Page 6 / Wednesday, September 19, 2007
EDITORIAL
, l.n » » I ^ ,
OPINIONS
The Pendulum
The Pendulum seeks to inspire, entertain and inform the Eloti
community by providing a voice for students and faculty as well as a
forum for the meanmglul exchange of ideas.
Two meal swipes too many
With the opening of the Colonnades
dining hall, many students are
interested and excited about new,
higher quality food. But many will
soon become disenchanted by the high
cost and forced decisions associated
with this new dining option.
While Colonnades offers
quality food, its costs are highly
prohibitive. Most food offered at this
establishment, whether a sandwich,
large salad or a meal from the 1889
Grill Room, costs two meal plan
swipes.
Even though each meal plan is
equivalent to $2.50, depending on your
selected meal plan, students actually
pay between $6.50 for someone with
a 19 meal plan, to $10.84 for someone
with a 9 meal plan. This translates to a
sandwich from Boars Head potentially
being $21.68, depending on your meal
plan option.
For students who live off campus,
with smaller meal plans, the
Colonnades is far too expensive to be
a viable option for a weekend meal,
because any meal from the Colonnades
would cost them 40 percert of their
meal plan ration for that week.
Furthermore, starting this week
Harden will remain closed on the
weekends, forcing students to go to
the Colonnades should they want a full
meal.
While Octagon, Varsity and Acorn
will still offer service, the Colonnades
will be the only facility to offer a la
carte options.
Octagon offers very little filling
or nutritional food during the
weekends, and nothing at Varsity can
be purchased with a single meal plan.
This leaves Acorn as the only real
alternative to the Colonnades during
the weekend.
The simple fact that many meals
at the Colonnades cost two meal plan
swipes may prove too costly. If a
student were to eat two meals a day on
the weekend, they would subsequently
be out eight meal plans.
For an on-campus resident, this
could be as much as half of their
weekly allowance. While it is true that
thrifty students could choose to go to
Acorn instead, Acorn cannot handle
the influx of students that used to be
served by Harden on the weekend.
If Acorn receives as many as 20
students at one time, it is considered
packed. Most students only have $85
in meal dollars each semester, and
cannot afford to give their patronage to
Cantina Roble or Varsity on a regular
basis.
Unlike other schools, Elon’s dining
strategy is based upon dispersal,
keeping the dining options diverse and
diffuse, spreading students out so there
is not too much glut in any one spot.
But dining options are disappearing.
With the closing of Danieley Center
Commons and the recent removal of
Harden as a weekend dining option,
students are forced to choose between
the Colonnades, Octagon and Acorn
for dinner options.
This will lead to overcrowding
in the facilities, and if last weekend
is an indicator, the Colonnades staff
members are unprepared to deal with
such an influx of students, leading to
a wait of more than 30 minutes at the
Boars Head deli.
The prohibitive price of dining at
the Colonnades and the new reliance
serve a large portion of the student
body forces one to question why the
decision was made to make the food so
expensive.
The food is adequate, but at a
potential $21.68 for a sandwich, the
price is absurd. Perhaps a larger meal
plan will be offered next year.
How many students will ask for
more meals plans just so they can
eat during the weekends without
jeopardizing their meal plan rations
during the week?
Ashlej Barnas/ Assistant Photo Editor
It is imaginable that many students
are willing to pay an extra meal plan at
an establishment such as the 1889 Grill
Room.
However, paying upwards of $20
for a sandwich is unconscionable.
Furthermore, being forced to pay that
much, because of a lack of weekend
options allows Elon, Aramark and the
Colonnades a captive audience from
which they can demand whatever price
they want.
While higher quality food may
superficially justify a raise in price,
when considering the actual price
associated with eating at any of the
options at Colonnades, many students
would be justified in feeling that their
best interests were not taken into
account when the planning of this
facility was conducted.
The Pendulum
Elon University
Elon, N.C.
Established 1974
The Pendulum is published each Wednesday of the
academic year. The advertising and editorial copy deadline is
5 p.m. the Friday before the publication.
Letters to the editor and guest columns are welcome and
should be typed and e-mailed with a telephone number for
verification. Submissions are accepted as Word documents.
The Pendulum reserves the right to edit obscene and
potentially libelous material. Lengthy letters or columns be
trimmed to fit.
All submissions become the property of the Pendulum and
will not be returned.
You can reach The Pendulum by e-mail at
pendulum@elon.edu.
Visit our Web site at www.elon.edu/pendulum.
Brittany Smith, Editor in Chief
Section Editors
KaitHn Ugolik, News Editor
Ohvia Hubert-Alien, News Editor
Bryan Ray, Opinions Editor
Andie Diemer, Special Projects
Editor
Caroline Matthews, Features Editor
RJ Kraft, A & E Editor
Jeff Rickel, Sports Editor
Photography
Anna Tolner, Photo Editor
Ashley Bamas, Assistant Photo
Editor
Graphics
Angie Lovelace, Graphic Designer
Alison Binnie, Design Editor
Kelsey Bryant, Design Editor
Alison Welch, Design Editor
Justin Hite, Managing Editor
Copy Desk
Mary Cunningham, Copy Editor
Meredith Long, Copy Editor
Bethany Swanson, Copy Editor
Miriam Williamson, Copy Editor
Business
Adam Justice, Business Manager
Chris Dorsey, Assistant Business
Manager
Derek Bronsteen, Ad Designer
Online
Bryan LeGrand, Web Editor
Faculty
Colin Donohue, Adviser