The Healthy Eating Initiative launched by DCU Students’ Union has introduced student veg boxes and a lower gym membership fee for semester two.
At a Class Rep Council meeting before the Christmas break a motion was passed for Welfare Officer Lorna Finnegan to seek a reduction of the student gym fee to €100 for semester two but no agreement was made.
“Basically we’ve gotten a reduction to €160, which isn’t great and we were quite annoyed by it but people have started using it.”
Instead the sports centre has agreed to re-evaluate their prices for students next year. When asked why the gym was reluctant to reduce it by more Finnegan said they had already advertised the €160 offer.
In other universities, such as UCD, the gym price is included as part of student levy so membership is ‘free’. Finnegan said this is something the SU would like to introduce as it would mean the gym would be open to all students. However, they are unsure if students would welcome the idea as some might not make use of it.
Student fruit and veg boxes were also launched last week as part of the initiative. Flynn’s fruit and veg online shop now offer a deal for DCU students to get a discount with a special code. A student box will contain peppers, carrots, onions, mushrooms, baby spinach, chilli, garlic, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, 500g pasta, six large eggs, and 12 pieces of fruit (bananas, apples, oranges, pears) for about €16. Students place their order online Sunday night, the boxes are put together Monday morning and can be collected from the SU that evening. There are plans to include recipe cards in the boxes.
There will also be a cooking demonstration from student cook Avril Clarke on February 24th to encourage students to cook meals from scratch rather than rely on takeaways.
Aisling Kett
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