Students greeted the name changes of classic menu items at the Lot 8 food vendors on College Avenue - more commonly known as the Grease Trucks - with mixed reactions earlier this semester.
On February 10, the University mandated that the food vendors remove and change the names of several of their "Fat Sandwich" items after members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community at the University raised concerns that the names were offensive.
Among the sandwiches whose names LGBT groups deemed inappropriate were the "Fat Bitch," "Fat Dyke" and "Fat Filipino."
The signs posted in front of the local venues were covered up with electrical tape during the weeks following, as a result of orders made by the University, which on-campus venues must comply under their contract with the University.
John Graney, assistant director of Operations at Parking and Transportation Services, said his office addressed the naming of the sandwiches at a meeting held on March 10 between members of the University and the Lot 8 food vendors.
Executive Vice President of Administrative Affairs Karen Kavanagh, Vice President and General Council Jonathan Alger, Vice President of Student Affairs Greg Blimling, Executive Director of Public Safety James Kohl and Graney communicated with the Grease Truck vendors to work out arrangements for the name changes at the meeting, said Elizabeth Pierce, who is Kavanagh's assistant.
Graney said the vendors had come up with a new list of sandwich names the University approved.
He said there were some difficulties with locating a company to produce a new menu for the vendor, Mr. C's, and said a new sign reflecting the name changes is scheduled to arrive within the next two weeks.
RU HUNGRY - another of the food vendors located in Lot 8 - has already replaced their menu to reflect the name changes.
Abdol Elfeiki, an RU HUNGRY employee, said the business has changed names of their sandwiches in the past, and this is the latest example of some of the modifications.
Among the newly-named sandwiches are the "Fat Beach," "Fat Vastardi" and "Fat Hillippino."
Elfeiki said the greatest problem with changing sandwich names are the costliness of creating new signboards with menu postings.
But some students question the purpose of the renaming.
"I do think it's absurd to rename the sandwiches. It was not hurting anybody, so just get over it," said Stacy Perrine, a Rutgers College junior. "It's been this way for years. Why all of a sudden is it an issue? It's just a sandwich. Get over it."
Perrine said the food vendors should have freedom of speech to use their own judgment in naming the sandwiches.
Rutgers College first-year student Janaki Theivakumaran said she supports the renaming of the sandwiches, because the new names will not offend the University students.
"When I order a sandwich, I don't order it because of the name," Theivakumaran said. "I order it because of the sandwich, so the name change doesn't bother me."
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