Council Calls for More House Athletic Equipment

After an announcement from a dining services executive that all of the dining halls will offer only fair trade coffee next year, the Undergraduate Council passed another round of grants last night, recommended the purchase of athletic equipment for the Houses and resolved to make discounted movie tickets available to students.

The council also prepared for its presentation of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in the Science Center this coming Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m.

Ted A. Mayer, executive director of Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) told the council that in response to student concerns, free trade coffee will be the only kind offered in dining halls starting next year.

Mayer also discussed HUDS’ budgetary limitations, emphasizing the inefficiency of maintaining a dining hall in each House, but said HUDS is working to improve the Harvard dining experience.

“We try to balance what is possible with what students want,” Mayer said.

When Mayer was asked about the cost of dining packages for students, he asserted that Harvard has “the second least expensive meal plans in the Ivies.”

Mayer said HUDS is “totally self-sustaining,” paying not only for food and labor but also for dining hall renovations.

While he did not give an explicit timetable, Mayer said the Quincy House dining hall will be the next to be renovated. He also promised to extend options for Brain Break and said that HUDS is always looking for student input.

The council later passed a fresh batch of grants to student groups, responding to previously postponed spring grant requests from the Harvard-Radcliffe Christian Fellowship and Harvard-Radcliffe Asian-American Christian Fellowship, among other requests.

Some council members, most noticeably Jason L. Lurie ’05, argued that the groups discriminate on the basis of religion and thus should not be funded.

“We as a community really have to decide what we’re going to allow as standards of conduct,” Lurie said. “Discrimination of any sort should not be allowed at the College.”

Others suggested that the College’s recent approval of the groups should end the debate.

“Some members are continuing to obstruct council business due to their own personal agendas. I think it’s time to move on,” said council Treasurer Justin R. Chapa ’05 to scattered applause.

The council also passed what President Rohit Chopra ’04 called a “really good short-term solution” to overcrowding in the Malkin Athletic Center (MAC) and the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center (QRAC).

The council recommended the purchase of athletic equipment for Houses to alleviate the strain on the overburdened MAC and also resolved that more equipment should be purchased for the QRAC.

“It will get the ball moving,” Chopra said of the council’s action. “Everyone knows that [the MAC] is one of the worst atrocities of College life. It is closer to an elementary school playground.”

Afterward, the council passed a resolution authorizing the purchase of 200 discounted movie tickets from Loews Theatres. The tickets cost $5.50—about half the standard price. However, they apply only to movies that have been showing for at least ten days. They will be made available to students through their council representatives.

The council’s movie showings this weekend expand on its successes earlier this semester when it showed Catch Me If You Can and 8 Mile.

Chopra said he hopes that the council will make the movie showings a weekly event, saying student feedback has been very positive.

He also said the council is planning to screen a sneak preview of a movie at the College next fall.

—Staff writer William B. Higgins can be reached at whiggins@fas.harvard.edu.