Photo courtesy of University Communications

Efforts are currently underway to drastically reform meal plans for St. Lawrence students. The present plan only covers 70% of meals for the semester if a student eats entirely at Dana. In addition, there are concerns that the Pub is becoming overburdened with customers and that Dana is wasting too much food without enough people typically going there. The current solution being proposed is that the meal plan will now cover 100% of Dana meals, with some limited money set aside for the Pub and Grab and Go. The plan helps to address problems with the current system while creating other cumbersome problems for students.

Forcing students to have a certain number of meals at Dana through a quota system is going to have drastic consequences for the very fabric of student life. Many students do not have time to go to Dana and have to get Grab and Go or food from the Pub in order to even get lunch in between classes. If there is a severe restriction on this access, many students might just go without lunch, which would be detrimental to their ability to learn and contribute to the classroom. In addition, the Pub is a great place for people to go if Dana is too crowded or the line is too long. Many times Dana is filled up to capacity and students do not even have a place to sit. Supposing that this plan goes through, Dana will go beyond capacity too often making the din-ing experience for St. Lawrence students unenjoyable. The Pub also provides a great place to eat after Dana is closed for people who need snacks or food while they are studying, and it keeps the student center a vibrant place.

Hence, the solution is not to restrict the choices that people make but to use incentives instead to help change behavior. Similar to the current plan, students should start with a certain balance of money that they spend on different meals, but the price for Dana meals should be lowered to the point where eating every meal at Dana will be covered by the meal plan. In order to encourage more people to go to Dana instead of the Pub, Food Services can make up the lost revenue from lower Dana prices by charging higher prices at Grab and Go and the Pub.

Consequently, students will be paying an extra premium to use non-Dana food services. Therefore, a student that has the ability to go to Dana will start to choose Dana over the Pub due to price. However, students who need to get food from other places will still always have the option of the Pub or Grab and Go without restriction. It should be made very clear that eating at anywhere but Dana will result in a student needing to eventually add money to their plan. On the contrary, many students consume meals off-campus or have breakfast in their dorm room, so if students do not eat at the Pub or Grab and Go too often, then they will most likely not have to add extra money to their meal plan. This plan helps solve the problems of the current meal plan without restricting the freedom of choice St. Lawrence students have for their food.