The language of this petition was written and approved by the YDSA Northeastern membership with additional input from NU Mutual Aid and Northeastern University Progressive Student Alliance leadership. If you or your organization would like to endorse this petition or join the effort to end hunger on campus, fill out this form. You can sign this petition on the right.

With 26% of Northeastern students facing food insecurity at Northeastern—more than twice the Massachusetts rate—and a meal plan priced 2x the national average, 96% of the undergraduate student body said yes to a referendum calling for the provision of 3 meals-per-day at a significantly reduced cost. From ignoring the presence of long food lines for food pantries to relying on a broken Swipe2Care bandage solution, Northeastern’s response has been less than disappointing and practically non-existent.

In spite of the emphatic student vote, the efforts of numerous student groups, and its $240 million revenue surplus, Northeastern has opted to maintain a meal plan where 12 meals-per-week costs nearly 2x than the national average meal plan.

We, the sponsoring organizations and signatories of this petition, are calling on

• Thomas Nedell, SVP for Finance;
• Anthony Rini, VP for Administration and Financial Planning;
• Chris Abayasinghe, AVP for Business Services and Head of Dining Services;
• Joseph E. Aoun, President of Northeastern University;

to engage with all necessary vendors and financial planning processes to meet the following demands:

1. Guaranteed Food For All
   1. 3 Meals-Per-Day - Northeastern must guarantee 3 meals a day at no cost for all students living in dorms that require students to purchase a meal plan. For any student not living in meal plan required housing, a 3 meal-per-day plan at a rate 24% less expensive than the current 17 meal-per-week plan ($4090/semester). Any student who could not afford this new plan would be able to buy an equally discounted profiler plan. Such a reduction would bring parity to Boston area university meal plan offerings. This plan will be financed by Northeastern’s over $240 million in surplus yearly revenues.
   2. No Excuse Swipe2Care - No student – regardless of age, income, or location – should starve. All Northeastern students, faculty, and staff must be able to request a dining-hall meal via Swipe2Care with instantaneous approval, at a limit of 1 meal-per-day. The pool of meal swipes will be automatically drawn from left-over daily swipes from students covered by the 3 meals-per-day plan. The pool of swipes donated that remain unused at the end of the semester should roll over for use in the next semester
2. Ending Food Waste. To reduce Northeastern’s carbon footprint and community hunger, Northeastern must:
   1. Allow Dining hall workers and other NEU employees to take unserved food home. Instead of wasteful, for-profit use of food waste, let dining hall workers take unserved food home to feed themselves and their families.
   2. Donate all unserved food to local food pantries/community fridge, including Northeastern Mutual Aid. All excess food that food pantries cannot accept will be put towards improved composting efforts and clean energy.
3. Meet the demands of Unite Here Local 26 dining workers. Students and workers benefit when both are treated with dignity.