Build New Dining Halls" Is First Suggestion of Winner

The following essay entitled "Where Do We Eat," was awarded the first prize of $25 given jointly by the Crimson and the Student Council for the best treatise on the eating problem at Harvard. It was written by H. W. Keyes Jr. ocC.

Discussion of the eating problem at Harvard involves the consideration of the situation as it now exists, and of the remedies for it. Present conditions were caused by an unsuccessful dining-hall system, which should be studied as an indication of what is undesirable in the future. Suggestions for a new system must be founded upon a comprehension of the problem as it now stands.

Memorial Hall is empty. According to a survey by the CRIMSON, 6,300 students--the men who do not eat in the Freshman Dining Halls, eating clubs, or boarding houses--eat in Cambridge cafeterias. Since Memorial was not closed until the small, constantly diminishing number of patrons indicated its lack of popularity and caused financial losses, it must be assumed that those who did not eat in Memorial Hall preferred to eat in cafeterias.

Memorial Hall was gloomy. Its loca tion placed it a long walk from many dormitories, particularly those in the Mt. Auburn St. district. The choice of food was limited, the meal hours not elastic. It was expensive. No wonder the cafeterias lured the students away. They were more pleasant, were more conveniently located, offered a wider variety of food and meal hours, and were cheaper.

Nevertheless, the limitations of cafeteria, eating have become increasingly apparent. Overcrowding and hurrying are as unpleasant as gloom. Convenient, it must be admitted, the cafeterias remain. Their apparent variety of food, ingeniously set forth on placards, is less appealing and more monotonous after more familiar acquaintance, and in many cafeterias resolves itself into the pork-chop-and-French-friend-potatoes type of malnutrition. Irregular hours have proved injurious to health. And prices have gone up:one cafeteria, for instance, has increased the price of eggs by furnishing guaranteed "new-laid" eggs only on payment of 35 cents, instead of the quarter previously charged for any eggs, whether fresh or primeval; another has omitted bread, butter, and drinks from its "special" combinations without proportionate reduction in price, with resultant more costly meals. Worst of all man called a gregarious animals, must at Harvard eat in cafeterias alone or with as impromptu collection of associates.

Build New Dining Halls.

With these aspects of the problem in mind, we are new in a position to consider their solution. Harvard University would do well to take the following steps to remedy the present situation:

1. Build new dining-halls. It would be unwise to open a renovated and rejuvenated Memorial Hall. This experiment, tried as a final resort just before the final closing of the institution, was a failure once, and probably would be again. The most obvious site for one such dining-hall is the vacant lot on the corner of Holyoke and Mt. Auburn Sts., this hall to serve men in the dormitories in the vicinity. Others should be erected where possible with a view toward accommodating the occupants of the Yard dormitories, and the students in the Kirkland St., Cambridge St., and Broadway district. Such dining-halls should be built with an eye to pleasant interior decoration and good lighting. Their location should be planned to solve the problem of convenience.

2. Serve food with particular attention to variety, especially of fruits, vegetables, and desserts. Good milk, careful seasoning, piping hot and icy cold dishes should be features of the new regime. Students should be encouraged to drop written criticisms of the menu in a box provided for that sole purpose. Those in charge of the dining-halls might thus be informed of student opinion, and regulate the bill of fare accordingly. The majority of students could probably be accommodated at the following hours: 8-9, 12-1.30, 6-7; but a small section of each building should, be open, to accommodate men who for various reasons cannot take their meals at the more usual hours, as follows: 7-10, 11.30-2.30, and 5.30-7.30.

3. Charge prices not above 50 cents for different "combination" breakfasts, and 70 cents and 90 cents for table d'hote luncheon and dinner with a choice of main course. "Specials" similar to those served in the Freshman Dining Halls and the Union should also be available at additional cost. There should be reduced rates for men "signing on" in advance for longer periods: $11 per week and $40 per four-week period are suggested as fair adjustments. Students should be allowed to pay cash or charge their meals on term-bills as they prefer.

4. Arange tables so that "club tables" may be formed as desired. Long tables like those in use in the Freshman Dining Halls should be provided for men who do not care to join-in club tables.

In short, we need pleasant, convenient places to eat good food at reasonable prices, made enjoyable by the company of our friends