Poll Shows Student Body Split On Breakfast Issue

The student body is almost evenly split on the issue of reinstituting hot breakfasts at all Houses, according to the breakfast survey conducted by the Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life (CHUL) in each House last week.

Several student members of CHUL said yesterday they thought the mixed nature of the results signified that the limited breakfast plan would continue next year.

About 43 per cent of the students who answered the breakfast said they "definitely prefer" or "prefer" offering full breakfasts at every House, while about 40 per cent of those who answered favored retaining cold breakfast at eight Houses. The remaining 17 per cent checked the "really don't care" response.

Dean Fox said yesterday the poll was intended only to advise CHUL, and he would consider CHUL's vote instead of the poll results themselves in making a decision on the breakfast issue.

At today's meeting, members of CHUL will discuss poll returns and vote on a motion to reinstitute hot breakfasts at all Houses next year.

Fox said he thought the number of students who answered the survey--about 2650--was sufficiently large for the poll to be "indicative" of student opinion on the subject.

William T. Prewitt '79, North House CHUL representative, said yesterday he thought the longer hours, rather than the lower cost of cold breakfast, persuaded some people to vote for the limited breakfast option.

"Had there been longer hours in the hot breakfast Houses, too, I think the vote for hot breakfast would have carried a lot better," Prewitt said.

Houses that serve cold breakfast remain open until 9:50 a.m., while hot breakfast Houses stop serving at 9:15 or 9:30. The reinstitution of hot breakfast at all Houses would increase board fees by anywhere from $13 to $20.

Because of this belief, Prewitt said he would "push for longer breakfast hours at all Houses."

Students in several Houses voiced opinions on the breakfast issue that differed from the college-wide norm. About 63 per cent of the students from both Mather and Dunster, two cold breakfast Houses whose residents formed an "Eggshell Alliance" that opposed the limited breakfast plan with an "eat-in" last spring, favored the return of hot breakfast.

Fifty-eight per cent of those answering the survey in South House chose the limited breakfast option.

The results of the remaining questions on the survey will probably be available later this week, Fox said.

Savage said he thought the poll might be misleading if many of those who answered were sophomore.

Sophomores in cold breakfast Houses never saw what the cutback meant. The questionnaires were asking them to form an opinion of two systems--but they'd only tried one," Savage said.

Several student CHUL members and a faculty member in psychology last week criticized the breakfast questions on the poll as presenting background information from only one side of the issue.