Cove-style point system slated to replace Commons meal plans by fall 2010
By Katie Schleiss
Meals at The Commons will no longer be all-you-can-eat beginning in fall 2010.
Because of the growing campus and student population, officials for the university's dining contractor, Bon Appetit, said the days of meal plans as students have known them are soon to end.
Instead of buffet-style dining, where students are free to help themselves to seconds or even thirds, students will be charged for each item they place on their plates beginning in the 2010-2011 school year.
"Based off of the increasing school size, the needs can't be met under our current system," Resident Dining Manager Damien Davis said. "We're pushing our boundaries as it is."
Davis said that next year would be the last year of meal plans as they are because more people will be living on campus, so more efforts are being made to eliminate the lines and change the level of service offered.
The "all you can eat" format will disappear and the new system will be more similar to the operation in The Cove. Things will be cooked to order, but there will also be deli-style and premade options. Unlike The Common's current set-up, students will be able to take food with them.
The new meal plans will be based off of a declining points balance, similar to the munch money system, where students will receive a certain amount of money based off which meal plan they select.
In response to the growing student body, The Commons is being expanded and the seating area will roughly double in size. Davis said the new addition to The Commons will be environmentally friendly and there will be around six new food stations, including an espresso bar and a bakery.
The expanded area of the quad is intended to be the new student union center. The Commons will remain open until it closes and there will be no set meal times.
"Students will be able to linger, we're aiming for a coffee house feel," Davis said.
The hours of the new system will be from around 7 or 8 in the morning until around 10 at night. Davis said he hopes this will create a popular hangout destination for students, with plans for soft seating and Wi-Fi.
"This change will take another year because we are working it out with the system, but the whole way we do business will be reconfigured," Davis said. "This plan is still tentative."
"It won't be just the menu we decide for them," Davis said. "This new system would free up choices for the students."
Students have mixed reactions to the proposed change. Caitlin Jeck, sophomore, said The Commons is fine the way it is because people can eat as much as they want.
"We have a place already where we pay by the item, it's called The Cove," Jeck said.
However, she said that having more options would be good because students could pay for something that they really want instead for just getting whatever is there. Also, she said that the presence of more choices should help with the problem of long lines.
"The lines are ridiculous. People line up for only one thing because all of the other choices just aren't appealing," Jeck said.
Alissa White, freshman, said that she thinks the new system will help a lot toward food waste.
"At The Cove, people get what they need," White said. "But, at The Commons, I've seen people get a plate from every station, take two bites of each item, and then throw it all away."
This plan was originally supposed to be implemented in the fall of 2008, but new needs arose from the expenses of the new engineering building, the new dorm buildings, and the renovation of The Commons.
