EDITORIAL: Dining Compromises

For nearly three months since Dining Services announced the mandatory 17-meal-a-week-plan for freshmen and the new options available to upperclassmen, the student body has voiced its complaints and because of such steady opposition Dining Services has answered some of our pleas.

In an attempt to raise revenue in order to make up for the high number of cancellations in the spring, administrators developed a meal plan that was both impractical and costly for students living on a metropolitan campus.

With numerous dining options opening up in University City, as well as the wide variety of restaurants downtown, requiring freshmen to have 17 meals a week was unrealistic at best. By decreasing it to 14 meals and giving freshmen the option of lessening it to ten mid year, they will be able to venture out into the community to explore such options without being unnecessarily fined for wasting meals.

And opening up the Penn Flex 110 plan to all upperclassmen, not just those on campus --which was a neccessary first step -- allows them more flexibility than the previous proposal.

Although these changes were necessary, Dining Services should consider further modifications to the meal plan options. Upperclassmen are still unable to cancel their plans mid year at a time when academics and lifestyle change -- thus, it only serves as an unpleasant, binding option.

Amidst a call for upperclassmen to forgo their meal plans for next year, Dining Services submitted to students' requests -- a definite accomplishment on the part of the student body. It shows that in a school as large and diverse as Penn, students' opinions do matter, and they should have all the rights afforded to them as customers.

Despite the modifications, it does not change the fact that administrators once again tried to find a quick financial fix at the expense of the students.The University would have benefited if they had consulted with their primary consumers -- the student body -- before enacting such binding changes.

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