To the editor:

I'll be honest, from a normal student perspective Vanderbilt Dining looks like the evil empire. They require almost all students to buy the meal plan, charge what seems to be outrageous prices, offer random and confusing meal options, give zero explanation as to why things are how they are, and the list could go on. Because of this, I don't blame the Hustler and other students for feeling as though they are victimized by the food situation on campus. However, if the naysayers take the time to assess the situation and get their facts straight, they would soon realize that Vanderbilt Dining is solely focused on making the dining experience of all undergraduates the best that it can be.

To put my opinion in context, let me tell you my experience with dining. Beyond working at Rand for my entire four years here, proudly serving omelets at Saturday brunch for a large percentage of that time, I have had the opportunity through student government to advocate changes within dining. I've been a four year member of the Dining Advisory Council, I was Interhall's Dining Secretary, VSG's Campus Services Co-Chair, and I now serve VSG's Chief of Staff. I've even had the number of Camp Howard, the Director of Dining, in my phone for three years. I tell you this not because I want you to think I'm important, because I'm most assuredly not, but because I feel it helps you better understand where I am coming from in response to the Hustler's opinion column last Wednesday.

First and foremost, Vanderbilt Dining is non-profit. Now, stop and take a second, re-read the sentence, and realize that every single dollar you spend for your meal plan goes directly back to servicing you. These services include 6 Munchie Marts (4 of which offering 24 hour service), 12 different dining locations, an ever-expanding Taste of Nashville program (which if you think of it takes money away from Vanderbilt Dining), and countless corny but fun special events. This may not seem like much to you, or even enough, but think about this. There are only 6,000 undergraduate students. Show me a town of 6,000 people that has the same variety of food and service options, because I bet that you can't.

I understand the meal plans seem unfair. If I was a first-year student I'd be demanding dining to explain why I need to pay for 28 meals a week. If I was an upperclassman I'd be demanding dining to explain why I pay so much more per meal than the first-years do. My first response is that two plans serve very different purposes. The first-year plan is designed to accommodate and facilitate the ambitious programming ideas behind the Commons as well as promote the idea that "the families who eat together, stay together." Upperclassmen plans are designed to offer more personalized plans, with roll-over, meal period flexibility, and flex-meals. Regardless of differences, the fact is that every student is paying about the same per meal - first-year students and upperclassmen. All meal plans are priced based on the average meals eaten by a student on a particular plan. On average, students with 8 meals a week eat almost all their meals, students with 14 meals a week eat 10-12, and first-years eat only around 15 (without any rollover). This reality sheds light on the equality of the system and also leads to a scary but true conclusion. If all the first-years were to eat the 28 meals per week that "they paid for", then Vanderbilt Dining would go out of business by early November (just a guess).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if the Hustler had taken the time to research the situation they would have realized that Vanderbilt Dining and its director Camp Howard are not the New York Yankees and George Steinbrenner of university food service. In my four years with dining I have seen the implementation and expansion of ToN, the addition of Quiznos, construction and opening of the Commons, renovation of Rand, opening of the Hemingway Munchie Mart, and so many more revolutionary and even small changes. Every improvement was suggested and implemented based on student advice. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely. Do some of the changes implemented for this year need to be reviewed and drastically overhauled? Without question. Luckily for us, despite what you might think, Vanderbilt Dining is great at listening.

Tyler Armstrong
Senior
College of Arts and Science
Chief of Staff, Vanderbilt Student Government