As Rachel Tanchak reached out to grab some Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast Saturday in UF’s Gator Corner Dining Center, a cockroach crawled under the cereal bin.
“I figured there’s more under there,” the UF chemical engineering freshman said. “It was pretty gross.”
When Tanchak, 18, saw the insect, she snapped a photo and uploaded it to the UF Class of 2020 Facebook group.
It wasn’t the first time in the past week a student reported insects in one of UF’s two dining halls. Now, one UF student is planning on boycotting the dining halls.
Josh Kickhoefer, a UF mechanical engineering freshman, is asking students to join him in the boycott Tuesday and demand cleanliness at the eating quarters.
“They should make it clean or at least somewhat acceptable,” the 19-year-old said.
Kickhoefer placed flyers around Turlington Plaza, Stadium Road and the Reitz Union to advise students to stay away from the dining halls.
“I thought nothing’s going to change if someone doesn’t take initiative,” he said.
Zach Isler, a UF pharmacology freshman, uploaded a video of what appeared to be about 10 baby cockroaches on a counter at Fresh Food Company to Facebook groups on Thursday.
UF spokesperson Janine Sikes said UF Pest Management visits the dining halls once a week. She said she believes the bugs Isler recorded in Fresh Food Company were crawling out of a milk machine employees were replacing last week, after a staff member saw bugs on it.
All milk machines are now be- ing replaced in the dining halls, Sikes said.
“The issue was being treated, which is why they came out,” she said.
Sikes said she thinks the dining halls passed all recent inspections from the Florida Department of Health.
Tanchak, who visits a dining hall about three times every day, said she’s seen bugs in the past.
“I see ants once in awhile,” she said, “but I figured that’s normal.”
Kickhoefer and Tanchak said they want Aramark, the company that runs UF’s food facilities, to prevent bugs from crawling around the halls. Kickhoefer said he hopes the boycott helps get the company’s attention.
“People are actively talking about it which is good,” he said. “I think it’s going on the right path.”
@taveljimena
jtavel@alligator.org
