Last night's "roundtable discussion" of the proposed mandatory non-refundable $800 meal plan was not a discussion at all. Dartmouth Dining Services sponsored the event not to solicit opinion, but to create the illusion that management and the administration listen to student opinion.
Officials have already made up their minds, and nothing short of a miracle will prevent the implementation of the $800 minimum. Last night's "discussion" was mere theatrics.
Students already subsidize DDS. The College has poured more than $1 million into the flailing company, and some of that money came from students' tuition dollars. The $800 meal plan is the same expense in a new package.
DDS assumes that students can be misled. Decisions are made behind closed doors, while DDS keeps students at bay with "roundtable discussions." Officials would not even concede on the record that DDS loses money or that a mandatory meal plan is being discussed until last week -- just a few days before the Board of Trustees discusses the proposal at their spring meeting. The DDS budget should have been made public long ago. Discussion of changes in the meal plan should have begun before, not after, management made up its mind.
There is something to be learned from last night's discussion: students would rather cut service than pay $800 per term. Unfortunately, this may not be an option. Condescension and secrecy have robbed students of the chance to provide meaningful input into a "business" that affects them all. As usual, Dartmouth students have been kept in the dark.
