UA takes action against meal plan

At its first meeting of the year on Sunday night, the newly elected 2001-2002 Undergraduate Assembly passed another statement regarding Penn's recent meal plan changes. And yesterday, UA members collected more than 1,000 student signatures on Locust Walk, College Green and in their classes for a petition protesting recent changes in Dining Services. The petition states that Dining Services "should provide adequate choice for students and should be developed with high degrees of transparency and student consultation." The UA was reacting to the recent news that the minimum dining plan available would rise from 70 meals per year to 160 meals per year for on-campus students and 110 per year for those living off campus. The body has also written a statement in opposition to the development of a mandatory 17-meal-per-week plan for all incoming freshmen. In its latest statement regarding meal plan changes, the UA asks that Penn's Dining Services provide adequate choices for students, meet students' dietary needs, support a sense of community among students and only be developed after adequate student consultation. The statement also calls for the preservation of the current structure of declining meal plans by reinstating the 70 declining meals per year option. "Many students have been voicing concerns about the proposed meal plans, and the UA wanted to record this dissatisfaction so we can show the administration the size of the demand for better meal plan options," UA Vice Chairman Jed Gross said in an e-mail statement. Also, students have been upset by the new no-cancellation policy, which states students will not be able to cancel their meal plans in the spring semester unless they are studying abroad or leaving the University. The petition signatures were collected in preparation for a meeting tonight between UA members and Penn Associate Vice President for Campus Services Larry Moneta. The petition demands that "the University develop acceptable meal plan options more consistent with those offered in 2000-2001, as the proposed meal plan options for 2001-2002 will deter us from purchasing meal plans." According to UA Secretary James Ku, the effort to collect signatures for the petition went well. "Since we were so successful today, we're going to do it again tomorrow," Ku said. Specifically, the UA statement emphasizes the importance of choice for students when it comes to dining, citing the various culinary options available in the city of Philadelphia. The body also pointed to the new meal plan's lack of concern for students' dietary needs. For instance, Penn's kosher dining facility, Irv's Place, serves only 11 meals a week. Incoming freshmen forced to buy 17 meals a week would be effectively wasting 6 meals if they keep kosher. The UA also stated that the meal plan changes will not foster community at Penn, but rather diminish it as upperclassmen who no longer have the option of purchasing a small declining meal plan may abandon Penn's dining halls altogether. Finally, the UA criticized the University's lack of consultation of students when implementing meal plan changes. A few weeks ago, the UA approved another statement primarily in opposition to the recent announcement of the mandatory freshman meal plan. Also at its meeting Sunday night, the UA elected College sophomore Aaron Short as its head Ivy Council Delegate. College freshmen Kirsten Grubbs and Meredith Seidel, as well as College junior Liz Bradshaw were also selected as delegates to the Ivy Council, which brings different Ivy League student government leaders together periodically. College freshman Jason Levy and Wharton sophomore Gautam Mashettiwar were elected to serve on the budget committee, which -- headed by the UA treasurer -- evaluates budget requests from student groups and develops a budget proposal at the end of the year. College junior Carrie Zaslow won as historian, which entails archiving all UA-related articles from The Daily Pennsylvanian and taking photographs at UA events. Finally, Nursing junior Thomas Kisimbi was appointed legal services coordinator to oversee the program where the UA sets up free legal services for those in need on the Penn campus.