Despite student protests and a planned rally, dining officials said Monday that Northwestern has no plans to revise the new meal plan system that has ended students’ rights to use meals outside dining halls.
The debate comes down to how students living on campus can use their meals at campus dining facilities. Under the new system, two Block plans replaced the Flex Plan, which allowed purchases of $6.60 and under at on-campus, non-dining hall locations to count as a meal. With the Block plan, students can only use newly created WildCat Points, equivalent to the dollar, to purchase food at these locations.
In response, a student-led rally will be held 4 p.m. Monday at The Rock to protest against the new Block Plan in attempt to persuade administrators to bring back the old system.
Paul Komelasky, district manager of SohexhoUSA dining services, pointed out that while the ending meal equivalence has bothered some students, its existence last year also was the source of many student complaints.
“The value that people were paying for using meal equivalence only allowed them to spend $6.60, and when they did the calculations, they found that it was costing considerably more than that,” he said. “Although the Block Plan might not have the best value, it is a much better value than it was before.”
But some students are oblivious to the retail value of the plan and say food quality at places such as Willie’s and the new Sbarro pizzeria would make up for the price distortion.
“I was on Flex last year and I knew that technically I was being ripped off, but I still liked it,” said Michael Cohen, who is organizing next week’s rally with Weinberg sophomore Matthew Koppel. “They just made the meal plan worse, and they didn’t tell us that we couldn’t use our meals at Norris until we got here.”
“In the information about the meal plan that they sent us over the summer, they said that you could use Block meals at a la carte meal stations,” added Cohen, a Weinberg sophomore.
In the first two weeks, Komelasky said he has heard mixed responses about the new system.
“Students are asking about the cash equivalence — they miss that at Norris,” he said. “They are enjoying the Munch Money and the off-campus meal plans, and they are somewhat confused by the on-campus meal plans.”
He noted the revision process included a great deal of student input.
“The dining committee was made up largely of students,” he said. “At that point there were enough options for different people.”
But Cohen said he hopes to show administrators the new plan isn’t any better.
“The reason the new meal plans happened was because people made a fuss about the old ones,” Cohen said. “Then they changed the meal plans behind closed doors. If we make a big enough fuss at the rally, maybe the administration will do something.”
Cohen also plans to put together a petition with signatures of those who oppose the plans.
“I’m just asking for the old meal plan back,” he said. “I would be happy with the meal value from last year.”
The Block A and B plans, which offer the most Wildcat Points, still include 300 and 200 meals, respectively, which can be used only at dining halls. Some students say this presents a problem for those who don’t like the food or atmosphere, or whose schedules don’t coincide with dining-hall hours.
“The new meal plan makes it impossible for a student to eat at Norris all the time because even with the Block B plan, you only have enough Wildcat Points to spend at most $4 a day there,” Cohen said.
According to some students, the new meal plan is also responsible for overcrowding at dining halls. Students including Weinberg sophomore Frank Chen have witnessed lines out the door this past week.
“I came here at 12 p.m. and it was ridiculous,” said Chen as he walked out of the hall. “I saw the line and left, then came back later.”
Komelasky denied student claims that the administration is using the new meal plan system to force students to eat in dining halls.
“There was no concerted effort to push students into the dining halls,” he said. “Why would we be opening up all these retail locations if we didn’t want students to use them?”
Komelasky also said long lines at popular dining halls are only temporary.
“People need to get their schedules established, then gradually they will spread out a little more and eat at other dining locations,” he said. “It fixes itself over the course of time.”
