Let the people eat
The Traveler Editorial Board
Issue date: 2/6/09 Section: Opinion
"Hey, let's go to Late Night."
Oh, the casual elegance of that statement, the nonchalance that disguises a poor, starving college student's underlying desperation for a decent meal at a decent price - with no buffet line involved.
If it weren't so preposterous a comparison, we might even say the phrase is the college equivalent of, "Dinner at the Plaza?"
Then again, maybe it's not a preposterous comparison because, according to New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni, dinner at the Plaza is not all it's cracked up to be - and going to Late Night is not all it's cracked up to be, either.
Allow us to clarify.
We are appreciative of the work it takes Chartwells employees to feed the thousands of students who swarm through the cafeterias day in and day out. And we think the cafeteria food on our campus is at least as tasty as any cafeteria food we've ever eaten.
Of course, there are bound to be limitations to the palatability of meals prepared in bulk for students with a variety of allergies and food sensitivities. But, overall, we think our on-campus food options are more than satisfactory.
And, far from objecting to the concept of Late Night, we are especially grateful for the option of using our meal plans at the Union - because we almost unanimously never grow sick of Chick-fil-A.
But we do object to rule keeping that deprives us of "milk and ice cream at the same meal," as one UA student put it.
And the Union's old, but newly enforced pre-packaged food policy deprives us of just that. Supposedly, students can purchase two different kinds of drinks and one other pre-packaged food without violating the policy, but we've personally experienced prohibitions to purchase cereal or an ice cream sandwich and a bottled drink at the same time.
If students weren't paying as much money as they pay for meal plans, we might understand why Chartwells needs to tighten its fist. But, students with a basic 15-meal-a-week plan pay a minimum of $5.22 a meal. And, if most students are like us, then they pay a great deal more than that because they very rarely manage to eat all 15 of their pre-purchased meals in any given week.
We don't see restricting Late Night as the way to promote more health-conscious food purchases, either, as some Union officials do. Students might stop purchasing so much pop, but that doesn't mean they'll quit ordering waffle fries. We don't even necessarily advocate they do; even the healthiest diets can afford a little wiggle room.
We agree students need a third meal instead of multiple drinks, as one Chartwells employee said, but Late Night sometimes functions as a refueling stop for students as they trek back to their dorms from the HPER or an evening test. It's a large leap of logic to assume that, because students don't eat dinner at Late Night, they don't eat dinner at all.
So, no, "Hey, let's go to Late Night" doesn't automatically mean "Hey, let's go to dinner." We just wish it never meant, "Hey, let's go where there's no milk and ice cream at the same time."
Oh, the casual elegance of that statement, the nonchalance that disguises a poor, starving college student's underlying desperation for a decent meal at a decent price - with no buffet line involved.
If it weren't so preposterous a comparison, we might even say the phrase is the college equivalent of, "Dinner at the Plaza?"
Then again, maybe it's not a preposterous comparison because, according to New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni, dinner at the Plaza is not all it's cracked up to be - and going to Late Night is not all it's cracked up to be, either.
Allow us to clarify.
We are appreciative of the work it takes Chartwells employees to feed the thousands of students who swarm through the cafeterias day in and day out. And we think the cafeteria food on our campus is at least as tasty as any cafeteria food we've ever eaten.
Of course, there are bound to be limitations to the palatability of meals prepared in bulk for students with a variety of allergies and food sensitivities. But, overall, we think our on-campus food options are more than satisfactory.
And, far from objecting to the concept of Late Night, we are especially grateful for the option of using our meal plans at the Union - because we almost unanimously never grow sick of Chick-fil-A.
But we do object to rule keeping that deprives us of "milk and ice cream at the same meal," as one UA student put it.
And the Union's old, but newly enforced pre-packaged food policy deprives us of just that. Supposedly, students can purchase two different kinds of drinks and one other pre-packaged food without violating the policy, but we've personally experienced prohibitions to purchase cereal or an ice cream sandwich and a bottled drink at the same time.
If students weren't paying as much money as they pay for meal plans, we might understand why Chartwells needs to tighten its fist. But, students with a basic 15-meal-a-week plan pay a minimum of $5.22 a meal. And, if most students are like us, then they pay a great deal more than that because they very rarely manage to eat all 15 of their pre-purchased meals in any given week.
We don't see restricting Late Night as the way to promote more health-conscious food purchases, either, as some Union officials do. Students might stop purchasing so much pop, but that doesn't mean they'll quit ordering waffle fries. We don't even necessarily advocate they do; even the healthiest diets can afford a little wiggle room.
We agree students need a third meal instead of multiple drinks, as one Chartwells employee said, but Late Night sometimes functions as a refueling stop for students as they trek back to their dorms from the HPER or an evening test. It's a large leap of logic to assume that, because students don't eat dinner at Late Night, they don't eat dinner at all.
So, no, "Hey, let's go to Late Night" doesn't automatically mean "Hey, let's go to dinner." We just wish it never meant, "Hey, let's go where there's no milk and ice cream at the same time."
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