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The Rice Thresher
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by OLIVIA ALLISON THRESHER STAFF
The proposal calls for all students to pay a fixed price for the meal plan, which would allow students to dine at all meals. This plan will also create a separate account called "Owl Bucks," a system of points that can be used to buy items in the Campus Store, Sammy's, Willy's Pub, the Coffeehouse, or the proposed convenience store or Subway. The store and the Subway sandwich franchise will be added to the Student Center next year if the proposed meal plan changes are made. Ditman and Associate Director of Food Operations Matt Morgan approached all eight colleges with the proposal over the past two weeks during cabinet meetings and lunch presentations to gauge student opinion and to hear suggestions from students. Ditman said he and other F&H staff members have been discussing this issue for about a year with college masters and presidents, as well as with student food representatives from the colleges. F&H also hired an independent company to study what direction food service should go in the future and visited other universities for potential ideas. "I've been here three years, and the dining services had a lot of issues in terms of not satisfying customers," Ditman said. "What we have put together is what we think is a great plan, and what we're hoping is that, as we discuss this, people will come up with great suggestions to make it even more effective," Ditman said. Morgan said the most difficult part of designing the meal plan is providing students with the variety of characteristics they expect. "On one side, you have people wanting to pay for just what they get, and on the other side we're trying to support the residential college system," Morgan said. "It's a balancing act and we're trying to do the best we can to support the college system, improve quality and service, along with providing a convenience store and Subway. This plan is the best solution we can come up with." The plan Morgan and Ditman are proposing is one of three possible changes to the meal plan. The first two plans both require every student living on campus to pay a single amount for the meal plan. Both of these plans will accompany the addition of a convenience store and Subway to the Student Center and the Owl Bucks system. Students living off-campus will have the option of buying a certain number of meals per week, Ditman said. The third option is to keep the existing meal plan. However, no convenience store or Subway will be added to the Student Center if the current plan is kept, Ditman said. The new plans would improve food quality at the colleges, Ditman said. Currently, food is first cooked at Hicks' Kitchen and then trucked to each of the food service locations for its final preparation. Ditman said self-serve meals will improve the quality of food because food can be cooked shortly before meals. Ditman said that service with the first plan will also be much faster than current service because prices for meals will not be calculated by item, and the transaction will only involve swiping a student's card. Brown College junior Jessica Bagwell said she is afraid that by requiring students to pay for their meals before they even eat will cause F&H to ignore quality concerns which students voice in the future. "In general, it could be a good plan," Bagwell said. "Since the whole point is to improve the quality of food, I'm a little concerned about being forced to buy only prepaid food. It seems like people are a little dissatisfied with prepaid dinners, and [this plan] takes the concept of prepaid and applies it to all food." Another addition will be the option of a prepackaged lunch that students can pick up at a location other than their college if they don't have time to sit down and eat lunch. No Owl Bucks will be incorporated into the price of the first plan, but students or students' parents will be able to add money to a separate account on the card that can be used at Sammy's, the Coffeehouse, the Campus Store, the convenience store and Subway. The second plan will be more expensive than the first plan because a certain number of Owl Bucks will be added automatically to the price of the meal plan, and the points cannot be used at the Campus Store or at the convenience store. If the current meal plan remains, Ditman said, there will also be a price increase. The increase will offset the costs of the new serveries, to be built at the sites of the new Wiess and Martel Colleges, and the increased payroll costs, he said. Under the first plan, current students' leftover money on their meal plans at the end of this semester will be used for Owl Bucks at the beginning of next year. "If at the end of the year you have $300 left over, on a one-time basis, we'll let you set up your Owl Bucks account with that money. So for returning students, it's a neat deal," Ditman said. The Subway and convenience store, Ditman said, would also have later hours than the Student Center's current hours so that students could have somewhere to go for late-night food without going off campus. Ditman also said that although students are complaining that the meal plan will be more expensive next year, a survey F&H conducted showed that about 80 to 85 percent of students add money to their meal plan now. "People are saying, 'The meal plan is more expensive.' Well, everybody's adding money anyway," Ditman said. Students who do not eat large portions or who do not eat all three meals every day may object to paying the same amount as students who consume a lot of food daily. However, Ditman said that purchasing the proposed meal plan provides the necessary money for the addition of the convenience store and Subway. "Most of the concerns I have heard have been from students who don't eat a lot. I eat a lot and I like all-you-can-eat, but I can see that it's not ideal for someone benefiting from the [existing plan]," Lovett College President Bryan Hassin said. However, Will Rice College junior Mark Lewis said that he thinks the proposed plan is a good plan for most students. "The plan is utilitarian in that it is the greatest good for the greatest number. There will be objections with any proposal but it is a good system. People say they will feel compelled to eat meals when they don't want to, but we pay a lot more for tuition than for food, and students don't necessarily feel compelled to go to class simply because they pay for it," Lewis said. Ditman explained that the new serveries would maintain the college system in that the commons areas will be separate, while both colleges sharing this kitchen, which will be more cost-effective, will use the serving line. "The most effective option [is] to open ... a single food court on campus and telling you if you want to participate you can, but if we were to do that, it would have a devastating effect on the college system," Ditman said. "There's not enough space to do what people want us to do in these little colleges, and the two new superkitchens will address the space issue." Ditman also said long-range plans include possibly renovating the Baker College kitchen facility, and building a servery for Will Rice and Lovett Colleges similar to the Wiess and Martel serveries, although these changes would not begin for at least four years. - back -
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