Lackluster Meal Options at Winthrop University

Rock Hill, South Carolina is home to Winthrop University, a university that we love for its small town vibes, arts-minded student body and glowing reviews on safety. Current Eagles seem to love everything from the apartment-style housing options to the smaller class sizes that promote one-on-one attention. Sadly, there’s one thing that those who don the garnet and gold just don’t like: mealtime, meal plans or basically anything else that has to do with meals. Winthrop University just falls short in key areas like accessibility, cost, variety and healthy options. If food is a priority for you when it comes to choosing a college, then you might want to consider reading about why Winthrop doesn’t exactly win in the yum department.

Logistics? You’ve got them! Thompson Café might have a misleading name, but it’s actually the go-to eatery for residential students. They claim home-style entrees and fresh veggies are their expertise, but students say otherwise. For starters, the hours don’t quite accommodate the frenzied nature of student life. Dinner hours end at 7 p.m., leaving those with late classes fresh out of luck.

Food choices are also of the high-school cafeteria variety, with French fries and hamburgers galore. Healthy, right? If you’re not into the bland, repetitive nature of this food, your only other option is fast food joints like the nearby Einstein Bros. Bagels or Subway, and these are hardly healthier alternatives. Word on the street is that the food isn’t very easy on the digestive system either. Stomach aches aren’t uncommon after mealtime. The café does attempt to liven up its static menu with themed nights, but the lack of freshness simply maintains the status quo.

Eagles Express is a useful choice when time is of the essence. Located within Thompson Hall, this small locale is essentially a convenience store that helps students stock up on spare groceries, personal items and a limited array of grab-and-go items. Still, there’s not much healthy food to be encountered here. In fact, vegetarians and others with certain dietary needs will feel neglected pretty much everywhere on campus. If family or friends are in town, The Eagle’s Nest is the spot to be. It offers more upscale choices, and it even accepts Café Cash pre-loaded meal plan money cards as a form of payment.

The resources for the diet-conscious are what you’d expect at most universities in the country. Nutritional information is provided on the menu, and you have access to chefs or dieticians should a question or concern arise. That’s literally all you have to fall back on. Where are the bells and whistles? Where are the student programs? All this, and you’re still paying a premium for meal plans. Students say without a meal plan, most of these options are simply too expensive to pay for out of their own wallet day in and day out.

Sustainability efforts are also standard at Winthrop, in our opinion. Some local purchasing is done, recycling and trayless dining is in place, green cleaning products are used and energy conservation isn’t strayed from. We encounter these efforts most everywhere, though. What Winthrop University lacks is open communication with the students who actually eat the food. There’s no forum for them to improve upon the menu and its lack of fresh, healthy ingredients. There’s a bevy of greasy meals to be had at Winthrop University, and our guess is that you’ll quickly grow tired of them.

Interested in schools known for quality campus dining? Ohio’s Kenyon College is similar to Winthrop in size and ethos, but they’ve curated an incredible culinary experience that pupils rave about.

Ryan James is a ’13 alumnus of Ohio University’s College of Arts & Sciences with a bachelor’s degree in writing and media. He currently works as a copywriter for a Fortune 500 e-commerce corporation based in Columbus, OH.