The School of International Service's Undergraduate Cabinet held its annual dinner for students Friday evening in the McDowell Formal Lounge. More than 300 people attended the dinner, which ran from 5:30 until 8, according to Ben Sanders, president of the Undergraduate Cabinet.
Multicultural food was served at the dinner, including Lebanese, Taiwanese and Japanese food. Students also had their choice of a variety of Tex-Mex, Indian and French dishes as well as lasagna.
"I thoroughly enjoyed the dinner," said Melissa Sims, a sophomore in SIS. "The Indian samosas were pretty tasty. ... I can't wait to come back again next year."
However, there was not enough food to go around.
"We ran a dinner last year and ran out of food," Sanders said. "We managed to run out of food again this year, and it's only 6:30."
Some students were unhappy with the fact that Cabinet members closed the dinner early due to lack of food.
"I am very disappointed that the dinner was advertised until 8 p.m., but there's no food and it's not even 7 o'clock yet," said Tim Essam, second-year SIS graduate student.
Sanders was chosen out of a pool of 20 people to be president of the Cabinet after the former president resigned. The vice president of the council graduated and the secretary is abroad this semester, Sanders said.
This summer, Sanders worked on filling the positions and also appointed two additional freshmen to the Cabinet.
The dinner was co-chaired by the SIS Mentor Program, an organization that provides freshmen with mentoring upperclassmen.
"The dinner was a wonderful experience," said Jessica Smouse, mentor and lead coordinator of the dinner. "Without the support of the other members of the mentor program and undergrad cabinet, this dinner could not have been achieved."
Hye Jin Lee, a sophomore in SIS, worked with Smouse to plan the dinner.
"I enjoyed organizing the dinner but it was definitely a challenge," Lee said. "I won't be at AU next year, but maybe I'll help out my senior year"
