[1994] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: [Mit-talk] [UA-SCATR] New Card initiative
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jeff Roberts)
Thu Jul 6 17:29:15 2006
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 17:28:52 -0400
From: "Jeff Roberts" <thejoker@alum.mit.edu>
To: grace <gkenney@mit.edu>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.4.62L.0607031638550.2156@home-on-the-dome.mit.edu>
Cc: mit-talk@mit.edu
Errors-To: mit-talk-bounces@mit.edu
On 7/3/06, grace <gkenney@mit.edu> wrote:
> finally, the reinstitution of dining halls is recent, and it's been more
> or less a top-down thing [witness attempts in mccormick to _force_
> students to eat there.] in general, they haven't been an expression of
> dorm culture - in places where dining is part of the culture, it's
> generally the result of halls and suites having their own kitchens. the
> imposition of a dining hall [along with a mandatory mealplan for the dorm
> to ensure that it's actually used] is often a way to limit, rather than
> increase student dining choices.
I've enjoyed reading this discussion and was going to stay out of it
but this comment sort-of struck a nerve. I'd argue that residential
dining halls do contribute to culture in a comparable way to
hall/suite cooking; I lived in a dorm with an active dining hall and
it was an important part of my social experience and a major part of
life of the dorm. Maybe most of the people on mit-talk have a
different experience with dining -- after all, only 3 (now 4 I guess)
of the 11 dorms have dining halls -- but I hope you recognize that
different dining experiences can contribute to different types of
culture in different ways, and they aren't necessarily better or
worse.
I'd guess that a lot of alums and students feel the same way I do, but
you're more likely to hear from those who feel that dining halls are
bad (i.e. people who just don't like the food, or the atmosphere, or
whatever else about it) or the system is unfair (i.e. FSILGs and
people who pay the dining hall fee but don't use the dining hall that
much).
Having heard the same arguments over and over again, I've come to
think that the persistent problem plaguing campus dining is that when
it comes to food, everyone has different preferences and no one system
is going to satisfy everyone, and yet if it doesn't satisfy everyone,
people will complain. People like to cook meals or buy them prepared,
eat alone or in groups, sit down and have a meal or grab something on
their way to lab. That's not even getting into actual food
preferences. Just about every dining facility I've ever seen on any
campus has been panned for having terrible food, and yet there are
always some people who will eat there all the time. People are
probably more selective when it comes to food than almost anything
else. Unlike restaurants, that can cater to different tastes, campus
dining tends to aim towards the lowest common demonimator. As a
result, hardly anyone is bound to praise it, while those who aren't
satisfied will be compelled to complain. You could always try to make
it better by providing more options, but the more you do that the more
you have to pay, and where does the money come from? (answer: usually
it comes out of students' pockets, one way or another, until someone
comes up with a better option ...)
I doubt any of this was helpful but maybe it provided some food for
thought. Ha! Get it? Ughh.
Jeff (who realizes that I need a "non pretentious" filter more than anyone ...)
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