Young Americans for Freedom stopped its petition for meal plan reform on April 1 at the request of Dean of Men Aaron Petersen.
“I didn’t say, ‘You’re in big trouble,’ I just said, ‘You guys need to stop this,’” Petersen said. “I don’t think petitions are the best way to solve important issues.”
Although YAF had planned to offer the petition to students for three days during lunchtime in the Grewcock Student Union, they stopped after only two days and 250 signatures. YAF had been planning the campaign since last spring.
“The deans’ office asked us to stop with our petition, and we feel that our two days of petitioning were successful with bringing the concerns of campus to the administration,” YAF President junior Nathan Brand said.
Brand and the rest of his group have had a series of meetings with administrators, including Petersen, Assistant Dean of Men Jeffery Rogers, Dean of Women Diane Philipp, Chief Staff Officer to the President Mike Harner, and President Larry Arnn.
“We simply encouraged YAF and any other group or individual to meet with us if they have an idea on how to make Hillsdale better,” Philipp said in an email. “We work hard on such projects all the time and welcome student input. Students typically offer very creative and positive ideas when working with us on projects.”
Arnn said that while college administrators are happy to meet with students, petitions are not the best way to have the discussion.
“The college is happy to hear from students, solicits their opinions frequently, and listens and responds to everyone who has something to say,” he said in an email. “Often, the purpose of the petition is to place pressure. We hope not to conduct our discussions here under pressure.”
YAF members don’t regret petitioning, though.
“This is something every student has an opinion on,” YAF Chairman sophomore Savanna Wierenga said. “Having a petition is such a great way to get lots of people involved.”
According to Harner, the college administration has been reviewing its current dining policies since last semester. It wants to make meal plans a better value while maintaining Hillsdale’s strong community.
“While YAF’s petition efforts are well-intended, they are incidental to the efforts of the past six months,” Harner said in an email.
Brand said his group has done research into other colleges in the area that have similarly-sized enrollments to Hillsdale’s 1,400 students, such as Kalamazoo College and Adrian College, whose meal plans have policies similar to what YAF is proposing.
Kalamazoo College arranges dining through a company called Sodexo and does not require students living off-campus or in independent housing to buy a meal plan. The school offers optional, small plans, as well as flexible plans and arrangements with off-campus businesses. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 1,379 students.
Adrian College also contracts with Sodexo. It offers block and traditional meal plans with additional dining credit, like Charger Change, which only residence hall students are required to purchase. They also partner with businesses such as Domino’s Pizza, which will accept students’ meal plan dollars for delivery. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 1,767 students.
Sodexo is a large multinational corporation that offers facilities management and food service to corporate, educational, healthcare, and governmental clients, among others.
Sophomore Christy Allen, YAF board member, points to these and other schools as working examples of what YAF is trying to accomplish at Hillsdale.
“Other schools of comparable size do it differently than we do and are still successful,” she said.
Allen agreed with Brand that the petition was successful in showing how many students are concerned about the issue.
“I genuinely don’t know how they want us to go about voicing a group opinion,” Allen said. “We get that this is the most private of private schools, and we agree to do things a certain way, but we should have the ability to voice concerns, especially if so many students have them.”
She clarified that YAF is not trying to be confrontational or adversarial, but wants to encourage a conversation.
“What we’re trying to do is not to demonize Saga or the workers or the deans,” she said. “We’re trying to get students together to say that student life can be improved. We’re trying to open discussion.”
Arnn also addressed concerns about the school’s dining policies.
“We take the view here that the old understanding is the correct one; the things we do together: talking, living, eating, classes are all important,” he said in the email. “The dining service is not a major source of net revenue to the college. We do all in our power to make it good and to make it affordable. It matters that the students gather to dine.”
Arnn encouraged students who have concerns or ideas for improving the school to come to him or other administrators. He said they should be willing to listen to their reasons for their policies, as they’ll listen to the students’.
“If students see a better way, we are glad to hear it,” he said. “They should also want to hear the reasons why things are the way they are. There are such reasons, and we are very glad to explain them.”
Arnn has another reason for keeping things they way they are: he loves the food.
“The dining hall happens to be my favorite place to eat, of all the places I eat outside of home,” he said in his email. “The food is, in my opinion, excellent, and I eat fancy food often. Best of all is the company. I value that very much, and others do too.”
YAF has been asked to analyze feasible alternatives to the current system and present them to Philipp.
“The students are going to complete some comparative research for us on meal programs from similar schools to Hillsdale,” Philipp said. “They are also going to work with the Healthy Plate group in the Health and Wellness Club and come up with another survey for the students prior to the end of this term.”
Brand, Allen, and Wierenga are meeting with Philipp on April 24 and are currently creating a student-body survey about the issue.
Allen is optimistic about what they’ll be able to accomplish and preserve.
“We don’t believe community has to be sacrificed in the name of more flexibility for the students,” she said.
