Law Students Support Boycott at Harkness

Meal service at Harkness Common Dining Hall fell by about 20 per cent today during a one-day boycott organized by a group of graduate students calling themselves Students for Less Overpricing (SLOP).

The boycott was organized to protest increases in the price of meal tickets and contracts and the "deterioration" of the food at Harkness, which serves students from the Law School and GSAS.

David W. Laughlin, cafeteria manager for Marriott-Hot Shoppes Corporation, said yesterday that he will meet next week with William L. Bruce, vice dean of the Law School, Richard G. Leahy, assistant dean of the Faculty for Resources and Planning, and representatives of the Law Student Council and Graduate Student Association to discuss changes in the Harkness facilities.

Harkness has been losing about $20,000 a month since September, when Marriott took over the dining hall. The deficit is made up by Harvard from tuition funds from the two schools.

Two student proposals to cut losses at Harkness will be considered at next week's meeting. Kenneth W. Allen, a third year grad student and president of GSA, has suggested that the dining hall be placed on a discount system similar to the one used by the Coop. Under this system, prices would be set to allow Harkness to break even under normal loads. Students would charge meals to their term bills and, after each meal, a computerized account system would reduced the price charged if a profit has been made.

Under another student proposal, service at Harkness would be reduced to a snack bar with a limited menu.

Earlier this week, Bruce suggested that if losses continued at the present rate, Harkness might be closed down completely next year.

Others have suggested that meal contracts be made compulsory for students in Law School and GSAS dorms. Law students' rooming applications last spring included an optional box which committed students to buying full meal contracts if Harkness continued to lose money. Those who signed were given preference in room assignments.

"The basic problem is volume," Laughlin said yesterday. "Fewer people are eating here, and food and labor costs are up. Volume has been going down here for years. Last year the dining hall served about 2400 meals a day, so losses were less."

"We're in a spiral. You lose money, so you raise prices. This irritates people, so fewer people eat here. So you lose more money," said John H. Hilbert, a third-year Law student and a member of the Law Student Council.

SLOP yesterday issued a pamphlet asking for a meeting with Bruce, Leahy, and Laughlin. Members will meet Sunday to consider further action. "The situation at Harkness needs to be erased completely so we can start again," Wayne M. White, a first-year grad student and a member of SLOP, said yesterday.