Some sophomores said they were surprised last week to find that they are now required to pay for at least 10 meals a week – a total of $1,449 – at the Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J., Dining Hall, as part of a university plan developed in 2003 and implemented for sophomores this semester.

The new requirements do not apply to sophomores living in apartments or townhouses, and juniors and seniors will continue to have the option of declining a university meal plan.

Margie Bryant, associate vice president for auxiliary services, said that the decision to require sophomores to sign up for meal plans was based largely on the university’s desire to have students use its new dining facilities. The O’Donovan Dining Hall was completed in 2003 as part of the $188 million Southwest Quadrangle Project.

“The biggest reason is the financial commitment,” Bryant said. “Would you want to build a building that isn’t being utilized?”

Although “a lot of sophomores . were on the meal plan anyway,” the new requirement will “help us in the assurance” that the university’s new facilities will be used, Bryant said.

Bryant emphasized that the meal plan requirement has been planned since 2003, and that current sophomores were notified of the pending change at the beginning of their freshman year.

Another factor in the decision to require meal plans for sophomores was a desire to have dining policies “go hand-in-hand” with housing policies, which require freshmen and sophomores to live on campus, Bryant said.

The implementation of the new requirement comes during a period of dramatic change in campus dining options. Three new fast food vendors opened in the Leavey Center’s Hoya Court earlier this week, and administrators are considering converting the Darnall Dining Hall, which closed at the end of last semester, into an on-campus restaurant.