For many freshmen, frozen yogurt is much more than a tasty dessert available in all three main dining facilities.
Fro-yo has become an obsession, a fat-free food always available to those fearing the freshman 15. So when a rumor claimed that the machines here at Penn actually contained soft-serve ice cream, fro-yo fanatics panicked.
"I don't know exactly how this rumor got started," College freshman Sheri Halpern said, "but it was quite a scare."
Halpern's scare proved unwarranted -- the rumor was completely false. The machines at Hill College House and 1920s Commons dining halls still contain Jack and Jill brand non-fat frozen yogurt, containing 0.5 grams of fat and 110 calories per serving.
But some weight-conscious students feel the need to check the stats out for themselves.
"Students sometimes ask to see the nutrition facts of the frozen yogurt," commented a staff member at Hill Dining Hall. "It is definitely in very high demand here. We have to fill the machine in the morning, after lunch and sometimes again during meals."
"We're literally obsessed with it. I have it twice a day," said College freshman Agnes Terry, while enjoying a bowl of frozen yogurt. "Of course I wouldn't eat it all the time if it were ice cream."
Engineering freshman Trevor Lott said he does not choose to eat frozen yogurt because it is non-fat, but simply "because it tastes good." Some freshmen were not even aware that the stuff in the machine was frozen yogurt.
"This is ice cream, isn't it?" asked Engineering freshman Mike Corigliano.
Many have not yet discovered that the two main campus dining halls are not the only places for a fro-yo fix. The smaller Kings Court Dining Hall has a wide selection of frozen yogurt, varying from the standard chocolate and vanilla available at Hill and 1920s Commons. Kings Court features "Colombo" brand flavors, including "Old World Chocolate" and "Alpine Strawberry."
In addition, the machine at Kings Court/English House not only displays the name of each flavor, but whether it is "low-fat" or "non-fat." These labels serve to limit confusion and prevent rumors.
"We at Kings Court/English House know how to party," Wharton freshman Anjali Dalal said. "And the true way to party is with fro-yo!"
The freshman fro-yo craze extends far beyond Penn. "Frozen yogurt is huge here," said Sheetal Dhir, a freshman at the University of Maryland-College Park.
Students at other universities echo the same reasons behind the obsession. "The magic of frozen yogurt is that it tastes good and it doesn't feel bad to eat it," said Megan Bailey, also a Maryland freshman.
"Fro-yo is my life," admitted Lissa Goldstein, a freshman at Dartmouth College. "It's fat-free and really good, too."
It is evident that for many college students, life without fro-yo seems unimaginable. When asked their opinions about frozen yogurt, many Penn freshmen quickly became alarmed, asking "Why? Do they want to take it away?"
But never fear, students, there has been no discussion of removing fro-yo from the dining halls.
