Wash U in St. Louis using texts to receive student feedback

ST. LOUIS — Dining Services is now allowing students to text feedback about their orders.

Hoping to find a quicker way to get responses about their service, Dining Services launched a pilot of the text feedback program this fall.

Officials hope that the new feedback option will encourage students to provide more feedback, but many students say they were not aware of the option.

Dining Services officials had been seeking a new feedback system for a while when Paul Schimmele, Dining Services manager on the Danforth Campus, found the Text N Tell service—through which the feedback is facilitated—at a conference this summer.

In the past, student feedback to Dining Services has been solicited through comment cards, emails and surveys.

Resident District Manager Nadeem Siddiqui discussed the challenges of finding a new system that would allow staff to address student feedback without being overwhelmed.