Dining dollars and meals
Gary Lowell
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: Opinion
Meal plans at Bridgewater State College are divided into two different payment methods: dining dollars and meals. The East Campus Commons (ECC) and Flynn Dining Commons (FDC) accept both meals and dining dollars. At the Crimson Cafeteria (CC) and former Commuter Cafeteria (FCC), only dining dollars are able to be used.
According to Margarida Vieira, Director of Administrative Support Services, meals cannot be used at the CC and FCC because the cost of preparing food for those two cafeterias is more than that for the ECC and FDC.
Although this may be the case, the evidence that I see seems to point towards it not being the case. Dining dollars are able to be used at all cafeterias. If someone wanted to get a lunch in the FDC, he or she could either use a meal or buy one for seven dining dollars. Food can be purchased in the ECC using either a meal or dining dollars. In the CC and FCC, however, food can only be purchased using dining dollars and not meals.
If the cost of preparing food truly is different in the two types of cafeterias, making it so meals cannot be used in the CC and FCC, then the same thing would seem to apply to dining dollars at the ECC and FDC. If a student buys a lunch with dining dollars at the FDC, he or she is giving a dining dollar value to a meal; a meal could have been used, but instead dining dollars were, which means those dining dollars are acting as the functional equivalent of a meal.
If the cost of preparing food truly was so different between the two cafeterias to prevent meals from being used at the CC and FCC, then the same should apply to the use of dining dollars at the ECC and FDC. Meals are given a dining dollar value in the ECC and FDC to enable students to purchase them with dining dollars.
I see no reason why the same thing could also not apply to the CC and FCC; in other words, why meals cannot be given a dining dollar value in the CC and FCC for purposes of allowing students to use meals in those cafeterias.
According to Margarida Vieira, Director of Administrative Support Services, meals cannot be used at the CC and FCC because the cost of preparing food for those two cafeterias is more than that for the ECC and FDC.
Although this may be the case, the evidence that I see seems to point towards it not being the case. Dining dollars are able to be used at all cafeterias. If someone wanted to get a lunch in the FDC, he or she could either use a meal or buy one for seven dining dollars. Food can be purchased in the ECC using either a meal or dining dollars. In the CC and FCC, however, food can only be purchased using dining dollars and not meals.
If the cost of preparing food truly is different in the two types of cafeterias, making it so meals cannot be used in the CC and FCC, then the same thing would seem to apply to dining dollars at the ECC and FDC. If a student buys a lunch with dining dollars at the FDC, he or she is giving a dining dollar value to a meal; a meal could have been used, but instead dining dollars were, which means those dining dollars are acting as the functional equivalent of a meal.
If the cost of preparing food truly was so different between the two cafeterias to prevent meals from being used at the CC and FCC, then the same should apply to the use of dining dollars at the ECC and FDC. Meals are given a dining dollar value in the ECC and FDC to enable students to purchase them with dining dollars.
I see no reason why the same thing could also not apply to the CC and FCC; in other words, why meals cannot be given a dining dollar value in the CC and FCC for purposes of allowing students to use meals in those cafeterias.
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Nick
posted 11/20/09 @ 10:30 AM EST
Who provides the fod in FDC and ECC? Sodexho and only Sodexho.
Who provides the food in CC and FCC? Third-party contractors such as Dunkin' Donuts. (Continued…)
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