Because this is my last blog, I feel compelled to be somewhat reflective and introspective, with an eye towards my future years at Penn.
Luckily, an article in The DP today reminded me of the one thing about being a sophomore I am looking forward to the most: no frickin’ meal plan. I can cope with the neglect and meaninglessness that comes with being sophomoric as long as I don’t have to touch a Commons cheeseburger again.
Bland flavors, inordinate prices ($13 a meal), and lackluster service (besides Ms. Anita, of course). The ability to lambast Penn Dining at the drop of the hat is basically a rite of passage for freshmen, so I won’t bore you with a diatribe.
However, I did find the response from Laurie Cousart, director of Business Services, particularly amusing. In response to these trite criticisms, Ms. Cousart said,
“We believe meal plans connect students to their College Houses [and] other students.”
This appeal to collective misery reminds me of the promotion of Hill House in last year’s College House pamphlet, which was equally convincing. Let’s be honest here: Taco Night never seems to put me in an outgoing or personable mood, and we all know that locking freshmen into a meal plan is a financial boon for both the University and Aramark.
(By the way, how pissed would Ben Franklin and the Founding Fathers be that we named one of our plans the “Liberty Plan”?)
In a way, the meal plan serves as the freshman version of Hey Day. Except instead of laughing at the upcoming class’s gloom for one afternoon, sophomores get to smirk every time they see unsatisfied freshman emerge from Commons for an entire year.
So to the pre-frosh who will undoubtedly read the Spin this summer: pack a lunch.
An RSS feed of The Spin is available
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I agree… Penn Dining and the college houses always talk about building a sense of community around the houses. it never happens and it won’t either. penn isn’t yale or princeton and we don’t need to have the same type of housing system. i think most students are perfectly happy making friends on their own and choosing where to live based on convenience, not social factors.
May 6th, 2008 at 2:10 am
I enjoy connecting with students by eating the salt-, cholesterol-, fat-ridden meals three or more times a day. When we are finally morbidly obese and suffering from adult onset diabetes, we will form a class action lawsuit. Or, at the very least, our collective force of negative sex appeal will get Penn to top Princeton Review’s “lest attractive campus” lists, causing Penn’s admissions to plummet accordingly. Community action, indeed.