To kick off its three week forum series, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council brought Senior Director of Campus Dining Maureen King, Senior Associate Dean of the College Raymon Parker and Assistant Vice President for Budget and Planning David English to their Feb. 8 meeting for a discussion about the new meal plan.
The new meal plan, which was instituted at the start of last semester, has met with widespread criticism from the student body. “I called it growing pains,” said King, “Growing from a meal plan that had such flexibility as the declining points plan to a fixed plan is a struggle for students.”
The convenience store (C-store) that was supposed to open at the start of the semester has been suspended indefinitely. Plans for the C-store changed for several reasons, including the struggling economy.
“We want to change Java City to make it more C-store-like,” said King. In addition, Campus Dining will look into ways to minimally renovate the location of the C-store.
One major point that critics of the new meal plan frequently bring up is the price of meals for those who are not on the meal plan at the All College Dining Center (ACDC), with dinner costing $12. However, King reminded the council that the listed prices for walk-in customers are in fact higher than the price that students pay when on the meal plan.
Parker added that the larger the meal plan, the cheaper the average cost of the meals.
The administration has already lowered the cash price of meals at the ACDC by $1.
However, he said that the administration is afraid that if they lower price below the cost of meals on the meal plan, students who are on the meal plan will feel that they are being charged unfairly.
Much discussion at the VSA meeting was sparked by major controversy over Parker’s announcement that starting next semester, students will not be able to donate their meals and points to cater activities. “You, not the administration, have to fund the organization,” said Parker to the Council.
At present, the on campus eateries do not charge sales tax because they are counted as part of an educational institution. If the meal plan is used to fund events, it may threaten this tax-exempt status.
“This will hit organizations hard,” said Vice President for Activities Alexandria Dempsey ’09. There is an all campus party policy requiring food to be served at all events. “It would be unfortunate if organizations can’t fund events because of food,” said Dempsey.
“Students would be willing to pay taxes,” said President of the Class of 2011 Joseph Martinez ’11. However, the three panelists said that they are not 100 percent familiar with the law and will look into other options.
The forum dealt extensively with the ratio of meals to declining balance points. “People have a lot of meals left and are running out of declining balance points, because they want fast meals,” said Noyes House President Sean Koerner ’11.
Despite the demand for more points, all three speakers said that their goal is to encourage students to eat at the ACDC over the Retreat and other dining options.
“We need you to eat at ACDC. It’s a big expensive building with people that we pay to make lots of food,” said English. “We couldn’t handle too much volume at the Retreat,” said Parker. “I’d hate to have anyone burn themselves at the retreat trying to cook too much food,” added English.
However, King said that the administration understands the need for more quick food options. “We can look at a grab and go section for the [ACDC].”
In terms of directing traffic away from the Retreat, the issue of pricing for meals was also a topic of discussion. President of the Class of 2009 Luis Hoyos said that the high prices at the ACDC deter students from eating there, leaving the Retreat as their only option. Hoyos asked if it would be possible for students who are not on the meal plan to receive some sort of discount.
Finally, the forum addressed the issue of student input into campus dining. Since the meal plan change, many students have complained that the student body was not consulted prior to the change. “We started with a survey that the VSA gave us,” said English, “and we continue to solicit student involvement.”
“I have an open-door policy and am anxious to meet with students,” King added.
However, English reminded everyone that the administration has to look at the big picture. “When we try to knock off the top problem, a secondary problem becomes the top problem,” he said.
Be the first to comment on this article!