Spring Meal Plan Approved After 300 Students Sign Up

Following a last-minute effort to line up enough students for the plan, Harvard has decided definitely to offer meals to students over spring break for the first time ever.

The plan had been tentatively approved by officials earlier, but it could forward only if at least 300 students signed up for it.

That figure--which officials said was necessary to make the plan economical--was reached this week after members of the Undergraduate Council mounted a last-minute effort to publicize the new offering.

Under the plan, Kirkland House will serve lunch and dinner from March 25 until April 1. The plan will cost participants $54.88, and they must sign a contract with Food Services to be included, Frank J. Weissbecker, director of Food Services, said yesterday.

Weissbecker stressed that the plan is entirely self-supporting.

The plan was first proposed last fall by the council's Residential Committee, and a poll in the Houses after winter recess indicated student interest in the idea.

The plan was originally expected to be especially helpful to members of athletic teams--many of whom must stay over vacation for practice. However, it appears to have received a mixed reaction from some Harvard athletes.

The Radcliffe varsity lightweight crew team, for instance, took a poll last week and found only three of 20 rowers interested, said Charlotte A. Ellertson '87, a member of the team.

"We have been invited to three team members houses in the Boston area, and we get $30 from the Friends of Radcliffe Rowing to help with meals," she said. "It's fun to eat home cooked meals instead of Union food."

The women's heavyweight team however, will have about 75 percent participation in the plan, said Coach Lisa H. Hansen