Dining must be pushed to change

Toward the end of my freshman fall semester, I was grudgingly using up my leftover meal plan meals by getting bottles of water at McClelland Hall's Express food store. Officially, students were only allowed two bottles, but the friendly women at McClelland let students take a half dozen bottles or so when they swiped for that purpose only.

Then one afternoon I walked in to discover almost a dozen freshly posted signs informing everyone that students could only take two -- the word "two" was bolded -- bottles per swipe, no exceptions. That meant I was paying $5.90 for each bottle of Poland Spring, and I was livid. I called Dining Services to voice my complaint and was unceremoniously brushed aside. So I called back ... every week. I called the same woman for weeks until Dining Services changed that ridiculous rule.

I still get a teeth-clenching satisfaction by thinking that I am at least partly responsible for the highly generous four bottles you can currently get.

In my Feb. 24 column, I accused Penn of diverting money from dining services to other parts of the University. However, I have yet to receive a reply. It occurs to me now that Penn hasn't replied because, well, it doesn't have to.

It doesn't have to because unless Penn is compelled by outside forces, it won't reply to anyone that complains about food or anything else. The University may have appropriated $5 million for additional security, but you can be damn sure it did it only after dozens, maybe hundreds, of parents bombarded the Division of Public Safety with phone calls.

Parents demanded action --business-as-usual lip service wasn't going to cut it for them, and, as a result, something was done.

Good work, parents. Now, will something be done about dining?

Not at this rate.

Penn food has been just north of terrible for quite a while, whether Dining Services wants to admit it or not. If the powers that be wanted Penn to have a good meal program, they could certainly get it done. There are plenty of successful examples out there to follow -- Cornell University, Virginia Tech, Bowdoin College and many other schools have much better food for less money. Richard Johnson, the director of VT's dining program, explained what it took to make a difference.

"We got a group of folks together about 12 years ago and we said, 'We're going to take a mediocre program and make it good.'"

Wow, how refreshing.

So, freshmen, if you're tired of being ripped off by Penn, do something.

First, define your goals. I would demand:

n An accounting of where every dollar of the meal plan money goes -- to whom and for what.

n An evaluation of and recommendations for the dining program, conducted by an independent third party

n A Penn proposal to address that evaluation, including remedies to fix what has been faulted

Now, if you think Penn isn't going to acquiesce to any of those, you're right. You're going to need to be a huge pain in its ass.

Civil disobedience is by far the most effective form of protest -- it worked for Gandhi, and it can work for you too.

First, hit the phones: Call Penn officials who run the dining program, such as Rhea Lewis at 215-898-2698, Laurie Cousart at 215-573-2332 and Jenn Martin at 215-898-7585. Put them on speed dial and keep calling until you've torn through your weekday minutes.

Now make a scene. Find out when the University is running campus tours and picket 1920 Commons. Or, even better, get 20 friends and stage a little sit-in at Penn Dining's office in Stouffer Commons. Get organized and be a bulldog. Pretend it's 1969 and Penn Dining is the draft board.

There are certainly a lot more worthy causes than Penn's food, but in another sense the dining situation is a microcosm. There are many realities in and out of Penn that people wish they could change, but they're too lazy or too scared to act decisively. Making a difference means more than just writing a letter. It means sticking your neck out and challenging authority.

I would love to see big changes at Dining Services, but they're not going to come from Penn. If you think the food sucks and you want it to change, then you make it happen.

Alex Weinstein is a junior history major from Bridgeport, W.V. Straight to Hell appears on Thursdays.

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