Geronimo Ritcheson ’29 is a freshman eyeing a major for government or public policy. He’s involved in various organizations such as William and Mary Young Democrats, Theodore Roosevelt Society and Apologetics Club.
The views expressed in the article are the author’s own.
As the average twamp who hasn’t lived under a rock knows, there have been major changes to the Food Hall at Sadler over this summer and into the fall semester. In particular, the former status quo of it being a dining hall with buffet-style food service has been replaced with a retail system where small businesses operate specific sections of the hall, with meals paid for through GrubHub. To start, there are a few benefits to this new system. The meals at Sadler, being prepared by businesses incentivized to serve quality food, have improved in quality compared to what was previously served at Sadler. Another advantage is a greater variety of food, with Mexican, Italian and Middle Eastern cuisines being regularly on offer.
However, there are many, many disadvantages to students brought on by the new status quo in Sadler, which outmatch the benefits in severity. The most obvious disadvantage is that meals are no longer simply covered by the meal swipes available for most students on campus. This has resulted in students spending more on their meals, either through their Dining Dollars or with their own money, at a time where affordability is becoming more and more of an issue for students, especially in the context of increased tuition effective last semester.
Another disadvantage to students, specifically those who live close to Sadler, is that, if they want to utilize meal swipes, they have to walk, ride or otherwise traverse greater distances to sites that take swipes, such as Commons Dining Hall. This has made the simple process of getting food to eat, whether for a full meal or for a snack, a lot more inconvenient. This inconvenience also stems from the incomplete status of the West Woods Dining Hall, which is meant to replace Caf and was meant to finish construction before the start of this semester but hasn’t. This incompleteness has resulted in overcrowding at Caf and further stress on the aging dining hall, with Caf’s age and tear the primary raison d’etre for West Woods’s existence to begin with.
At a time where affordability is becoming a greater issue for Americans across the country, but especially for college students on campus, the fact that the college authorities have made simply getting meals more expensive while failing to properly plan for the completion of the West Woods project that would directly address such affordability issues is egregious. I thus implore the school administration to hasten its construction partners to speed up construction of the West Woods project as well as offer more opportunities for the usage of swipes at Sadler, like with the new grab-and-go breakfast section, but for lunch and dinner as well. While I view both the additional Dining Dollars and the establishment of the breakfast section of Sadler to be steps in the right direction, I view them more as first steps in remedying the administration’s mistakes rather than end goals.
In conclusion, while the changes cannot be completely reversed, and they do have benefits to them, they have also caused many problems for students that outweigh the benefits, and the administration needs to correct its mistakes by improving the quality of the dining experience for all students on campus by allowing for more usage of swipes at Sadler and hurrying up on finishing West Woods.
