As this year’s incoming class navigates a busy campus, they’re learning all about Swarthmore’s inner workings: decades-old traditions, the ins and outs of studying, eating, and sleeping, and the best spots all across campus. Since 1993, Essie Mae’s Snack Bar in Clothier Hall was a beloved part of our campus, offering food and drinks to students throughout their day in an up-the-hill location. This year, Essie’s now sits in the Dining and Community Commons (DCC) and serves as a grab-and-go vendor. Students can pay at Essie’s Corner with Dining Dollars or Swat Points — but no longer with a meal swipe. Swarthmore’s returning students view this as a drastic change in comparison to years past.
In 2018, President Valerie Smith announced the DCC Project — a renovation of the campus dining hall. This change was influenced by a rapidly growing student population and the desire for more dining space. The project, finished earlier this year with the relocation of Essie’s to the DCC, was aimed at fostering community and sustainability.
Associate Vice President of Campus Services Anthony Coschignano spoke about the relocation, saying “the plan was always to move Essie’s Corner to where it is today.” Coschignano explained that with the relocation to the new dining center, Essie’s accepting meal swipes just didn’t make sense, due to it now being in such close proximity to the dining hall where students can use meal swipes.
Swarthmore College offers various plans for student dining, each with varying amounts of meal swipes, Dining Dollars, and Swat Points. Essie Mae’s used to take meal swipes from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m. They can also be used for Kohlberg Cafe’s Grab-and-Go lunch (available through the GET app) and for late-night meal swipes at both the Science Center Coffee Bar and Crumb Cafe (soon to open), to accommodate students’ schedules. Swat Points can be used both on campus and at participating venues in the Borough of Swarthmore. Dining Dollars can only be used at on campus venues. Originally, Swat Points were designed to prevent overcrowding in the previous dining hall.
Coschignano expanded on the dining plans offered by Swarthmore stating that “the dining center is the main focal point of the meal swipes, and Dining Dollars and Swat Points are for outside things … just to give students a different experience sometimes. We don’t want to take away from students. We want [to give] the best value for what [is] paid for. You’re just using your value more wisely, not losing any value.”
Some students, however, don’t feel that this change achieved that. Justin Gayles ’24 was “really disappointed at [Essie’s] not taking meal swipes anymore … I hate Sharples food,” he said.
Due to this, he opted for the meal plan that has considerably more Dining Dollars and Swat Points than meal swipes. Gayles said he feels that the move has led to a loss in variety for food options.
“Surviving on Dining Dollars won’t get you very far,” Gayles said. “It’s not sustainable to [eat outside of the dining hall] three to four times a week during the semester … even with the highest amount of Dining Dollars.”
Gayles said he would prefer old Essie’s, which served as more of a “social spot” for him.
Similarly, Katelyn Becker ’28 said old Essie’s was “very well-suited for hanging out with friends; it had game tables, booths, and music. It was smaller and quieter … I often scheduled meals with my friends when we wanted to step away from the hustle and bustle,” she said.
On the other hand, Becker admitted that she saw the pros and cons of relocating and changing Essie’s, since it aligns with the college’s Quaker value of cultivating a shared dining space. Regardless, her favorite thing about Essie’s before the change was that it took evening meal swipes.
Swarthmore College has long been committed to sustainability, and compostable containers are a part of that. The DCC project focused not just on creating more space for students, but improving sustainability. With the expansion of the DCC, the college transitioned to using reusable, plastic to-go boxes, rather than single-use compostable containers, for dining hall takeout. By removing the use of meal swipes at Essie’s, the hope was that student waste would be decreased as students opted to spend their swipes in the dining hall rather than on snacks contained within plastic boxes and cups.
“There’s lots of other factors to consider,” Coschignano said when discussing the decision for the meal swipes. “We had a very large amount of to-go boxes that were a very wasteful stream [from Essie’s], despite being composted … we’re trying to evolve the program to be better for the community.” He also explained that among the things to consider were the jobs of the staff here at Swarthmore, members of the community partaking in the Swat Points Program, and the college as a whole.
Cochignano ended by assuring, “We welcome feedback online at any point…we definitely work with students.” He elaborated on his work in the past with Swarthmore’s Student Government Association, Dining Advisory Committee, and Student Life Committee. While the relocation of Essie’s aims to promote sustainability and community on campus, it is still unpopular with many students.
