By Maria Gabriela Bolivar Gomez
The views expressed in this articles are the opinions of current Barry students and do not necessarily reflect research-based facts about any of the entities mentioned
Barry serves almost 9,000 students, accommodated by around 2,000 staff and faculty members. Though small compared to others in Florida, this university continues to provide its best for its students.
However, from a student’s point of view, there are some details they would change.
One big concern is the food. Many students around campus complain about the food in Roussell Dining Hall and how often the same meals are repeated.
“I live here, so the menus are actually pretty horrible, it’s kind of the same thing over and over again, very repetitive. Like, come on, I can’t be eating the same chicken for lunch and dinner every day. Additionally, they claim to have many vegetarian options but in reality, they are very limited,” said senior criminology student Vanessa Gudiño.
Senior psychology student Maria Montalvo said there is a big selection, just not an appetizing one.
In an anonymous Instagram poll by The Buccaneer, comments on the food options were common. When asked what should change, someone answered, “More food options and better ones at that!” Somebody else commented, “The food in the caf. It's really bad.”
For Brianna Torres, a commuter student majoring in television and digital media, her beef is with the meal plans.
“Automatically, if [I] decided to live on campus, [I'd] get 19 meals and $100 for dining dollars. They took that away from me because of the fact that the system is different... which sucks because as [a commuter], [I] don’t always carry money. But with the meal plans, [I was] able to grab something to eat.”
According to the Barry website, the cheapest option available to commuters are a $203 plan which includes a total of 25 meals at Roussell but no dining dollars or a $408 plan which includes 35 meals at Roussell and $100 dining dollars.
Another concern are the dorms.
“As a freshman I don’t know much, but a better dorm would be appreciated,” said freshman business management major Sami Rachidi.
They are distributed among the following buildings: first-year students have Sage Hall, Weber Hall, Dalton Hall, Dunspaugh Hall, Mottram Doss Hall, and Browne Hall while the upper-class and graduate students have Benincasa Hall, Kolasa Hall, Bevilacqua Hall, and Flood Hal.
Many students said they have experienced mold in their dorms due to their poor ventilation.
“The dorms smell so bad, it’s like walking into a mold department,” said Emma Lillback, senior advertising major.
They understand the need for sealed windows, but students said they would like them to open at least a little to let fresh air flow into the dorms.
Moreover, the scholarship money distribution is another grievance of students.
“I feel like tuition money going mainly towards athletes is something that is not talked about enough. Why are we doing all these funding on athletes and not in the low-income students? I’m not saying that athletes don’t deserve to be here—everybody deserves to have a place here, but I feel like the money is not as catered to low-income students in comparison to the athletes,” said junior general studies major Betsy Pimentel.
Gudiño also said the women’s teams do not get as much funding as the men’s teams.
Along with these discrepancies, access to scholarship opportunities through the Barry portal is not clear to some.
"We should have more access to scholarships. Because I feel like, even though they are on the portal and they claim that they are there, I personally haven’t met somebody that has gotten them,” said Pimentel.
Gudiño agrees and dislikes the extra hustle for students when it comes to scholarship information.
“I think they are a very open community and inclusive, but they are not that informative making students go out of their way to get the information instead of directly providing it to them,” she said.
For the most part, commuter students have very specific needs.
“I would do something about the cafeteria food, add more parking spaces as well as more study areas and relaxation areas,” said advertising senior Dominique Pineda.
Daniela Florindez, another advertising senior, agrees with the parking issues.
“I think I would add more parking and maybe more school spirit, like for everyone to support and go to games for different sports,” she said.
Barry students appreciate what Barry has offered them, but there is always some room for improvement. They hope these comments will be taken into consideration.