The Story

Freshmen Review the College's Meal Plan

Oct. 20, 2007 | By Isabelle Cohen, DSJ Staff Reporter

Right now, freshmen and other Gold meal plan users at the College are locked into a system in which they can use exactly one meal per meal period. Many complain that this is a restrictive schedule and ask for a more flexible alternative. Recently elected Class of 2011 officers are attempting to amend this and other issues with Dining Services.

Freshmen at the College are currently required to have a Gold meal plan, and they have four options - the Gold Plus, the Gold 19, Gold 14 and Gold 10. Upperclassmen have those four options and three block plans to choose between.

The Gold 19, 14 and 10 are unique in that they allow students only one meal per mealtime, with a maximum of three meals Monday through Friday and two meals Saturday and Sunday. Each of the plans also comes with Flex Points, which can be used to purchase additional meals or items at places like the Student Exchange and Marketplace.

The Gold Plus, which is considered the best value for a student’s money, is the plan recommended by the Dean of Students and The Food Advisory Committee. The majority of the freshman class, however, has one of the other Gold plans. The Gold 14 and 19 are particularly popular.

Although most freshmen recognize the convenience of the meal plan, some take issue with being able to use only one meal per block. �"When my first class of the day is an afternoon one, I’d like to be able to get breakfast before and lunch after,” said Seth Waddell (’11). �"Since I’m not using my meal during the breakfast block, I’d like to be able to use one swipe at the beginning of the lunch block and another towards the end.”

Senator Michael Douglass (’11), a new member of the Food Services Advisory Committee, thinks he has the solution. �"The simplest would be to allow three swipes at any point during the day and abolish the meal zone policy entirely - let breakfast feed into lunch and lunch feed into dinner,” he said. �"Another option would be to allow a grace period - from 10:30 to 11:30, say - when you could swipe in for breakfast or lunch because let’s face it, 11 o’clock is a great time to have breakfast or lunch, depending on how long your day has been.”

Douglass recently met with Phil DiBenedetto, Director of Dining Services at the College, and Charles A. Maimone, Associate Vice President for Administration and Director of Auxiliary Services. They discussed some potential changes to the current Gold meal plans, particularly the 19-meal plan. Douglass felt that while the meeting was educational, �"it showed little in the way of actual results - the complicated system the College uses makes reform difficult.” However, Douglass said, he thinks that the student advisory board will �"be willing to help try and move this [plan] forward.”

Maimone was similarly positive, as he said, �"[The Food Service Advisory Board] has made several changes to the meal plans as a result of input from students on the Food Services Advisory Committee and looks forward to tackling this one.”

There are already two bills that have been offered to the Student Assembly Senate which deal tangentially with this main issue. Senate Bill 315-050, the �"Dining Services Flexibility Act,” and Senate Bill 315-051, the �"Meal Plan Reimbursement Act,” were both proposed by Senator Ronnie Wang (’11). The Dining Services Flexibility Act proposes, �"Dining Services give freshmen the right to choose the meal plan that best fits them without restrictions.” The Meal Plan Reimbursement Act proposes that the College �"provide for those students who fast for part of the day - possibly by providing them with a daily allowance of Flex Points for the period of the fast or by making dining service hours more flexible.” Both bills are headed to the Student Life Committee for further discussion.

There exist, however, considerations beyond just the desires of students. Right now, College dining services are somewhat unique in that they do not close between meal periods; at many other schools, the cafeterias save money by closing while the staff changes the meals. The cafeteria has, according to DiBenedetto and Maimone, tried �"to develop the plan configuration to fit the needs of the vast majority of students.”

DiBenedetto addressed the issue of restricting freshmen to the Gold plans. �"The College has realized that freshmen should be assimilated, and part of that is encouraging them to eat well. As they learn their way around campus, they can better choose their meal plan,” he said.

According to Maimone, the assumption is �"that a student on the Gold 14-meal plan would be most likely to buy lunch and dinner. If a student opts into the Gold-19 meal plan, the student is choosing to add breakfast. This factors into the cost [of the plans]. Without Flex dollars, the price of a meal on the 19-meal plan is about $4.93. It’s the least expensive-per-meal plan we have. If you eliminate the meal periods, you have to address the cost per meal. For the 14-meal plan, that cost is $6.34.”

�"Eighty-six percent of residential population students are on the meal plan,” Maimone said. �"That’s 4,430 meal plan holders. About 400 of those live off campus. Three-fourths of those, roughly 72 percent, are on a traditional plan. The Gold Plans are the best value, but the block plans do allow more flexibility."

In the upcoming weeks, the Senate bills will be worked on in committee and Douglass will have the chance to present his ideas to the Student Advisory Board. It remains to be seen what changes, if any, will take hold.