FLASHBACK to childhood: "Finish your dinner. Think of all the starving children in Africa who would be happy to have tofu casserole." With the images of our less-fortunate peers in mind, we obediently cleaned our plates, unless we were brats who would snarl, "Then send it to Africa!"
The University may not be sending its upperclassmen to Africa to find food, but it is discouraging them from dining on-Grounds. Beyond convenience and perhaps habit ingrained from that mandatory first year in O-Hell, University food offers little reason for upperclassmen to purchase meal plans. If one's housing includes an easily-accessed kitchen, or is near the Corner, the likelihood that one will continue on a meal plan drops. Thus students who have moved off Grounds stop eating with those residing on Grounds. This self-segregation does a disservice to the University community.
The administrative attitude appears to be that bonding through living and eating together the first year outweighs any preference to the contrary. But once that all-important "first-year experience" is completed, the community may scatter to the four corners of the earth, or at least to the city limits of Charlottesville.
Such disregard cheats transfer students of the opportunity to connect with more students, to have something of the first year experience. It also encourages returning students to stay frozen in the groups formed during their first year. Requiring students to remain on Grounds an additional year is neither a practical nor a desirable solution. Instead, the University should make the communal experience of the dining halls more attractive.
Bad food is supposed to be one of the accoutrements of college, like tiny dorm rooms and shared bathrooms. But although no university cafeteria compares favorably to a five-star restaurant, not all dining programs are created equal. Trinity University in San Antonio also uses ARAmark, yet the food tastes better and students watch their consumption more carefully, as meal plans at Trinity are comprised entirely of Plus Dollars.
Trinity students eat in their dining halls like University students do in the Pav or Bakery: selecting a single entr
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