Students lobby for meal plan change at East

A clash between students and administrators over mandatory meal plans at ASU East could result in a $300 reduction for some students.

Numerous complaints over the past two months have been made to administrators about the requirement that students in various on-campus housing purchase a meal plan, or risk losing their housing for the spring semester.

Some students complained because they still had money left over on their meal plans from last semester and no idea how to spend it.

Residents of various residence halls have a minimum meal plan requirement that they must purchase to participate in on-campus housing. For Freshmen Year Experience students, the minimum purchase requirement is $900 per semester, based on the idea that students will purchase all of their meals at the Student Union.

Graphic information technology freshman Erica Reichert said she thinks the requirement is unrealistic.

"Since I work off campus on the weekends, I am unable to eat there on Saturday and Sunday," Reichert said.

Despite spending an average of $10 a day in the dining hall, Reichert still has money left over from her fall semester meal plan. She has been purchasing cases of water and bags of chips to use up some of the funds, but the low cost of food items has made it difficult to burn through the balance.

Undeclared freshman Cody Thompson, who lives in Bell Hall and had to purchase the meal plan, is facing similar issues.

"I really do not like the value of the food that is presented to me at the union," Thompson said. "I always go off campus to the grocery store so I can eat healthier foods and make meals for myself."

The complaints prompted administrators to hold meetings with students. Based on the information gathered, ASU East could decide to lower the cost for the required minimum plan for Freshman Year Experience students to $600, said Michael Mader, director of Student Activities/Student Union.

"Based on the feedback we have received, we've agreed to alter the minimum buy-in from $900 to $600 [per semester]," Mader said. "It's still pending approval, but everyone seems supportive of it."

Students get wake-up call

Students began to complain about the meal plan when those who had not purchased one for the spring semester began receiving notices about losing their housing if they did not renew theirs by March 1.

Thompson said he is most concerned with losing the extra money if it's not spent by the end of the semester.

Some students will be left with a surplus of $500.

"There is no way I will be able to spend this amount of money at Chartwells [the food service provider at ASU East] in the next two months," Thompson said. "Are they planning on making us homeless because we do not have the money to just give away?"

Reichert said that even if she only paid the difference between the $900 requirement and what she currently has left, "there are two months of school left, which would leave me to purchase $30 of food a day. For that price, I could be eating three meals at Applebee's.

"If I knew the money would roll over to next fall, I would be more inclined to pay my balance," she said.

Prior to this year, students were given a number of meals to purchase rather than an actual dollar amount to spend throughout the semester. The program was designed by active ASU East students to help east campus get a food service program.

"This is our first year of doing it this way,"Mader said. "We did it so students wouldn't lose their meals on a daily basis."

At press time, all students had paid for their meal plans and no one was kicked out of their housing.

Not all upset by the meal plan

Students who have spent more than one year at east campus have seen improvements and appreciate the efforts being made.

Jeremy Art, who lives in the North Residence Halls on campus, sees progress being made each year.

"The entire situation has improved during my time at ASU East," Art said. "The food quality has improved, the selection has increased, the facilities upgraded and the system of the meal plans [has been] modified with the needs of the student in mind."

Art said that while the plan can be improved, "changes are being made each year to improve, and the complaints get fewer and fewer."

Mader said he is sympathetic to students and that he and Chris Collins, director of Chartwells Food Services, have been open to hearing what the students have to say about the issue.

He also defended the meal plan as necessary if students want food choices on campus at all.

"There are multiple factors," Mader said. "We couldn't get any food service provider to agree to serve our campus without it."

He said students were made aware of the policies prior to the beginning of the fall semester.

"Every student who lives on campus signs an agreement where it is spelled out for them," said Mader.

The policies are also listed on the ASU East Web site and discussed during orientation.

When asked if he was aware of the meal plan policies, Thompson said, he "never really thought about having to pay the food plan until I started getting notices."

Reichert was aware of the policies but didn't consider how much money would be left at the end of the year.

Officials work with students

Students have held several meetings with members of administration, which include Mader and Collins, and many feel no progress has been made.

"He has offered to take the students' current balance and make us pay the difference to equal $900," Reichert said. "Myself and others still do not agree with this."

Art said he understands the students' frustration, but still feels the administration is doing well handling the complaints.

"We are lucky to have an administration, which is so willing to meet, listen and talk with students about their concerns," he said. "It's rare to find this at most college campuses."

In the past, there have been forums held to discuss issues with the dining program. Mader said that Chartwells has not only had negative feedback, and that should count for something.

"At both of the food service forums, there were no complaints about food quality," said Mader. "The students said the food was either good or very good."

The forums were held to give students and the administration a chance to meet face-to-face to discuss issues.

Attendance at a meeting on March 24 was seven students.

Still work to be done

Despite the progress that seems to have been made, students and administration will likely continue to hear about the issue as the semester ends.

College of Technology and Applied Sciences graduate student Deanna Lara, a member of Devils' Advocates who is running for a student government position in the upcoming weeks, feels students should continue to speak about this and other issues they have on campus.

"They have indicated to me that there will be changes made for the coming years, but this will not help current freshmen," Lara said.

Reach the reporter at rachel.hawkinson@asu.edu.

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