Why do 98's lie down while the administration walks all over us?
As fresh people we paid $1000 per term to eat. That is $3000 in 9 months! Then, after shamelessly using us, DDS realizes the next class won't be so naive, so DDS grudgingly allows refundable DBA to all classes. To try and make it up to the 98's, our mandatory fee for eating with DDS was reduced to $35 instead of the $90 the other classes pay. Well that is $55 less per term over three terms, saving us an entire $165. Sure, that is pretty close to compensating us for the near $3000 we generously donated to the punch system our first year.
Now our senior year Pete says we will again have to pay at least $800, non-refundable, to DDS. So whether I eat one meal or 100 I will still pay $800. Sorry, not even all you can eat fro-yo is worth $800.
I should not be forced to eat DDS food if I don't want to. Just as I am allowed to live off-campus, I should be allowed to eat off-campus.
Can't the college protect my rights to choose where I want to eat? Shouldn't the Dartmouth Trustees have control over this sickening communist monopoly, otherwise known as DDS? Who is in charge here, the Trustees or Pete?
How is it that the college can simultaneously force me to live off-campus and force me to eat on-campus. The 98's were the first class that the administration used to walk all over and tell us, "No, we have no space for you this Fall. I don't care what major classes you need to take. We aren't building anymore dorms. What do we look like, a residential college? Stay home, we'll let you know when there is room for you."
My friend said she is going to have to get a job next year just so she can afford to eat on-campus again. The reason she did not need to have a job this term is because she can cook for herself and spend much less on food, in comparison to DDS where a tuna sandwich is $3.00.
Is this what Dartmouth wants? We need to earn more money just to be forced to eat on campus? If you ask me, the fewer people who have to hold minimum wage jobs to pay for Dartmouth the better. You see, we pay $10,000 per term, approximately. That is about $1,000 per week or $142.90 per day or $5.95 per hour that we are at Dartmouth -- assuming we all stay awake all 24 hours. Hmm ... well, if we are forced to work a minimum wage job in order to pay for our food then we are making less than $5.95 per hour. By this rationale, we are working as slave-labor, earning a profit of nothing. We earn less per hour in our jobs than we are paying per hour to be at Dartmouth. We are therefore victims of a slave trade. Who is the head of this slave trade? Well, Pete for one. He is going to force my roommate to work next year so she can pay him $800.
What is the point of this?
We should have a right to choose. At least those people who choose to live off campus should have the right to eat off campus and not be fined ($800). I believe we should have the right to decline having any account with DDS. If you won't let us decide how much we will spend, then at least let us have the "all or none" option. We should have the choice not to register with DDS. Just as we don't pay ORL $800 NOT to live on campus, we should not pay Pete $800 NOT to eat on campus.
If Pete can't figure how to run a successful business that is not a monopoly then he is either working in the wrong country (aren't there some colleges in Red China that may need a dining service?) or the wrong business (I hear the electric company is hiring managers..)