By: Katherine McMahon

The University of Oregon has come far in its ability to make sure that students on campus are able to eat within their dining halls, but to what extent? The issue of food accessibility on college campuses stems from a lack of options. Comparing the dining information provided from the University of Oregon to that of the University of Chicago, who has a fraction of the number of students, the University of Oregon pales in comparison. According to each school’s dining information provided, the University of Oregon has 9 on campus dining options while the University of Chicago has 17 different on campus dining options. According to Ji Hee Choi and Lakshman Rajagopal, the number of Americans with food allergies is over 15 million and they say that 2.3% of all American teenagers have some sort of food allergy. This is not just an issue affecting college students, but people all across the country and the world. This is not simply limited to food allergies however, students who chose to restrict their diet in a healthier way also struggle, says Marilyn Tseng whose study took place at the California Polytechnic State University.  Matthew J. Greenhawt, Andrew M. Singer, Alan P. Baptist, performed an explicit study on college students with allergies to evaluate their outlook and feelings about university campus dining and they found that many students struggled to eat the way they were supposed to in order to avoid allergic reactions.