Meal plan confusions clarified

No Tray Fridays and concerns about meal plan changes were discussed at the Richmond College Student Government Association meeting Wednesday night.

The men also heard about meal plan changes from guest speaker Dee Hardy, director of Dining and Auxiliary Services. She addressed many of the same issues that she had discussed with the Westhampton College Government Association earlier Wednesday evening. RC senators discussed some of the student complaints regarding the changes, primarily transferability and the "two-meal-swipes-per-period" policy.

Hardy explained to the senate members that the rising cost of food and energy necessitated some changes to Dining Services at the university. Students are concerned that combo meals cost more than one meal swipe.

Last year, students suggested more flexibility in the combo meals at Tyler's Grill, and the number of combos this year jumped to 23. Ten of these meals cost more than one meal swipe, and Hardy suggested strongly that students cover the extra few cents with their dining dollars instead of using another meal swipe. One of the senators asked that this information be made available to students.

Hardy clarified the new two-meal swipe policy by saying that students may use two meal swipes during any one meal period. These may only be used at one food vendor, and she said that this had been put in place to prevent the past abuse of grocery shopping at Tyler's on Sundays.

Hardy also spoke about the sustainability issue in Dining Services. She said students had wasted about 700 pounds of food when it was measured last week. Dining Services will begin a No Tray Fridays policy until fall break when they will assess the program. Trays will only be available upon request on Fridays and food waste will be measured as a part of the assessment. Many of the men supported this measure and discussed further environmentally sound changes.

Sophomore Russell Gong spoke about his work on the investigating poor cell phone service. At the last meeting, it was noted that students, especially in Lakeview, do not have cell phone service in many places on campus.

Contact reporter Kaleigh Connolly at kaleigh.connolly@richmond.edu