Earlier this month, Northwestern Dining started its official ice cream roll out (not to be confused with rolled ice cream). The implementation of the sweet treats began when Northwestern Associated Student Government unanimously passed a resolution for ice cream machines to return to dining halls on April 6. University administration then affirmed it.

Dining halls will provide ice cream every Friday of the month, but not all at the same time. Refer to Northwestern Dining's official Instagram post for the remaining dates and locations.

Weinberg second-year and ASG Senator Stephanie Shields, who drafted and presented the resolution, said that the idea for Ice Cream Fridays came from discussions with fellow transfer students about ice cream options at their previous universities.

“This whole year I’ve just had a note on my phone where I write down ideas for legislation that I might want to pass in ASG and the number one bullet point on that this whole year has always been, ‘Bring ice cream to the dining halls,’” Shields said.

The bill included information about ice cream options at peer institutions, the mental health benefits of having dessert dining halls and a resolution for the administration to facilitate the serving of ice cream in at least one of the 4 dining halls.

“We really just wanted to make it as clear as possible to the administration what our desires were,” Shields said.

ASG and administration also worked with Compass and Lisa Carlson, the campus dietitian nutritionist, when discussing the future of the resolution.

Weinberg first-year Seela Hinrichs said she thinks that the addition of ice cream in the dining halls is a positive change.

“I love ice cream, and I think that a lot of the other schools I visited had ice cream machines in the dining halls, so I think that’s a good thing,” Hinrichs said.

Weinberg third-year Gabriel Augustynowicz agreed that it was an appreciated treat.

“The dessert options in dining halls tend to be, in my opinion, inconsistent,” Augustynowicz said. “So having ice cream would really be an extra spice to the culinary variety there.”

Thumbnail graphic by Olivia Abeyta.