When the Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association (SUPRA) proposed building a cafeteria style dining hall on campus last year, it was rejected by a University Advisory Group.
The University argued that dining halls were suited for campuses where a majority of students lived on campus — which did not, in their view, apply to USyd.
“This model works best when a large percentage of students live on campus, using the dining hall from morning to evening.”
However, according to student Fryderyk Liao, students are constantly eating on campus anyway. The fact students don’t live on campus is the point. “Some students live so far away. They basically have no time to cook food at home if they have to come to campus for class,” Liao said.
“If we don’t need this [dining hall], the Wentworth building should be empty, and the ABS Cafe shouldn’t have such a long queue.”
SUPRA President Weihong Liang said building a dining hall was the most “universally applicable” approach for a “modern university” to tackle food insecurity on campus.
“Through our survey, our communication with students and our daily experience, we find a lack of accessible, good quality and culturally appropriate food on campus,” Liang said.
SUPRA pictures the dining hall as ideally providing a big space for students to have meals. A diverse range of options for self-service would be offered, with a regularly updated menu, special offers or free food. Moreover, USyd students and staff would have discounts compared to other customers.
“Theoretically, food courts in the universities should prioritise students and staff,” Liang said.
Students need food to be consistently available on campus. Student Mengyi Shi would get coffee and a piece of bread in the USU store under the footbridge in the early morning before rushing to her class. She knows many students who need to have food on campus before their 8am classes.
Sometimes Shi feels hungry after her classes at night because she doesn’t have time to have a proper meal beforehand. All the Cafes and restaurants on campus close after 6pm, and some popular dishes run out early, which leaves her with only a few food options. She instead goes to the newly opened self-service convenience stores to buy snacks.
“At least you won’t feel hungry,” Shi said.
The long queues can frustrate students who have little time to order and eat between classes. She said she would have to “stand the hunger” until she gets home and cooks some food.
Liao also encounters this problem. He has three classes a week from 6pm to 8pm this semester. When he arrives at Broadway for some food at around 9pm, there are only a few fast food restaurants open.
For Liao, having a “central kitchen” that cooks hot food with diverse choices is good enough. He said the University could develop an App for students to order food first and pick up later to avoid a long queue.
But for student Venkata Vishal, a dining hall also means that he can enjoy lunch or dinner with friends. “Students can make friends, sit together, have a chat, and they don’t have to go somewhere else just to have food,” he said.
USyd and student organisations are acutely aware of food insecurity in campus.The University has recently opened self-catering facilities, such as kitchenettes and self-service convenience stores. SUPRA also has opened a new food pantry for postgraduate students. Almost all the recently elected USU Board directors put expanding FoodHub hours and lowering the cost of food at the centre of their campaigns.
From the students I talked to, it’s hard to say students are currently satisfied. I created a small survey for students studying on the Camperdown/Darlington campus. A range of people who would go to USU Outlets, restaurants on campus and close to campus, as well as bringing their own food to campus responded with their experiences.
No one was “very satisfied” with the food on campus. Most responses were “neutral”; four participants were “not satisfied at all”.
Most responses mentioned the price, saying it’s not affordable enough. One response reads that there are “not a lot of reasonably priced food options.”
Shi used to have meals mostly on campus because she was not good at cooking. She joined the USU rewards membership, which costs $45 annually and gives her a 10% discount on USU food and drinks. Many USU Board directors have promised to expand membership or make it more accessible.
She likes the taste of the ginger fish at Abercrombie Terrace, and the size of a meatbox from Uni Bros in Wentworth building, but she is not satisfied overall: “If I spend the same price and have food outside the campus, I can eat food that is bigger in size and better in taste,” she said.
She noted that she preferred food on campus because of its location, and “because [it’s] easier to access.”
“If I cared more about the cost, I’d rather cook at home — that’s why I was forced to become a ‘cooking master’ this semester.”
Vishal said having a USU reward membership shouldn’t determine having a discount or not. “Everybody should get the same pricing regardless of membership,” he argued.
Liao was not satisfied with the size of the meals at outlets like Abercrombie Terrace. “(There are) only around 8 green vegetable leaves. Yes, I can actually count it out. It takes only one or two bites to finish (the chicken tenders),” he said.
“If you go to some restaurants on Broadway and spend $15 there instead, you can get a hot, freshly-made meal, in a much bigger size.”
Vishal said the campus doesn’t have enough Indian and vegetarian options. “Many of the students originally from India are vegetarians, and some of the students on campus are vegans as well,” he said.
The Wentworth building is projected to be demolished in late 2025. The new building is said to be finished in 2027 as a revamped main student hub with new retail options.
Students need a place where they can have a diverse range of food options, get fresh and hot meals, and chat with friends while having meals, across the entire day.
How will the already narrow food choices be impacted without the food vendors in the Wentworth building? Will the new building provide better food supplies on campus?
A full statement from the University on SUPRA’s dining hall can be found below:
“We know many of our students are facing cost-of-living challenges and have increased our support in response. We provide food vouchers and financial bursaries to help cover food and other expenses.
“In response to feedback from students, including members of the Food on Campus Student Advisory Group, we’ve significantly increased self-catering facilities on campus, with six new kitchenettes and three new self-service convenience stores. We’ve also made improvements to outdoor seating, dining and BBQ areas.
“We carefully considered the proposal from SUPRA for a dining hall on campus. This model works best when a large percentage of students live on campus, using the dining hall from morning to evening. Most of our students live off campus. For those in student residences, a variety of food support options are provided, including self-catering facilities, stocked pantries, dedicated cooking-related social events or fully catered options in some University colleges.
“We provide funding for the University of Sydney Union’s Food Hub, which supplies free food and other essentials to students struggling with finances or food insecurity. University support has enabled the Food Hub to increase its days of operation from two days a week to five. We also provide financial support for USU to provide free and heavily subsidised meals to students throughout the year, including almost 100,000 meals last year.
“We haven’t been approached about funding for SUPRA’s food pantry but welcome student proposals and feedback as we work to provide a greater variety of healthy, convenient and affordable food options to meet the needs of our diverse community.”
