logs, we have temperature logs of every service period, we have temperature logs of every item that comes out of the oven. We would review temperature logs of that chicken,” said Jacob Kuehn, senior director of university culinary services.

Kuehn said any students who experienced a problem with their food should talk to a chef or manager immediately, as opposed to sending an email later on. 

“If there is something that needs to be cooked longer, just bring it to the attention of the staff and we will address it right away,” Kuehn said. “Most likely, we will just pull the item and we will bring out something new.”

Sticking with culinary services, a representative from Prentice/Dunbar inquired about the potential idea of adding vegan/vegetarian options for meat at the Metropolitan Deli.

Kuehn said there is a chance that this could come to fruition in the future. 

“I think it could be a possibility. I know our campus chef is looking at other things like seitan and tempeh and roasted tofu,” Kuehn said. “I couldn’t give you a timeline of when that would be introduced. But I know he is looking at different options and doing some testing.”

For those interested in attending, the next KIC meeting is planned for Oct. 31.

Olivia Montgomery is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].