Falk at Penn Hillel removed its dining dollar surcharge and is now open on weekends.
Credit: Hannah LazarFalk Dining Commons in Steinhardt Hall will remain open on weekends this year and is eliminating the $2.75 dining surcharge.
Falk Dining Hall — which previously charged a meal swipe and an additional $2.75 in Dining Dollars — will now be on par with the cost of other dining halls at Penn. Falk Dining Hall will also now serve Saturday lunch in addition to continuing its Sunday dinner service from last year.
The change to dining hours came as a result of positive student feedback to the addition of Sunday dinners last fall, according to Senior Associate Director at Residential and Hospitality Services Courtney Dombroski.
“Sunday dinner was added through a collaboration that included orthodox students, Hillel, and the University … [it] continued for the entire spring semester, 2024 due to the popularity among students,” Dombroski wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Falk Dining Hall was previously the only dining hall on campus that charged students beyond a single meal swipe.
“The reason for the surcharge was to support the unique operational costs of delivering high quality Glott kosher dining and required kosher food preparation standards — the actual food expense, as well as staffing and operational costs to maintain separate kitchen and dishwashing operations,” Dombroski said.
Engineering first year Ben Zareh told the DP that he welcomed the removal of the surcharge since it made Falk Dining Hall more accessible.
“The no-surcharge is really big considering I keep kosher, and there’s no real other choice unless I want to go to the grocery store,” Zareh said. “So, having a kosher dining hall on campus that doesn’t charge me more than others is great.”
Zareh added that the changes would make it easier to invite his friends to dine with him.
“To be able to eat with my friends and not have to say, ‘Do you want to eat with me? You have to spend extra money,’ is also a huge factor,” Zareh said. “I like paying the same price as everyone else on campus so that it’s easier for my friends to be with me.”
College senior Charlie Samuels said that the extended hours and removal of the surcharge were a “welcome change.”
“For most of the Jewish community, or at least observant [community], it’s less of a question of eating more or less frequently, as much as it is, ‘How many Dining Dollars, if any, will you have by the end of the semester?’” Samuels said. “Every previous semester, you’d run out of Dining Dollars before the semester would end, and you’d have to either supplement that yourself or stop getting meals. Now you can eat here freely.”
College and Wharton sophomore Alexander Kuplicki agreed that the new hours and removal of the surcharge are a positive change that will make dining at Falk Dining Hall “more welcoming of an experience.”
“It adds to the community here,” Kuplicki said. “Eliminating these sorts of charges can foster [Falk Dining Hall] as a dining hall that people want to go to often, and they don’t have to worry about Dining Dollars or other things in their plan.”
Dombroski wrote that she expects that the new weekend meal service hours will be well attended.
“As always, we will monitor participation and consider any adjustments necessary to support success,” Dombroski said.
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