[824] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Petition Against Mandatory Dining at MIT
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vikash K. Mansinghka)
Sun Sep 23 08:52:08 2001
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Message-ID: <20010923084925.B17584@all-night-tool.mit.edu>
Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2001 08:49:25 -0400
Reply-To: "Documentation at http://web.mit.edu/beland/talk/talk.html"
<MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU>, "Vikash K. Mansinghka" <vkm@MIT.EDU>
From: "Vikash K. Mansinghka" <vkm@MIT.EDU>
To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
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Yo.
It's done.
Attached please find:
1. petition-info.txt - Information sheet regarding the petition, who to send
the signature sheets to, where to find postscript versions, etc
2. petition.txt - The text version of the petition itself
A group of EC folk will (hopefully!) be bringing printed copies of the
relevant documents to all dorm desks later today.
-Vikash
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Postscript and source versions of the petition and related
documents can be found in AFS at:
/afs/athena.mit.edu/user/v/k/vkm/Public/dining/
FILENAME DESCRIPTION
signature-sheet.ps The official signature sheet; holds 20 signatures
petition.ps The full 3-page petition
petition-info.ps This document
The material can also be accessed through a rudimentary website:
http://web.mit.edu/vkm/www/dining
A copy of the petition was sent to the Tech in the hope that it will
be printed in the tuesday issue.
Please distribute it freely, both through email and on paper.
It was originally forwarded to the following mailing lists:
mit-talk
ec-discuss
senior-haus
savemit
The signature sheets should be collected and mailed to Vikash
Mansinghka or delivered to East Campus Desk. If an electronic
signature system is implemented, notification will be given over
mit-talk.
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We, the undersigned members of the MIT community, oppose the creation
of a mandatory dining program at MIT. Although we would like to see an
improvement in the quality of the campus dining services, we believe a
mandatory dining program would harm many undergraduates.
The dining task force proposal (http://pj.mit.edu/DormCon/Dining)
states that the MIT dining system "should be run with the goal of
bringing people together for informal social interaction",
justifying the most radical elements of the new program primarily on
these grounds.
We, however, believe that:
1. The purpose of campus dining should be to provide healthy,
affordable and readily available food.
2. The proposed changes would significantly weaken aspects of the
campus community that many students treasure.
3. The proposed changes would unfairly penalize large sections of the
undergraduate population, especially those with lower incomes.
4. Mandatory participation removes much of the feedback needed to
maintain food quality, variety and affordability.
5. Voluntary, inexpensive, and convenient alternatives exist.
DINING IS ABOUT FOOD
We are concerned with the healthiness, palatability, affordability,
and convenience of campus dining, but we are not concerned by its
"community" aspects. We see no need for the dining plan to address
perceived social issues.
Additionally, MIT undergraduates have incredibly diverse eating
requirements, habits, and preferences, and no central dining system
could economically accommodate all of them. Students with
"non-standard" eating habits - including vegetarians, vegans and
dieters - would face narrowed choices from campus dining, and would be
forced to make unfair sacrifices under a mandatory dining plan.
THIS WILL HURT COMMUNITY
The proposal exempts certain dorms from the mandatory meal plan
because community cooking is an integral part of their culture. We
believe that dorm kitchens and local restaurants are actually
important to communities in most dorms, and that such communities
would suffer under a mandatory dining plan. Furthermore, a mandatory
plan would discourage students from exploring local communities in
Cambridge and Boston. MIT is unique in that many graduate students,
recent alumni and local residents interact regularly with
undergraduates; a mandatory meal plan would inhibit such interactions.
We specifically take issue with comments regarding meal plan option
3: that allowing students to "circumvent use of residential dining
and consequently intended community interaction" is a "problem." The
Institute should not force students into molds. Students naturally
form communities which are far more cohesive and beneficial than
the artificial ones imposed upon them.
WE CAN'T AFFORD IT
The proposed meal plans cost at least $1400 per term, and none offer
refunds for all unused meals. Many students currently spend far less
than $1400 on food per term, some out of financial necessity and
others out of choice. Cooking, for example, is far cheaper than campus
dining (at approximately $50 per week). Also, food trucks and many
local restaurants charge $3-$8 for lunch or dinner, rivaling the price
and convenience of campus dining while providing greater quality and
variety.
A mandatory meal plan would place an unreasonable financial burden
on those who do not want to participate, and cannot accommodate many
MIT students' schedules and lifestyles as well as other options.
CHOICE IS A GOOD THING
The Institute should not deprive students of choice when such choices
don't conflict with its educational mission. We believe that MIT
undergraduates should have the right to choose how to feed themselves,
and that it is unreasonable for students to be forced into a meal
plan, even as freshmen.
We understand that a "board"-style meal plan may be appropriate for
some, and that their food quality could improve with greater plan
membership, but we do not believe that it is morally acceptable to
require others to "support the residential program" through mandatory
participation.
Competition is essential to ensure food quality, and a mandatory
dining plan will cripple incentives to keep prices low and quality
high. We think a centralized review process cannot be nearly as
effective as free competition between all vendors, both on and off
campus.
Finally, the plan would require undergraduates to place their
trust - $1400 of it - in untested dining service providers with
no assurances or hope of refund. That is a risk many students
cannot afford.
WE CAN DO IT RIGHT
MIT can provide quality campus dining services without mandatory
participation. We see two major options:
1. Expand upon the Institute Dining Review report
(http://web.mit.edu/committees/fswg) and begin following its
recommendations.
2. Rent on-campus dining hall space directly to food vendors in a
"food court" arrangement.
We are interested in exploring these options at length on October
3rd. Failing that, we would like to maintain the status quo. We want
to improve on-campus dining, but prefer the current situation to
the proposed mandatory meal plan.
It is worth noting that food trucks and local restaurants manage to
provide good food to the MIT community at a low cost, suggesting the
average level of efficiency campus dining should be able to achieve.
MIT identifies itself with the phrase "we do things a little
differently." Many of us came to MIT because of these differences,
such as the freedom to make informed decisions about our own lives. We
value our freedoms, and hope you decide to preserve them. The
mandatory dining proposal eliminates a significant facet of MIT's
appeal, and suggests the new slogan: "MIT: We don't do things quite so
differently anymore."
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