Policy Changes in Lowe Dining Hall Initiate Reactions

By LIZZY KUBANCEK

Lowe dining hall policies have undergone changes this school year regarding meal time-period and the implementation of guest passes as well as the drink-block plan. The changes come forth for a multitude of reasons including “rising costs in goods, labor and supplies,” “abuse of meal swipes,” and “misconceptions,” according to Vice President for Student Affairs Rosalie Carpenter. 

One of the new changes in the dining hall is the 1-hour time limit that starts after using a meal swipe. According to a survey sent across campus where 55 responses were recorded, 70% of respondents haven’t had any trouble re-entering with the time period while 20% have. One student said they have “been too afraid to try” to re-enter and another said “it is awkward if you forget to get a receipt from the cashier and need to go back for a second plate or dessert.”

Sophomore Patrick Boyle said, “I typically don’t re-enter because I don’t even want to mess with it, because it just seems like such a hassle.”

“We haven’t had any issues with the hour window yet,” said Carpenter. “If there is some kind of extreme example, especially if their plate of food has been sitting there and it’s cold…like they had to go help a friend who was locked out or had an emergency then we would absolutely work with them.” Carpenter added that one would “need to talk to a cashier or manager,” but if it’s for an “extenuating circumstance, for sure. 

“At the end of the day we don’t want people to go hungry but we have a guideline,” said Carpenter. “You can go as many times as you want within an hour.”

The drink block plan has also been a newly implemented program this fall to “honor and acknowledge those who want drinks from the dining hall” that do not have a meal plan, said Carpenter. “Over time, drinks have never been free and that was a huge misconception, … they were always intended for when you swipe for a meal, you get a drink.” 

According to Carpenter, staff started seeing “students and faculty will kind of help themselves to drinks throughout the day,” regardless of having a meal or not. “It’s $.43 per cup of juice or soda … and that’s a lot of money to lose … and it really just became a cost issue.” She added, “So we did the drink package … and that’s really what prompted it was drinks have never been free but the perception kind of was that.”

The implementation of guest passes is something new we wanted to offer [for] students as a way to have guests on campus,” said Carpenter. “Guest passes were something we never had before and a lot of other schools did.” The change comes due to “abuse” of meal swipes. Students now have 5 guest passes available as part of their meal plans to use for a guest or another student who does not have a meal plan, but are unable to be used on themselves.

“I used to swipe for my commuter friends sometimes. … [I]t was just a fun way to like make time for my commuter friends and eat a meal together,” said Senior Emma Mathieu.

A student response from the survey said, “I liked when extra meal swipes could be used for guests.”

According to Carpenter, “Students were feeling really uncomfortable because they had friends who were constantly asking them to swipe and then they were running out of meals.” Carpenter continued, “When you sell, let’s say 700 meal plans, but somehow are feeding 900 students in a meal period, … that’s a bad business model. We’re running out of food and it’s because we don’t expect that many people will be eating because we haven’t sold that many meal plans.”

Carpenter added, “The biggest complaint I feel like the students have had was not being able to swipe for their friends and, if anything, I just found that to be the most Setonian-like complaint is that they wanted to be able to feed their friends. I’m just so grateful for this community and how we treat each other.”

Students are always welcome to give suggestions or input by scanning the QR code posted in Lowe Dining Hall. “We always try to make decisions with everyone’s best interest in mind but sometimes we just miss it, so letting us know what they’re thinking is awesome,” said Carpenter.