CHL Debates Dining Hours

Undergraduate Council (UC) members proposed extending dining hall hours for dinner and presented a report showing strong student support for the change at the Committee on House Life (CHL) meeting yesterday.

According to the report, 87 percent of undergraduate respondents to a survey said that if given the option, they would eat dinner after 7:15 p.m. The data were based on a phone survey of 270 undergraduates completed by the UC.

Ninety-one percent of students polled who miss dinner at least once a week said they would be likely to eat dinner in a dining hall if they could go after 7:15 p.m.

CHL members also discussed a proposal from Faryl W. Ury ’06, who is also a Crimson executive, to expand the annual tutor evaluations to include feedback about Senior Tutors and House Masters.

Currently, only seniors can evaluate these individuals, as part of the senior surveys filled out before graduation. Other undergraduates evaluate only resident tutors or proctors each year.

Senior Tutors and Masters will now be asked for further feedback on the proposal, which could next go before the Council of Masters. If implemented, a group will evaluate the effectiveness of survey questions next January.

Following the presentation of the report on dining halls, members of the CHL were in agreement that the current situation is a problem for students.

UC Student Affairs Committee (SAC) Chair Aaron D. Chadbourne ’06, who presented the report, said that keeping dining halls open until 8:30 p.m. for dinner is “the right ballpark to be aiming for.”

“Ideally, we’d like to see 24-hour dining,” Chadbourne said.

Though in agreement that the problem exists, CHL members were cautious about extending dining hall hours due to the additional costs it would require.

CHL members noted that extending dining by even a small period of time could cost significant amounts of money for Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS), mainly due to the cost of paying workers for additional hours of labor.

Though the exact additional figure is unclear, some estimated that it could cost more than $1 million dollars.

Chadbourne stressed that the UC was taking concerns about cost increases into account in their efforts.

Alternative solutions suggested included granting students more Crimson Cash Board Plus, expanding services at Loker Commons, or extending hours only at selected dining halls.

In presenting the proposal to the CHL, an advisory body composed of students, administrators, and House masters and staff, the UC sought to draw attention to an issue that has long been discussed among students.

Chadbourne said after the meeting that he was optimistic about the prospects for making dining hall hours later.

“We wanted to get the committee to agree that there is this fundamental problem, and this committee today did give their agreement,” Chadbourne said. “I’m very excited that the committee and college has noted that this is something that needs to be done.”

Chadbourne said that the next step was to discuss the report with the Student Advisory Committee to HUDS, which was formed in February. Council SAC Secretary Amadi P. Anene ’08, who compiled the report with Chadbourne, said he hoped a decision could be reached by the end of the 2005-2006 academic year.

The idea for the survey was inspired by Anene’s personal experiences, he said.

“As a freshman, one of the most common things I noticed was people not making dining hall hours, being hungry afterwards, and spending a lot of money on food,” he said.

The survey showed that of students who miss dinner, 83 percent typically purchase food to substitute for their missed meal.

“I think it’s a large problem when our dining system is supposed to cover an unlimited amount of meals when 87 percent of students who miss meals buy food elsewhere,” Anene said.

The survey also showed that 83 percent of respondents miss dinner at least once or twice per week, and of those students, a majority of them skip dinner due to inconvenient timing and extra-curricular and academic conflicts.

“I was very pleased that the CHL agreed that current dining hall hours had problems,” Anene said of the discussion. “I think it’s a crucial first step, but it’s only the first step in a long process of ameliorating the problems of dining halls.”

—Staff writer Jessica C. Chiu can be reached at jcchiu@fas.harvard.edu.