Thursday, April 9, 1 QSTA'he Battalion/Page 3 State and Local rTSbisa offers students forum to present dining opinions He 0 force th, e °f Ametiti ^Jre craptj. f God. Even. Suggestion board draws varied responses By Lawson Reilly Reporter small crowd of people in Sbisa ing Hall is gathered around a to be i 1 t> u! t et ' n hoard. Perhaps they want to thino ; R 0W when their favorite health- o u V'B)d cereal will be available for ■ lson ls ttl|re;ikfast. Maybe they want to know made tolo;: w hi'the fruit is served sliced instead ■whole. Or maybe they just want to go on for, ta liw rf Erica Kane is going to marry hohave J ei ‘ m y Hunter on "All My Chil- } gain earl forced t “ah ’drt n" ■They are reading the “Ask Sbisa” lt i |uestion-and-answer board, where m ltatties-students can write comments, com- ;e things- plaints and questions about Sbisa , fed upki'pnnig Hall or anything else and erverted rfr 1 '!’ them into an envelope on the pjoaiii. na/ism pifBWirh a little luck, they’ll see their he Battalia,B ntlwor k ant ^ a re piy posted on the poanl later in the week. ■The board’s creators and writers, gbivi Menu Board members Ashley ■ennon and Joe Picked, say they goi the idea for Ask Sbisa after notic ing a similar board in the Sterling C. fyans Library. ■They presented the idea at a |Menu Board meeting as a method of ■racting more student input, Pick- dlsays, and it was approved. ■“People would come up and talk to us, but it’s better to get it in writ- K” the senior electrical engi- Hering major says. “We can get pore opinions, too.” ■When Ask Sbisa made its debut in :FaH ’86, Glennon says he and Picked were getting as many as 30 letters a da. The board initially was placed ' ] by the exit on the west side of the ''/y pining hall. 7 [: Re Recently, however, it has been moved closer to the entrance be- laiise it drew crowds that blocked the exit, he says. Hit was more successful than I thought it would be," Glennon, a ju- nioi journalism major, says. ■Students’ suggestions and com plaints addressed to Ask Sbisa re sulted in dining hall changes almost immediately, he says. One student suggested that grapefruit and pineapple juice, pre viously mixed together, be divided into different containers; it was done. Another drew a map, illustrating how a “traffic jam” at the milk dis pensers could be solved by placing glasses in a different location. Glennon says two health-food ce reals were substituted on the break- “Some people write a novel, man. People are into this. Some people are too into it. ” — Ashley Glennon, menu board member fast menu after he and Pickell re ceived a lot of requests for whole- grain cereal. Because of opinions sent to Ask Sbisa, the fall semester’s Potato Festi val won’t be conducted any time soon. Pickell says comments to Ask Sbisa showed many students be lieved it was a “bomb.” “DG wanted steak with their pota toes,” he says. Glennon says they make a list of all suggestions and opinions they re ceive each month before they go to a Menu Board meeting, and then they read them to the board. Pickell says Dining Center Man ager Perry Moore and Food Service Manager Dennis Moore are support ive of the suggestion board. “They were pretty happy to see someone there who has some inter est,” he says. Pickell says the managers sug gested he and Glennon join the Menu Board because they always were asking questions and placing complaints. However, a notice on the ques- tion-and-answer board states that the opinions expressed by Glennon and Pickell in their replies are not as sociated with other dining hall or Menu Board personnel. Glennon says the managers leave the operation of Ask Sbisa all up to him and Pickell as not all questions are related to the dining hall. Many are written in a humorous vein, as are the replies. “One person wanted to go to Ash ley and Joe’s school of comedic re sponse,” Glennon says. “Some peo ple write a novel, man. People are into this. Some people are too into it.” He points out one letter’s careful, elongated script, which he describes as “like a bible.” The writer complained about fro zen cream pies and said he feared only King Arthur could liberate his fork from his pie. Other letters express concern for the happiness of Sbisa employees, ask questions about Food Services, criticize or compliment dining hall practices, ask trivia questions or want to know about soap operas. Glennon says if he and Pickell can’t answer the questions, they ask the managers. One student took advantage of Ask Sbisa and submitted a calculus problem, which Pickell and Glennon posted, along with the solution. Glennon says some people ask ques tions about personal problems, but their subject matter usually makes them unsuitable for public display. Ask Sbisa won’t display letters if they are obscene, profane or sex ually explicit, Glennon says. Pickell says the writers realize their letters will not be displayed if they use obscenities. Glennon and Pickell say they now receive about five letters a day and answer about two a day. Menu Board members serve as long as they like, Pickell says, and he and Glennon intend to continue with Ask Sbisa for “as long as it’s worth.” jutkecp rrangc r other Give Yourself The Graduation Present You Deserve Today! ; and e to tta sf ilty nterest® uster, crablyty ^ friiita" L the by nouse 1( history is -then 1 ^fortto 0,t with no payments for 90 days Quality Pontiac-Buick-GMC Trucks and Subaru is offering guaranteed financing for graduating Aggies and graduate students. With your proof of employment and good credit or no credit we'll finance your purchase for up to 60 months through GMAC. With no payment due for 90 days. With as little as 5% down. You've worked hard for your degree so give yourself the present you deserve. We have a special shipment of cars just for this very special event. Gary Congratulations! Stevenson’s QUALITY Pontiac* Buick* GMC* Subaru WHEN IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA VISIT yj rvilVERSAL. STUDIOS TOUR AM MICA GOIVIE»AMY MICHAEL J. FO ■OPENS APRIL 10TH- r h F.O.H. CLUB PLANT SALE FICUS POTHOS IVY PALMS FERNS AND MUCH, MUCH, MORE AT THE FLORICULTURE GREENHOUSE SATURDAY APRIL II, 1987 I0am-2pm LAST CHANCE TO BEAUTIFY YOUR DORM OR APARTMENT! ‘•n r 1