Young Americans for Freedom held a meeting Sunday night for students to discuss the school’s meal plan policy and their ideas for reform. Some students think that the requirement to purchase a meal plan is unfair and want to change the long-standing policy.
“It has to do with finances,” Financial Aid Director Rich Moeggenberg said. “We couldn’t have a meal option without having students on the meal plan to make it economically feasible.”
YAF thinks that having more competition for students’ food dollars will increase quality and let students save money.
“The reason that YAF is involved is that students don’t have the option to opt out of a plan,” junior Nathan Brand, president of YAF, said at a planning meeting Sunday night that attracted about 25 students. “Our intention is to free kids and let them do what they want.”
Brand organized the meeting, the first step in his campaign to change college policy, when he saw that the mandatory meal plan policy conflicts with some of YAF’s core values — individual freedom and free markets.
He and the other officers in YAF began doing research into the history of Saga Inc.’s relationship with the college, the nature and details of its contract, renewable yearly, and the thoughts of college administrators from the president’s and deans’ offices.
Currently, students are required to purchase a full meal plan each semester for the Knorr Dining Room, costing from $2,100 to $2,270 — students can save $170 by switching to 15 meals per week or 150 meals per semester and taking less Charger Change to use at A.J.’s Café and Jitters Coffee Cart. Off-campus students may choose a smaller plan for $1,525. Brand does not want to focus on complaining about food quality, and insists that YAF’s priority is getting students more options, especially the ability to opt out of buying a meal plan at all.
“We are trying to do what we can as a student body, in a way that doesn’t polarize,” Brand said. “Saga is a byproduct of the administration’s policies regarding food at this school. We see the mandate as creating the quality issues.”
YAF’s first step was a petition, to get some momentum behind their campaign. They set out tables at lunch Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week to ask students to sign the petition asking for a removal of the required meal plan
“We’re not here to create problems,” Brand said. “We’re here to bring attention to the issue.”
Saga Food Service, Inc. was first formed in 1954 and serviced many clients in the Midwest. Marriott International, Inc. purchased the company in 1984, and sold it in 1998. It was reincorporated as Saga Inc., doing business as Hillsdale Dining Services, which has been in charge of all of the college’s food service since 1998.
Saga General Manager Kevin Kirwan declined to comment on YAF’s efforts.
The ability to offer a better product and the community building that the current system allows are two reasons Dean of Men Aaron Petersen gave for the mandatory meal plan. He says that the school yearly reviews their options for food service, and they are open to suggestions.
“If there are good and economical ideas and recommendations to review for our meal plan offerings, we’re always open to that discussion,” he said.
Some students are wary of the methods YAF is using, including junior Rachel Yerke.
“I agree with the possibility of reforming the meal plan,” she said, “but that’s something that has to take place between the administration and Saga, with student input, because the contract is between them.”
Brand also plans to work with Student Federation but thinks YAF might be better able to get changes from the administration.
“Student Fed has their hands tied,” he said. “We have a little more flexibility.”
