Food for Thought

The following letter was also sent to President Derek C. Bok, members of the Harvard Corporation, Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57, Registrar Margaret E. Law, and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Stephen E. Ozment.

To the Editors of The Crimson:

Harvard College sent me a letter that disturbs me very much. I have included it for your convenience. It informed me of the dates of opening of the houses and house dining halls. Please take note, as I did, that these dates are very different! Houses open the 11th of September; house dining halls open the 18th of September.

This is inappropriate! It is obvious that students who arrive before breakfast on the 18th must pay for their meals until the meal plan begins. As I am sure you know, food is expensive, even at the Freshman Union which, the letter mentions, will serve upperclass men and women on a cash basis. In addition to the extraordinary required costs of attending Harvard College, this expense is a thoughtless oversight on Harvard's part, at best. At worst, it is indicative of blatant disregard for the welfare of its students.

But, you may argue, nothing forces a student to arrive before breakfast on the 18th of September. This is an unrealistic argument. The reality is that registration occurs on the 18th of September between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., and the said letter indicates that if a student "fails to register on the prescribed date [he] will incur a $40 charge and may be subject to disciplinary action." So it is obvious that Harvard openly forces students to arrive on the 18th. It is equally obvious to those who travel that such precision is not always possible. Targeting an arrival in Boston within several days of registration day is difficult enough. Yet it may be impossible in general circumstances to arrive at Logan Airport or Riverside Station and locate one's dorm room and register for classes which might also demand time for sectioning and go to the first day of classes. Harvard overtly forces its students to arrive before the 18th.

Yet let us say that the above is possible. And that a student is clever enough to successfully schedule, manage and execute such a plan, assuming that nothing beyond his or her control, like a plane delay, occurs. Not only registration, but classes themselves begin at Harvard College on the 18th, and they meet until Friday. Three full days must pass before the weekend and an opportunity to 1)unpack 2)retrieve all stored articles from basements of either dorms in the Yard, the Union, or the house 3)construct a living environment. Very simply, the above, necessary activities are time consuming, and during a regular school day this time does not exist. Therefore, if a student must wait until the first weekend, he or she must live under hindering circumstances and still perform to the academic standards that Harvard demands. I am sure I do not need to add that this would be very, very difficult and is surely a callous demand.

So what does the Harvard student do? He or she arrives a day, or several days, early to prepare for the coming semester and as a result is financially strained by Harvard College. This student must spend a lot of money because Harvard College did not provide meals under the existing meal plan for these days.

An obvious question is: how much is "a lot of money." I shall answer this in two ways. The first is simply, "a lot" is relative and depends on a number of variables including general family income, general personal income, family demands and responsibilities, student loan requirements and so on.

But "a lot" is also a concrete estimation. It is my memory that three meals at the Freshman Union cost, if one pays by cash, $10. This is very conservative. I urge you to investigate this figure yourself. You need only go to the desks that stand in front of the doors to the food service lines. Over the seven day period between the 11th and the 18th of September, this amounts to $70. Seventy dollars is generally equivalent to at least two brand new text books, or a number of smaller books.

I argue that the purchase of those books--also not covered by Harvard's tuition--is of much greater educational value than the purchase of meals. Why, I ask, must students be forced to needlessly pay for meals that Harvard ought to have covered in its meal plan when they could be buying books?

This is not a plea for a handout. But it indicates very clearly administrative failure. Simply put, freshmen this year will receive meals during the week from the 11th to the 18th of September as part of their meal plans. Upperclass men and women pay the exact same tuition and room and board as do freshmen but do not receive the same in return. This is clearly an unethical business practice.

I urge you, in the strongest terms, to reconsider and appropriately reform Harvard College's policy of not providing meals for upperclass men and women during the week before registration. This policy is a burden that each and every student is forced to bear. It is callous and unnecessary. This suggests to me that either this policy is a mere oversight or that it is a nickel-and-dime scheme that places a cruel strain on many students' limited budgets.

Respectfully, I request a written response from you. Jaron Bourke '88