On Monday, the Hustler reported some students found Varsity Market hours less than convenient and that the meal plan changes have decreased the variety of meal combinations. The response from Dining on the hours issue was expectedly levelheaded.

"Hours of operation are determined by location based on years of statistical information," General Manager of Varsity Markets Spiros Vergatos told the Hustler. There is little reason to call Vergatos's claim into question. Perhaps Dining should alter the hours of operation decisions it has made, given the complaints by its customers. But the office should be given the benefit of the doubt that such decisions were not made flippantly or without regard to students' needs.

When it comes to the specifics of the meal plan, however, Dining has made plenty of confusing decisions. The Pub's new dinner system is annoyingly inconvenient and less appetizing, and the removal of Stonehenge is lamentable if only because of its popularity. The restrictions placed on meal combinations at Varsity Markets and Rand Hall's Chef James Bistro are, however, the most puzzlingly backward policies. These restrictions of portion size and side definitions expand into some larger dining issues.

Students are right in their anger over a perceived restriction in food portions and options. To co-opt the popular phrase, a meal just ain't what it used to be, and students are not seeing the product they expect or want when the meal plan is purchased.

The regular 14 Plan offered for sophomores, juniors and seniors costs $1885 per semester. With 16 weeks per semester and 14 meals per week, the cost per meal per student under this plan is about $8.42, with $14 in meal money per week. For juniors and seniors on the 8 Plan, the per meal cost is about $10.04 and $17 in meal money per week. It may anger upperclassmen to learn the First-Year Plan for freshmen students, which allows for 28 meals per week (one per meal period), with each meal costing about $4.69 and $12.50 of meal money per week with no rollover. But as this school year has taught upperclassmen, the freshmen students live in a completely different environment from the rest of campus.

Beyond the Vanderbubble, issues like these are resolved in the market, where consumers dissatisfied with a product can choose to purchase substitution products elsewhere. This competition forces producers to meet the consumption preferences of the general population.

As both Housing and Dining often show us, living at Vanderbilt does not necessarily follow these basic precepts of economics. For students living on campus, the ability to opt out of the meal plan is becoming less available and perhaps nonexistent in a few years. This flaw of the residential life system should be disconcerting to more than just economics students.

As a private education institution, Vanderbilt is not a market and does not have a legal obligation to act in such a way. Students angry about the state of dining should voice their opinions to director Camp Howard (camp.howard@vanderbilt.edu or 615-322-2999) to encourage Dining to consider these objections. In return, Howard and Dining should continue to operate an open and transparent office that takes these issues of choice to heart.