Dining changes brought on by financial woes

Amidst a storm of controversy set off by changes to Penn's meal plan system, officials yesterday cited financial reasons as the primary motivation for the changes. Starting next year, the smallest meal plan available to upperclassmen will increase from 70 to 160 declining meals per semester, and the University is instituting a no-cancellation policy for meal plans. But yesterday, in a meeting with members of the student-run Dining Advisory Board, officials discussed some of the alternatives that were initially proposed -- and officials explained their reasoning for the decision. According to Director of College Houses and Academic Services David Brownlee, major changes in dining policy were necessary due to the financial state of dining services. "One has to look seriously at the purely financial conditions," he said. And according to a statement that was circulated to members of the Undergraduate Assembly and the Dining Advisory Board, administrators also discussed the possibility of closing one of Penn's four dining facilities. "There were some short-lived internal discussions of closing a dining hall entirely, most likely Stouffer, instead of making the meal plan changes," Dining Advisory Board member and Wharton senior Adrian Jones wrote. "Frankly, I would favor capacity rationalization, i.e., closing Stouffer, to mandated meal plans, but this is an issue for everyone to discuss." But regardless of the input that students may have given, closing one of Penn's dining halls is not a viable option, according to Director of College Houses and Academic Services David Brownlee. "What we want is dining space for all students," Brownlee said. "The fact is that [the dining halls are] scattered across campus. My own understanding is that there are not enough seats if we close a building." And according to Jones' statement to the UA, CHAS is mandating that four dining halls remain open. Officials also say that student reaction has been blown out of proportion for minor changes. Associate Vice President of Campus and Facilities Services Larry Moneta blames much of the controversy on the fact that the University was not given time to give an explanation of the decisions. "All of [the proposed changes] was intended to be a single rollout," Moneta said. "It was all a single effort that would have had a much more recent and reasonable presentation." Last Monday, it was reported that starting with the Class of 2005, Penn freshmen would be required to buy the 17-meals-per-week "Titanium plan." Furthermore, at the start of the spring semester, freshmen will not be allowed to downgrade to a plan that offers fewer than 14 meals per week. But while this change upset many of Penn's prospective and current students, perhaps the largest student uproar came after Friday's news that upperclassmen choosing to purchase a meal plan would no longer be offered the 70-meals-per-year base option. According to Jones, the changes came out of lengthy discussions on how to improve the financial state of Dining Services. And in an interview last night, Jones faulted administrators for not bringing discussions to students sooner. "I think that that's been their biggest mistake throughout this, and they've perpetuated that mistake by not coming out and saying 'here are our reasons,'" Jones said. Jones also said that he doubts whether Penn's financial aid system -- a system unable to implement the major changes that have been occurring at other Ivy League universities -- will be able to match the financial burden created by the dining changes. For him, students choosing to eat at the less expensive food carts and restaurants are evidence of student "self-help" in the face of high dining costs. Jones also said that students should have been involved in the decisions from the beginning. "I think that if they would have come to students in the beginning, even before they made the decision and said 'here are the trade-offs we are faced with, none of them are good, what should we do,'" Jones said. "That's what really frustrates me." Managing Director of Dining Services Peg Lacey has not responded to repeated phone calls since the first changes were reported last week.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.