Social Science Club holds presentation on rural economics and CSC dining services

By: Kincaid Strain

A common topic of discussion throughout students on campus this semester has been the dining services. On Tuesday, the Social Science Club invited Chris McCarthy, assistant professor of economics and agribusiness, to speak on the topic in the Lakota Room of the Student Center.

The idea came from Ethan Tussing, 18, freshman of New Underwood, South Dakota, who said that he felt he is not getting what he would like to get from the dining services. He decided to bring this to the attention of the Social Science Club. The discussions within this club are student led, and what the members have questions or concerns about they will be further educated to better understand certain social situations.

McCarthy put together a PowerPoint presentation going over the reasoning behind why Chadron has a harder time getting some of the supplies or services that students would like.

At no fault of the dining services, and with COVID playing a recently new role in the world, rural towns have a harder time affording to keep people working and affording to get shipments of supplies in. This directly correlates to why the dining services may not have all that the students are wanting.

McCarthy presented that rural cities also have fewer job opportunities, therefor allowing a metro city with higher job opportunities on the rise which attracts people to want to move there. It is common for people to leave a small town with fewer job opportunities and lesser pay to a bigger city with more options. With this, educating those with frustrations or concerns as to why there is not certain supplies or services in a rural town might interest others into helping out or understanding the situation at hand instead of placing blame on something out of the control of those who are working that job. Especially since COVID, these numbers have been hindered greatly, making it even harder than before for rural towns to get supplies since bigger cities can afford to pay for supplies and still remain within their profit margin.