After social media posts from students characterized the roll out of the new meal plan as “inconvenient,” “confusing” and “expensive,” KentWired attempted to contact multiple university representatives for their response. 

KentWired emailed Mike Mesenbrink, the resident district manager of Aramark. After initially agreeing to a request for an interview, Mesenbrink failed to respond to multiple follow-up emails. Neither Dining Services’ website nor the university directory list a phone number for Mesenbrink.

KentWired also left messages with Dining Services’ main office and Kelly Connelly, the administrative assistant of Aramark, but the calls were not returned.

Shay Little, the vice president of student affairs and one of the university’s designated contacts for questions regarding Aramark, granted an interview. Her answers to KentWired’s questions appear in the story.