Response to Dining Plan Changes

[Vrajesh Modi and Sammi Wyman (UA P/VP)]

Undergrads,

Over the past three weeks, we have seen an escalation in student opposition
to the proposed changes to House Dining.  Most prominently, the petition at
sayno.mit.edu has garnered over 1700 signatures accompanied by dozens of
detailed comments.  We are writing to you to share our perspective on recent
developments and to ask for your support.

*Recent developments*
Yesterday, the Dean for Student Life released a modified version of the
proposed dining plan that includes a “Transition” plan for current
sophomores and juniors and “Any” plans, which provide increased flexibility
at an increased price.  We are unable to support the amended proposed dining
plan in its current form because it is unclear to us that the majority of
the affected students support it.  Rather, feedback that we have received so
far seems to indicate that most students continue to disapprove of the
proposed plan.  While we are encouraged to see that there continues to be
flexibility, we are puzzled about the reasoning behind the Senior Associate
Dean’s assertion that there will be no more changes to the types or prices
of plans offered, especially in light of continuing student dissatisfaction.

*Our proposal*
When we last wrote to you, we felt, based on the input that we had received,
that concerns about the proposed changes centered on three areas: cost,
displacement, and community.  Accordingly, we presented an alternative
proposal to the HDAG student representatives and to the Dean in which the
residents of each dorm would determine by vote the level of service (i.e.
which meals) they wanted to see offered in their own dining hall, knowing in
advance how much each level of service would cost.  We felt that this
proposal would address the question of cost by letting students make the
decision, while mitigating displacement and the impact on community.

According to the Senior Associate Dean, HDAG rejected this proposal because
it was “not feasible to operate different plans across different dining
halls.”  For evidence to the contrary, see Brown, Columbia, the University
of Virginia, and even the proposed plan at MIT (Maseeh Hall will offer
lunch, while the other dining halls will not).  At this time, we continue to
seek a more convincing reason for why the proposal was rejected.

*Moving forward*
It is clear from the recent announcement that there is still room to make
changes to the plan.  Presently, we are working on a data-driven analysis of
the arguments for and against the plan to understand better the benefits and
consequences of the proposal.  Concurrently, we encourage you to do the
following:

   - If you have not already, familiarize yourself with the details of the
   amended proposal: http://studentlife.mit.edu/house-dining-program
   - If you have any questions or concerns after reading the website,
   contact your dormitory president, dining chair, or housemaster.
   - If you decide that you do not want to participate in the plan, but you
   would like to stay in MIT Housing, request a change:
   http://housing.mit.edu/undergraduate/change_your_assignment

At the recent UA Thanksgiving Dinner, many students were curious about other
ways to voice their opinions and their concerns.  Here are a couple more
options:

   - Dean’s Comment Box:
   http://studentlife.mit.edu/content/deans-comment-box
   - Letter to the Editor: letters at tech.mit.edu

We will continue to use the UA website (ua.mit.edu) and the undergrads
mailing list as our primary means of communication to keep you informed
about developments surrounding this issue.

Best wishes,
Vrajesh Modi, UA President
Sammi Wyman, UA Vice President
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/undergrads/attachments/20101201/274253eb/attachment.htm