Dining Services Adds Soup to Fly-By

Harvard students on the go, look out: there's soup in your Fly-By.

Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS), in response to a proposal by the Undergraduate Council, recently added soup to the menu of the Fly-By lunches it offers in Loker Commons.

The change, which began Oct. 15, allows students to select soup in addition to five other options that are already available through Fly-By.

"We are very pleased with the change," said Paul A. Gusmorino III '02, chair of the council's Student Affairs Committee (SAC), who was a proponent of the change. "We've always had a good relationship with dining services and we are glad to see they are listening to our suggestions."

Gusmorino and former SAC Chair Michael Shumsky '00 suggested the change at a meeting of the Committee on House Life last spring where Director of Dining Services Ted A. Mayer was present.

Mayer agreed to add soup to the menu but said the change would come sometime in the fall of this academic year.

According to HUDS Assistant Director for Marketing and Communications Alexandra E. McNitt, the soup option will not be available in the bagged meals provided by Annenberg Hall or House dining halls. Those meals are prepared in advance and soup would not stay warm.

Fly-By currently offers five types of sandwiches--ham and cheese, three-cheese, roast beef, turkey and peanut butter and jelly--in addition to a variety of fruits and chips, and a choice of beverages.

In response to the change, Gusmorino said some House Masters have expressed concerns that the expansion of Fly-By may draw students away from House dining halls.

"The Masters think Fly-By should be a quick stop for students and are worried we are trying to turn it into a full-fledged dining hall," he said. "I think that is unfair."

Fly-By itself was initiated by former council president Noah Z. Seton '00 and by council member John Paul Rollert '00-'01 in 1998 to serve upper-class students whose schedules made it difficult for them to return to their own Houses for meals.