Students Shouldn't Go Hungry

"I'm either going to have to take your Tupperware or your Harvard ID card, and if I take your ID you will be going in front of the Ad Board," the Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) representative said as she pointed to my three small Tupperware containers filled with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I was forced to remove the four sandwiches from my Tupperware and vow that: "I will never do this again." I tried to explain that my doctor told me to eat three meals a day, and that I had missed breakfast and lunch. I told the Annenberg worker that neither my internal clock nor my class schedule meshed with the dining service meal hours. I knew I would be hungry later, and I was simply trying to plan ahead. Left without hope for a midnight snack, I chewed on the question, "Why cant a student take food out of the dining hall?"

A student should unequivocally be able to take food out of the dining hall. The HUDS website claims: "Your meal plan is predicated on wellness, flexibility and convenience." Clearly then, students should have control over when and what they eat. They should be allowed to take food back to their dorm rooms for later consumption; that may be the most convenient, flexible and healthy option for them.

The website also states: "You are not limited to a specified number of meals. We encourage you to enjoy all our offerings and to select the food and features that best suit your schedule and tastes--we do not price the meal plan on a number of meals, but on taking care of all your unique food needs." However, many students find the scheduled meal hours of the dining service constricting and difficult to follow. Even with the brain snack offered later in the evening on school nights, students may have trouble being forced to eat their last significant meal before 7:15 or 7:30 in the evening. On Friday and Saturday, students hungry after 7:30 are forced to spend some of the meager $50 provided to them by the Board Plus program for more food. The meal plan grants the student unlimited access and all you can eat privileges in the dining hall. But the dining hall can not be open all the time, so students should be allowed to take away the food they would eat if the hall were open.

The HUDS tries to accommodate students by allowing the "option for food on the run," a program which provides students with bagged lunches and dinners. This is a nice idea, but it does not go far enough to provide for students individual needs. The bag meals give the student limited sandwich options; they do not provide enough selection nor food for some students. Students could get exactly what they want by taking food on their own. The bags are required to be picked up between 7:30 and 10 a.m., and must be reserved a day in advance. Both are major inconveniences to students with unpredictable schedules.

Maybe HUDS prevents food removal from dining halls for funding appropriation reasons. If the dining services needs to know how many meals it is providing for students, I would be happy to swipe my card a second time when taking food on the road. This could happen at no extra cost to the student, and would satisfy HUDS records.

HUDS does a great job of feeding 6,000 undergraduates everyday, and they should be commended for it. I would only urge that HUDS allow student removal of food from Annenberg, and all the dining halls. Doing so would fulfill the promise made on their website: "Furthermore, we promise business practices that ensure that you get every penny's worth of your meal plan, and always feel like our most important customer."