As early as the start of Spring term, students will be able to pay for food delivered to their door on their Declining Balance Accounts when Dartmouth Dining Services restarts campus-wide dormitory delivery.
Plans are still very tentative, with no firm proposal yet that lays out precisely how the delivery service will work.
"I support that we should attempt to do it and see how successful it is," Director of Dining Services Tucker Rossiter said, "but I think we have to find out how strong student support is first."
The Student Assembly hopes to survey random students within the upcoming week to gauge interest in DDS deliveries. Surveys will also ask students whether they would sacrifice Lone Pine Tavern hours after 10 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays in exchange for DDS delivery services.
Rossiter said that deliveries will likely be charged to DBA, but tips for the delivery personnel might fall under the discretionary account.
Overcoming DDS's recent worker shortages and finding a location that would solely deliver are the main obstructions to a fully operational delivery service.
Lone Pine Tavern has been suggested as a candidate for delivery services by many of those involved with the project. According to Rossiter, this would require DDS to close the dine-in facilities at Lone Pine while deliveries are being made.
Chairman of the Student Services Committee Tom White '04, who along with Diana Thai '04 and Sara Hudson '05 is responsible for the Assembly's involvement, said that students would hopefully fill the these positions.
Student workers may also deliver by car, according to Matthew McKnight '05, one of the three students who brought their delivery proposition to Student Assembly as the Student Service Committee was simultaneously designing similar plans. This would perhaps allow for off-campus stops.
When Food Court supplied the delivery service in past years, however, students were somewhat unreliable employees.
"People wanted the most deliveries during exams, but that's when students wouldn't come to work," Rossiter said.
Student workers will also be key to a successful delivery system due to the system of keycards students will have to use to access dorms this spring. Private delivery services that do not employ Dartmouth students will force delivery recipients to come to the main door of the dorm to get their food.
One drawback may be the socially isolating effects often produced by eating in the dorms, according to Ji-Young Yoon '05.
"I would really like it but I don't think it would be good for me," she said. "I definitely benefit from leaving my dorm."
Planning for logistical issues -- such as cost, management and advertising -- are still in its rudimentary stages. A delivery charge, though, will most likely be added to the total bill, according to White.
"I don't think students will be expected to give tips because there will already likely be an extra subcharge," White said.
Student Body President Molly Stutzman expressed her support of the deliveries, which will likely be managed largely by the Assembly and other students.
"If I was living in the River, it would be nice to not have to spend my own cash and not have to walk all the way to Food Court," Stutzman said.
Stutzman added that deliveries will likely start Spring term, Summer term at the latest.
