Jewish students to get rebate for Passover food

This is the first time MU has provided such a program.

By Darla Cameron, Staff Writer

Published April 1, 2005

Campus Dining Services will refund Jewish students who observe Passover $3.36 per meal during the weeklong holiday because they cannot eat non-kosher foods in the religious dining halls during the holiday.

"I thought it was important to push for a refund so students could follow their religious beliefs without having to pay for meals that they weren't using," said Beth Lawrence, a Jewish senior who worked with Julaine Kiehn and Steve Simpson, director and assistant director of CDS, to plan the rebate.

During Passover, an eight-day holiday from April 24 to May 1 in remembrance and celebration of the Jews' escape from Egypt, observant Jews are not allowed to eat grain products leavened with yeast and anything prepared in the same dishes or kitchen as leavened grain products.

That restriction limits bread, corn and corn syrup products and makes it difficult to eat in the dining halls, where foods are all prepared in the same non-kosher dishes.

"There's just not very many foods that we can eat during Passover," Lawrence said.

Lawrence transferred from the University of Iowa, where she said Jewish students are refunded all meals during Passover week.

"When I came here my sophomore year, there was definitely not much to make Jewish students feel comfortable with their dining needs," Lawrence said. "I think our goal should be that anyone could come here and feel taken care of."

CDS did offer some kosher foods in Eva J's dining hall last year, but the foods, including matzo bread and chicken prepared and served in a separate dish, were not prepared in a kosher kitchen.

This year, Lawrence researched Passover observances at other universities and worked with Kiehn and Simpson to create a mutual goal and compromise.

"We wanted to work with them to find a way for students to be able to celebrate Passover through food at a mutually agreeable cost," Kiehn said.

Lawrence, Kiehn and Simpson agreed on a reimbursement of $3.36 per meal, about 60 percent of the actual cost of a dining hall meal, to allow for actual operating and maintenance cost to date.

Students will still be able to eat some kosher foods in Rollins dining hall, and the money from the meals they did not eat during Passover will be reimbursed to their student accounts at the end of Passover on May 1.

Lawrence estimated that only 25 to 30 students would take advantage of the Passover refund because she said there are not many strictly observant Jews on campus.

Kerry Hollander, executive director of the Hillel Foundation, an organization that serves the needs of nearly 600 Jewish students at Columbia schools, said she is glad MU is accommodating its Jewish students.

"They are making a major effort," Hollander said. "In order to be a truly inclusive campus, those issues have to be addressed, and we're glad they're looking at this for Jewish students."

The Hillel Foundation will prepare Seder dinners in its kosher kitchen, and a group of graduate students and Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity will also hold non-kosher Seder dinners.

Interested Jewish students can sign up for the meal refund at the Hillel Foundation until April 21.