As I was leaving a study room the other day, I walked past a Campus Day tour where a tour guide was raving about how “amazing” the dining hall food is at the University of Michigan. I couldn’t help but loudly scoff as a “girl, no it is not” slipped out of my mouth. Some parents looked at me with horror and I quickly scurried off, knowing that their children would soon see for themselves just how “great” our dining halls are.
I have always been very conscious of how my money is spent. When I spend $5,000 on something, I am going to use it for every buck it is worth and more. As a freshman this year, the MDining Residential Meal Plan was just something else I had to pay for when I moved to Ann Arbor. As I began to explore my options for housing next year, I was frustrated to find that if I continued to live on campus, I would have to keep paying for the unlimited meal plan. Over the past few months, I have realized that I would be perfectly fine without this option.
I am the type of person who will go to the dining hall around four to six times a day, sometimes just to grab a muffin on the go or for my daily soft serve. MDining said it was unlimited, and I surely have proven it. But I don’t need all of those swipes because most of the time I don’t want to eat whatever they are serving. I am not a picky eater, and my only dietary restriction is that I do not eat pork. I enjoy eating seafood, but after two very unfortunate incidents that resulted in me keeled over and regretting my life choices with dining hall seafood, I’ve sworn off the University’s version of fish.
The eggs have a suspicious texture so I usually end up grabbing a baked good or cereal for breakfast, things I could get at the grocery store for cheap and in bulk. Lunch and dinner are the true challenges. When I first moved in I enjoyed the food, but I have noticed a significant decline in the quality of food that has made finding a meal every day difficult, especially as I have been fasting for Ramadan.
MDining has attempted to make accommodations for its Muslim students in the month of Ramadan, and I recognize that. Three dining halls have been left open until 9 p.m. every day, ensuring students get an opportunity to have Iftar at the dining hall instead of out of a to-go box. As a student that lives at Oxford Residence Hall, I have to go to South Quad Residence Halls or Mosher-Jordan Residence Halls for Iftar every day, as Twigs is only open until 8 p.m. Also, the dining halls are not open during Suhoor, which is around 6 a.m. lately, so I have been spending every morning eating breakfast at 5:30 a.m. in my dorm. My money is being wasted this month because I barely get to eat one meal a day at the dining hall, which is typically of low quality.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, LSA freshman Matt Sept shared this frustration with the dining hall’s options.
“I think it’s interesting that they care more about making good food when prospective students are touring instead of making consistently good food for the actual students,” Sept said.
There is definitely an increase in the quality of food when the Campus Day visitors are in town. Unfortunately, they only stick around for lunch, so residents are not graced with the benefits of their visits for dinner.
Students have also noticed a difference in quality between individual dining halls. While it is great to have variety between the halls in order to provide students with more options, there is a noticeable difference between certain dining halls’ performances. I have made the trek to Bursley Residence Hall a few times just for dinner because their food options were better, and it was worth the trip. Bursley pizza sometimes just hits.
The disparity among dining halls is apparent to students.
“Why is South or Mojo so much better than some others?” Sept said. “That’s not super fair. The food quality could definitely be better for what we are paying.”
For how much we are paying for meal plans, there should be no significantly better or worse dining hall, especially because they are all relatively spread out. Students should not have to take a bus to North Campus because South Quad is serving fish for the seventh day in a row or another unsavory item.
The meal plan is reasonably priced for the unlimited access that it provides students. The Unlimited Basic Plan ends up being around $575 for each of the nine months during the fall and winter semesters, averaging about $19 for every day in a month. Nineteen dollars for unlimited access to food is definitely reasonable, but for those who go home over weekends, travel or just do not eat at the dining hall everyday, that money is lost. As someone who does go home on the weekends and is fasting now, I know that I am losing money with my plan and do not need the unlimited access. As I considered living on campus after my freshman year as a reasonable expenditure, I was forced to reconsider. With the 125-Block meal plan, students receive about 28 entrances into the dining halls and $55.56 in Blue Bucks each month. That’s at least five Panda Express meals a month, an option I’d gladly take to save $2,450.
In an interview with The Daily, Susan Cramer, senior associate director of Residential Dining, explained the reason why on-campus students are required to get the unlimited meal plan.
“There’s a piece of it that has to do with food access and equity and wanting to make sure that people have the ability to eat the food they need,” Cramer said. “And the other piece to that has to do with planning for service for the students. Coming up with a cost decision looks different when you have a set expectation that you can base it off of the residents coming in.”
Cramer explained that the planning for the upcoming fall semester’s menu is almost complete so they can contact vendors and prepare for the next year. Ensuring equity and opportunity for students to obtain food is a cause I can support, but with that in mind, quality is as important as quantity.
If students want to provide feedback on the dining halls, Cramer suggests using the text-to-tell form in place at each dining hall. This feedback goes directly to a manager on duty and allows them to filter through the responses and react immediately. The best way to ensure the dining hall reflects the preferences of the students is to make those preferences heard. The dining halls also need to respond to that feedback and place the interests of the current students at a higher priority than those of incoming students. The dining halls can place as much suspiciously pink chicken as they want out for students to eat, but by doing so they are failing the students who were required to pay $5,000 in the first place.
Beginning college, especially when it involves moving on campus and living independently for the first time for many, is a drastic transition. Requiring freshmen students to get the unlimited meal plan is a way to ensure equity and opportunity for food access as they develop this independence. But the sophomores, juniors and seniors have experienced the dining halls, and know what is best for them. Providing them the opportunity to live on campus and avoid the complications of leases, utility fees and rent needs to be met with equal opportunity for students to eat based on their personal preferences. Allow returning students to choose their meal plan and their housing. And please, less fish at South Quad.
Lara Tinawi is an Opinion Columnist writing about campus culture and her everyday musings. She can be reached at ltinawi@umich.edu.