At first glance, a California roll in a campus smart fridge might seem like a late-night snack and nothing more. But at Occidental College, Assistant VP of Hospitality and Auxiliary Services Erik Russell sees that innovations like sushi at 2 a.m., athlete-specific fridges, and reusable container programs are about something bigger—how colleges can balance technology with the human touch in serving today’s students.
Russell recently joined Campus Convos to share how his team is adapting to Gen Z expectations. The takeaway is clear: whether it’s dining, bookstores, or classrooms, students expect on-demand convenience, personalization, and alignment with their values.
“Students want to eat on their own terms,” Russell explained. At Occidental, that means designing options around real student patterns—from smart fridges that cater to late-night study sessions to meals built for athletic performance.
The lesson applies beyond dining. Gen Z has grown up with customized recommendations, one-click ordering, and mobile-first access. They measure campus services against the standards they use for the rest of the world, from entertainment to exercise.
As a McKinsey study found, personalization is no longer a perk—it’s an expectation. For higher ed, this means rethinking how to deliver more than just food, but course content, advising, and student support. Students want the same immediacy with textbooks that they have with snacks, available when and where they need them without barriers.
Students today are also looking beyond convenience. They want institutions to make ease and innovation reflect their values. Nearly one in three students rank sustainability among their top priorities when selecting a college (Veritrove), and more than 80% believe it’s somewhat or very important (College Pulse).
This shift matters because sustainability and personalization aren’t opposites; rather, they are deeply connected. When technology enables smarter systems, like reusable containers or digital course materials, it makes the student experience not only easier, but more responsible.
Institutions are responding. According to EDUCAUSE, many are “investing in technology to support sustainability … green IT (45%) … energy-efficient technologies (41%), … smart energy-management systems (38%).” Russell’s team at Occidental uses a ReusePass program that drastically reduces single-use plastics by letting students borrow and return reusable containers via a simple QR code. The system tracks participation through an app integrated with dining services, making sustainability a seamless part of campus life. It’s more than an environmental effort; it’s part of delivering a campus experience that aligns with student priorities.
At BibliU, we see this same pattern in digital access. Reducing print waste, lowering costs, and improving efficiency aren’t just operational goals—they’re sustainability efforts that expand access. By helping campuses transition to digital course materials, reimagine bookstores as ecommerce hubs, and transform these spaces into flexible student spaces, BibliU uses technology to build a more accessible and sustainable experience across campus.
With all these changes, Russell often returns to a central question: “How do we keep that human element? How do we lean into hospitality, keep the trust we’ve built with our students, and still implement technology that makes sense?”
Technology across campus—whether AI in classrooms or smart systems in dining—should remove friction, not replace relationships. Companies like Apex Order Pickup Solutions and Transact Campus are proving that tech can handle the logistics. Apex’s smart food lockers reduce lines and late-night staffing needs, letting dining teams focus on hospitality. Transact’s self-checkout and mobile-ordering tools simplify purchases for students and allow campus staff to shift from transactions to experience design.
The ultimate goal is to give educators, librarians, and administrators more time to do what only humans can: mentor, listen, and build trust.
This philosophy mirrors BibliU’s own approach. To cater to the 56% of consumers that prefer self-service, we’re exploring these types of tech-forward options for auxiliary services that enhance access and convenience while preserving the human experience. That includes unattended and self-service models, from vending-style food programs to self-checkout and retail kiosks, designed to expand availability and bring more flexible experiences into campus stores.
From late-night sushi to reusable containers, Occidental College’s dining transformation offers a blueprint for higher education’s future that’s personalized, sustainable, and human.
Students don’t separate their experiences into silos. To them, dining, classrooms, and campus services all reflect a single question: does my institution understand me?
The colleges that answer “yes” by scaling while combining innovation with intention will be the ones that stand out. Because in the end, sushi in a smart fridge isn’t really about what students eat—it’s about how institutions evolve to meet them where they are.
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