RPS should focus on dining halls

Besides closing three dining halls next fall, Residential Programs and Services has decided to open a health food-oriented store in both Wright and McNutt Quads. The store, Gaea's Cornucopia, will be a small shop providing a juice bar, sandwiches, a large salad bar, homemade bread, soups and frozen entrees. While RPS should be commended for looking at healthy alternatives to Chester Fried Chicken and Dunkin' Donuts, closing three dining halls takes away the most healthy option available -- traditional dining.\nThe dining halls are being closed because RPS does not have the funding to keep them open. Yet RPS is spending the money to renovate areas in two of the residence halls, McNutt and Wright, to provide healthy alternatives to dining. But these healthy alternatives are cold, and no real hot meals, besides soup, will be offered. Isn't closing the dining halls, which already offer hot, healthy meals, to create places that serve healthy fast food a bit of a paradox? Wouldn't RPS save more money if they left the dining halls open and served the healthy food they already serve?\nWhile Gaea's Cornucopia will provide soup and sandwiches and a salad bar, the store will not provide students with the adequate amounts of the four food groups that traditional dining would have. Students will be able to get whole grain breads and salads, but those items individually do not supply all of the nutrients students need. \nClosing the dining halls will also force some students to eat away from their homes. Those living in Briscoe Quad, for example, will have to make the trip to McNutt or Foster if they want to eat. And there, there is no choice in food selection -- fast food is all that is offered. The only choice is whether they want it fried or not. Sure, walking to Foster or McNutt might not seem like a big deal, but having to do that three times a day in the snow and rain can get tiring. Having a dining hall open in Briscoe that serves traditional meals will allow students to stay in the comfort of their own home while eating a good meal. \nThe food courts at Wright and Foster have become the most popular meal alternative, and RPS is taking the right step toward providing students with healthy foods students need. But many have complained that, for instance, the quality in the fruit and vegetables available in the Wright food court has been lacking and the new food store might be able to alleviate this problem. But many students also enjoy and prefer traditional dining, and this option should be available to them. \nRPS says it is offering students more alternatives to eating by adding Gaea's Cornucopia, but students must ask RPS, "What is the alternative to fast food?" Students pay too much on the meal plan not to have another alternative.\nStaff vote: 14-3-0