University administrators are considering significant changes to the student dining plan.
Administrators are pushing for a “directed choice” dining plan, which would require students to spend part of their food points at non-contracted venues, including the Great Hall, the Marketplace, Trinity Cafe, Subway and Chik-fil-A, Duke Student Government President Awa Nur announced at the Senate meeting Wednesday night.
“The University seems committed to directed choice, and I want to make my position on that clear,” Nur, a senior, said in her address to the Senate. “There is no way in hell that I am going to support that.... It’s fake choice and it’s not something that I stand for.”
The new plan would force sophomores, juniors and seniors with meal plans to spend between 500 to 700 of their food points at the non-contracted venues, Nur said. She noted that the average student currently spends fewer than 300 points at these locations.
All non-contracted venues are operated and staffed by Bon Appetit Management Company, which replaced ARAMARK—Duke’s former dining management company—in 2007. Bon Appetit’s arrival increased Dining Services’ expenses by $1 million, which marked the beginning of a $2 million annual deficit.
Nur added that directed choice originated in meetings with administrators toward the end of last Spring. When negotiations with student representatives broke down, the administration made plans to formulate five alternatives over the summer, but administrators barred Nur from becoming involved in process on three separate occasions, Nur said.
“And you can imagine what happened... the options that they have provided to us have subsequently not been good,” Nur said, adding that a group of students has been working to draft alternative options. “They offered us five [options] after four months of negotiation. We offered them nine alternative ones after one week of deliberation.”
Throughout the dining portion of her speech, Nur emphasized that administrators have not been receptive to students’ demands.
“This is not how the administration should be interacting with students,” she said. “Again, let me emphasize that if we’re going to be in the room, we’re not just going to be present but we are going to be a presence, and the administration should take notice.”
In the beginning of the meeting, the Senate approved the Young Trustee selection timeline, which set the Young Trustee application deadline on Jan. 15 and polls will open Feb. 9.
The Senate also selected six senators to sit on the Young Trustee Nominating Committee. Of the 19 nominated students, senior Spencer Eldred, vice president for student affairs, juniors Kendyl Tash and Gregory Morrison, DSG executive vice president, sophomores Lauren Moxley and Pete Schork, vice president for athletics and campus services, and freshman Christine Larson were selected. These students will account for six of the 18 students on the Young Trustee Nominating Committee.
In other business:
Senators considered a number of resolutions and statutes, including one that aimed to remove the $2,000 DSG presidential stipend for future years. Currently, the DSG president receives $2,000 over the course of his or her term, and funds come from the Student Activity Fee.
Junior Lauren Kottis, a Durham and regional affairs senator who submitted the statute, said the same amount of money could instead be used to fund new organizations. She noted that funding should not come from the Student Activities Fee.
“It’s something students pay because they assume it will be used for their benefit, and not for a single person,” Kottis said.
Ultimately, senators voted down Kottis’ statute.
The International Association also made a presentation to senators in which they discussed the findings from its five domestic-international conversational exchange focus groups.
Project Recon, an entrepreneurial program that aims to better relations between Duke and North Carolina Central University students, also presented its future goals during the meeting.
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