HUDS Rejects Extended Hours

Students hoping to indulge a late-night chickwich craving must remain unsatisfied indefinitely after a year’s worth of investigation into extending Harvard’s dining hours has yielded no change.

Yesterday morning, the Committee on House Life (CHL)—a group consisting of students, administrators, and House masters—endorsed the report from their subcommittee on Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) to keep Harvard’s meal plan the same.

This report is the culmination of one year’s worth of investigation by the subcommittee that researched possible changes in the structure of Harvard dining after years of student complaints about limited dining hall hours.

According to CHL member Joseph W. Stanley ’09, the subcommittee found that HUDS could not extend dining hall hours under the current unlimited meal plan without raising the cost of board, which in 2006 was $4,618.

“We’ll have to find other ways to keep the cost of dining down,” Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 said in an interview last week. “We’re running 12 different dining rooms, which is not cost efficient at all. The masters and the students all felt that it was essential to keep the dining in the Houses, so we are going to stay with that.”

All Harvard dining halls currently shut their doors by 7:30 p.m.

According to data gathered by the Undergraduate Council (UC) in 2005, over 50 percent of undergraduates stay up past 2 a.m. This data was used as part of the UC’s initial request that the College work to change their dining hours to accommodate their students’ schedules.

But UC President Ryan A. Petersen ’08 said yesterday that he is “not disappointed with the result” of the initiative.

In addition to considering and dismissing longer dining hall hours, the committee entertained the idea of instituting a “flexible” points meal plan, which would allow undergraduates to eat in participating campus restaurants as well as dining halls. This plan was recommended by a consulting firm hired in the spring of 2006 to assess HUDS’ efficiency.

According to the report, the committee decided against the flexible plan because it would disrupt the tradition of House dining, which committee members said serves as the foundation of House life.

“When we were examining the dining hall issue, we considered maintaining House life our paramount goal” said Stanley, a member of the Undergraduate Council (UC) as well as the CHL.

“The dining hall is the central place of House life, where students meet and hang out with friends,” Stanley added. “We didn’t want to disrupt that at all.”

Associate Dean of Residential Life Suzy M. Nelson said that she was happy with the committee’s recommendations because they would benefit Harvard students.

But at least one student said he would like to have the opportunity to venture beyond the dining hall experience.

“It would be nice if kids who have packed schedules could eat outside the dining halls,” said Carey W. Hynes ’09. “I don’t see the harm in giving students both options.”

But Olivia G. Volkoff ’09, a first-year transfer student from Columbia, who ate with a flexible points plan at her previous college, said she supported keeping Harvard’s unlimited meal plan.

“Freshman year, everyone at Columbia is forced to eat in the freshman dining hall. After that, though, everyone gets off the meal plan and eats off campus,” Volkoff said. “I think it’s wonderful that at Harvard, dining encourages community.”

HUDS Director for Marketing and Communications Crista Martin said that while she had not seen the committee’s report, she trusts HUDS to make the proper recommendations.

“I defer to the committee,” she said.

—Staff writer Margot E. Edelman can be reached at medelman@fas.harvard.edu.