Students yesterday seemed shocked and angered by the possibility they might be required to pay a minimum of $800 each term to support the ailing Dartmouth Dining Services. Many said they are not surprised the business loses money.
Although most students are satisfied with the quality of the food and the service, students seem to agree that the food is overpriced, the bureaucracy is too big and the proposed $800 meal plan is unfair.
Some students said they never eat $800 worth of food in a term. "It would be a waste of money. Some people don't eat that much," Lindsay Steinberg '99 said.
Sarah Mullin '98 said she could never spend $800 dollars a term for food. "I spend $450 to $550 a term" she said. "As freshmen, we had to go through paying $1,000 a term. I feel like we're kind of getting jerked around."
A non-refundable declining balance could harm students' eating habits, according to Marcia Herrin, co-Chair of the Eating Disorder Education Treatment and Prevention program.
"The refund is important because students have different needs for amounts of food," Herrin said. "An $800 DBA may cover the needs of males, but is less likely to cover the needs of female students."
Some College employees are also dissatisfied with the way DDS is managed.
Collis Chef Derek Lorrigan said the dining areas that hire union employees are overstaffed. "The union is a form a communism," he said. "If you don't want to work, you don't have to."
Area Manager of Westside Buffet Nathan Cook '98 said DDS is overstaffed.
"There's always a lot of managers, and I don't know what they do," he said. "There's a huge bureaucracy."
Topside Area Manager Michelle Gregg '99 said DDS assigns employees to work in areas without considering the number of customers. While students who work at Homeplate are swamped with work, those at Topside spend much time sitting around.
Many complained that the prices charged by DDS are too high.
"Cereal is kind of expensive, and the water's ridiculous," Regina Vinluan '97 said. "You have to be careful of the way you buy your fruit. If they weigh it, it's outrageous."
Anthony Jurado '98 said he is so disgusted by DDS's high prices he usually eats off campus.
"If you were going to McDonald's and they said your meal was eight or 10 dollars, you'd say, 'Wait a second,'" he said. "Maybe there's some administrative problem. The meals are so expensive."
Some students were critical of the changes DDS implemented last year when it converted Full Fare into Westside Buffet, moved Collis's sandwiches to Lone Pine, decreased the size of Collis's salad bar and replaced Home Plate's Kosher deli with one from Healthy Choice.
Cook said Westside may be unpopular due to the fact that "people might be getting tired of chicken. I like chicken. It just seems like we have so much of it."
