I’m already sick of O’Donovan Hall, and it’s only November. Sure, the new Chicken Finger Mondays pack a little more punch into the beginning of my week, and the expanded omelet and grill options provide some much-needed variety to the lower level. Nonetheless, my cuisine creativity is waning. After all, there are only so many paninis one can invent with limited ingredients and my appetite for Leo’s fare is slowly dying.
As a sophomore living in a residence hall, I am required to have a meal plan. And since Leo’s is the only dining hall on campus, I am pretty much forced to eat there, day after day, month after month. It’s not that I hate Leo’s; in fact, I really don’t mind it most of the time. The staff is friendly and helpful and the food decent enough. I simply tire of its monotony – the endless pasta, questionable seafood (clam sticks anyone?) and standard sandwiches and soup.
THE HOYA’s recent article about the Corp’s proposal to expand meal plan options to Vital Vittles therefore greatly intrigued me (“Corp Looks to Expand Meal Plans to Vittles,” Oct. 27, 2006, A1). The Corp’s proposal, if implemented, would allow students to buy sandwiches or other pre-packaged meals in exchange for one meal on their meal plan, making Vittles like a second, smaller O’Donovan Hall, minus the tables and chairs. The university, however, has yet to respond to the Corp’s proposal.
Simply put, Georgetown’s current meal plan is ridiculous, and it would be even more so if university officials decide not to allow the meal plan at Vital Vittles. Since the only place students can currently use their meal plans is at O’Donovan Hall, it seems counterintuitive for the university administration not to be open to the Corp’s idea. Allowing the meal plan at Vital Vittles would not only expand Georgetown’s meager dining options, but for many students living in Darnall and Henle, it would provide much-needed respite from the trek up- and downhill to Leo’s. Students with classes in Reiss and St. Mary’s, too, would benefit from having a meal plan option located at Vital Vittles.
The Corp’s proposal does more than just show students’ desire for more meal plan options. It shows that Georgetown’s meal plan needs reform, and not only in regards to dining options.
While I certainly do not profess to be knowledgeable at all in the mechanics and reasoning behind our current meal plan, there are many facets of it that are quite odd and illogical to me.
Why, for instance, do we not get a monetary credit or meal credit for the meals we do not use during the week? We paid for them after all, and if we chose not to use them, shouldn’t we at least get a credit for them, or shouldn’t they at least roll over to the next week? Why, too, could we not store up these unused meals as guest passes? Where in the world do they go? Why don’t we have a true Grab `n’ Go option, by which students could take a plastic container into Leo’s, put the food of their choice in it and then leave?
Compared to other universities with similarly priced meal plans, Georgetown falls far behind in regards to options offered, plan policies and number of dining locations. Vanderbilt University, a school similar in size to Georgetown with 6,402 undergraduates, for instance, offers nine on-campus dining options (from a cafeteria like Leo’s to delis and Grab `n’ Go options at on-campus markets like Vittles), as well as the option to use a “Meal Money” plan at restaurants and markets around campus. This means that if a Vanderbilt student does not eat lunch on campus, the student receives a monetary credit that can then be used at participating restaurants instead of losing that meal as Georgetown students do.
A plan like this would work wonderfully at Georgetown since we have plenty of good restaurants, delis and markets around campus, many of which accept GOCard already.
With a revamped meal plan system, students would actually get what they pay for instead of just losing their meal to who-knows-where, and furthermore, new dining options would become available.
I therefore hope that the university will not just strongly consider implementing the Corp’s proposal, but take a look at a meal plan that is in dire need of general reform.
Sarah Mellott is a sophomore in the College and an assistant opinion editor for THE HOYA.
