Aramark, the managing group behind Georgetown’s dining services, began imposing a stricter enforcement of their policy banning students from swiping more than once into O’Donovan Hall at the start of the semester.
Joelle Wiese, the associate vice president of auxiliary business services, said that Leo’s staff have noticed students swiping other students into the eatery.
“For the past few years, we’ve been pretty lax about it, but we noticed that it was being abused,” Wiese said. “We noticed many people selling their swipes outside of Leo’s.”
Although the policy has existed for years, many students have still been able to swipe their GOCard more than once into Leo’s to gain access for other students. Aramark is now tightening its regulations.
“The meal plans have always been non-transferable, similar to a Yates membership,” Wiese said. “We are simply enforcing the policy just like any other group would do in these circumstances.”
According to Wiese, Aramark has trained its staff to enforce the policy more strictly than before.
“We have increased training with the staff and clarified the policy with the entire team,” Wiese said.
Ram Nabar, executive director of Aramark at Georgetown, said that the policy helps ensure that older students do not force underclassmen into swiping them into Leo’s.
“It’s a matter of fairness, especially for underclassmen, who could be told by upperclassmen without meal plans to swipe them in,” Nabar said.
Students with block plans are still able to give their meal swipes to other students.
According to the Georgetown Dining website, disciplinary action may be taken if a student uses a GoCard other than his own to gain access to the dining halls. Leo’s staff will send ID information to both the GoCard Office and the university for further action, which in some cases could include suspension of dining privileges.
Two guest passes are included with the unlimited, weekly and block meal plans for use throughout the semester, intended for students to bring non-Georgetown students into Leo’s.
Additionally, meal swipes can be donated to charitable organizations for special occasions throughout the year, such as the end of the fall semester nearing the holiday season.
Meanwhile, students are still permitted to swipe in twice for themselves during the same meal period, once each at the all-you-care-to-eat facility at Leo’s and a Grab ’n’ Go location.
However, several students are critical of the policy. Some argue that it is problematic for those who have lost or misplaced their GOCards.
Quinn Larkin (COL ’18) said that he was denied access to Leo’s after misplacing his GOCard and using his friend’s, despite repeatedly explaining his circumstances to the staff.
“I tried to get a friend to swipe me in, but they kept saying that I had to swipe in with my own card,” Larkin said. “I think they should be more lenient with this rule.”
Richard Jung (SFS ’15) said that since students have already paid for their meal plans, they should have the right to share swipes with others.
“It is paid for, and it is given to another person from the purchaser,” Jung said. “It’s a small gift given from one person to another, and not something for the Leo’s management to cry wrongdoing and ban.”
Weekly meal plans range in price from $1,958 a semester for 10 meals a week to $2,519.50 a semester for 18 meals a week.
Jung said that he was also denied access to Leo’s when using a friend’s card to swipe in.
“I think Leo’s recent decision to ban people from transferring their own meal plans as they see fit is ridiculous, and is a classical case of tyranny of market power,” Jung said. “Leo’s is guaranteed a certain level of demand because the school forces the freshmen and sophomores to buy a meal plan that they will most likely not find fully useful.”