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The Dartmouth
July 18, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Students protest against new DDS dining plan

05.10.11.news.DDS
05.10.11.news.DDS

The administration is cognizant of student dissatisfaction with new meal plan and will work with students to discuss any concerns with the dining options prices, Associate Dean of the College April Thompson said in an interview with The Dartmouth.

"We're certainly listening and we're trying to help students understand how this will affect them," she said. "So even if students have questions or things they find alarming, they should stop by office hours and definitely get their voice heard."

Will Hix '12, former candidate for student body president, approached Kim following the faculty meeting to call attention to widespread student discontent concerning the new dining plan. He cited the hundreds Dartmouth students who liked the Facebook page, "1000 Students Against the New Dartmouth DDS Meal Plan," as indicative of student opposition. As of press time, 1,044 Facebook users had "liked" the group's Facebook page.

"Although [Kim] knows students oppose the meal plan, he respects the process by which the plan was implemented," Hix said in an interview with The Dartmouth.

Students should submit alternative dining plan proposals to Thompson, Director of Dartmouth Dining Services David Newlove and acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears, according to Hix.
Although the number of students at the protest was relatively small compared to the number of Facebook supporters the cause has amassed, the protesters informed spectators about the rationale for their discontent and encouraged others to speak out, Blaine Ponto '14, who was at the protest, said.

Torrey Barrett '13, who created the Facebook page, compared the online group to a petition and said the web forum will spark greater student action.

"The problem at Dartmouth is that we tend to grumble to each other or online but the administration doesn't know how we feel," Barrett said. "The comments on the Facebook page call on the administration to own up to the reasons behind this plan."

Dartmouth Students for Dining Choice highlighted the price of the new plan as a major issue in various campus-wide emails.

The least expensive SmartChoice option only available to students residing off-campus costs students $875 per term, while the largest meal plan will cost $1,658 per term, according to the DDS SmartChoice website. Depending on their meal plans, students will have between $75 and $200 to spend outside the Class of 1953 Commons.

The price per year of the new plan will be between $4,320 and $4,974 a significant increase from current meal plans, which range from $2,400 to $5,925 per year, according to the DDS website.

The minimum cost of the College's dining plan is greater than those at the seven other Ivy League institutions, although the maximum costs for meal plans vary among the schools, according to their respective websites.

Despite student concerns, Thompson said she is confident she will be able to help students find cost-effective dining options.

"I look forward to being able to work with students as we continue to work out how to give students the maximum amount of choices possible," she said. "That way, students can maximize their dining dollars while making the best decisions about eating."

Ponto said the lack of transparent communication is more worrisome than the cost of the new dining plan.

"I don't have a problem with dining prices going up or tuition going up it's how the administration is going about implementing the plan and communicating with the students that's the real issue," Ponto said.

The administration's move to implement the new plan is indicative of a greater trend in unilateral decision making and implementation, Eli Lichtenstein '13, a protestor, said.

"The new DDS plan is just one more manifestation of the administration's top-down, authoritarian approach to decision making," Lichtenstein said. "As with the tuition hike, staff benefit cuts and the closing of the swimming docks last summer, the administration has once again shown its disdain for the inclusion of community voices in the decision-making process."

Elisabeth Ericson '11 created a Tumblr blog and Twitter account for the movement in hopes to gaining student support and encourage student-led action.

"I didn't feel like necessarily being the voice of the student body," she said. "I just did a survey and I started getting some incredible responses that I felt had to be put online. I hope these student opinions can grab the administration's attention."

Ericson served on the student advisory committee for the Class of 1953 Commons renovation. The committee discussed a new plan that would include a la carte options, and although students on the committee were vocally skeptical about the all-you-can-eat option, the administration did not consider their input, Ericson said.

Thompson said an a la carte system negatively impacts the College's finances and disadvantages students.

"One of the problems with the a la carte system is that it's very costly and there are a number of students who go negative' each term because of the cost of the system," she said. "Within the a la carte system, it's also more expensive to eat healthy."

Purchasing "organic" or "healthy" food costs more than "less-healthy alternatives" under most a la carte systems, which disincentives students from eating healthily, according to Thompson. One of the administration's goals is to make nutritious, balanced food equally available to all students regardless of their family income, Thompson said.

Ericson said the new plan will lead to less healthy eating habits among most students.

"The entire structure of the meal plan misses the point," she said. "This plan encourages binge eating and doesn't recommend a healthy scheduling of one's daily food intake as advertised."

Students will continue to have access to the current a la carte option at Collis Cafe and the Courtyard Cafe, Thompson said.

Thompson said Topside will continue to exist but will likely move back to the Class of 1953 Commons.