Located in midtown Manhattan, Baruch College is surrounded by many cafes and restaurants whose cuisines emulate the very melting pot of the city that they are located in.

However, in the food available on campus, specifically the vending machines, there are no halal or kosher options for when students might want to grab a quick snack or small meal in between classes.

Within this student body comes a population of over 2,000 Jewish students and an almost as big Muslim population. Hence, Baruch should have kosher options in the vending machines.

There are at least two vending machines on every floor, stocked to the brim with delicious snacks, but none offer options that cater to a large portion of students attending Baruch. Students tend to get hungry in between classes or may not even have time between classes to go off- campus for a meal.

It is too often that students affected by certain dietary restrictions feel invisible on campus, so for Jewish and Muslim students, having the option of grabbing a quick halal or kosher snack would not only save them time but make them feel included.

This shouldn’t be the case in a school as diverse as Baruch. Baruch must do better.

If it isn’t in the school budget to add more vending machines, buying new ones wouldn’t be necessary. One solution would be adding the new snacks to the vending machines or putting them in place of snacks that aren’t as popular with the student body.

Following the addition of the new snacks, labeling the dietary restricted ones with stickers that say H for halal and K or U, a symbol used by many companies for kosher products around the world, for kosher snacks would also help differentiate them from non-kosher snacks.

In turn, more people would buy from these vending machines stocked with more options, increasing school revenue.
Ultimately, having a kosher vending machine on campus would offer a safe space for Jewish and Muslim students and faculty by, bringing ease and convenience to their snack urges, while also showing them that the school appreciates and values them.

It would also signal that Baruch as a whole respects and caters to specific religious dietary restrictions, which is always a positive, inclusive step to take.