PrincetonUniversity
 

Report of the Four-Year College Program Planning Committee
August 20, 2002

  D. Dining

Dining is a key element of every successful residential college program, and it will be particularly critical to the success of the four-year colleges. In its deliberations on this matter, the Committee was keenly aware of the widespread perception among undergraduates that the food in Frist and the eating clubs is far superior to that in the residential colleges. Since our goal is to make four-year colleges an appealing option for a very wide range of students, the dining program must be of superior quality, and we must invest in our facilities to assure that they are up to the task.

The Committee identified several key principles to achieve this goal.

First, we must provide a flexible dining environment that supports our aspirations for building community in the residential setting.

Currently, freshmen and sophomores may choose to have a fourteen- or twenty-meal plan, and to purchase extra points for use at the Frist Campus Center. A majority of upperclass students join eating clubs and take all their meals there. Independent students prepare their meals in kitchens like those provided in suites at Spelman or in co-ops, or they purchase Frist points. Those upperclass students who choose to dine on campus purchase Frist dining points only, or they purchase Frist points and a small number of dining hall meals. In the current plan, there are constraints on the times of service and the locations where students may eat, and students are charged differentially based on the meal plans they choose. The plan is structured so that students "lose" meals that they miss. Students on the dining plan receive four guest meal passes a year.

Our visits to other campuses stimulated our imagination about ways to improve on this system. At Harvard, we saw that providing less flexibility for all students (i.e. , all students had to purchase a twenty-meal plan) allows for a more flexible environment overall. Meal hours there, and at Yale, are extended to 8:00 or even 10:00 p.m., and dining rooms are open beyond midnight for late night snacks and beverages. The dining rooms are used as open study and common space outside of dining hours, and the system of control during meal hours is less rigid than the check-in system currently in place at Princeton.

Students have many options for meal plans at Princeton, but these options ironically go hand in hand with a perceived rigidity and inflexibility in our dining arrangements. Despite the intention of enabling interchange between upperclass and underclass students, in practice meal exchanges are quite difficult to implement. The reality that entry into dining halls must be controlled and that everyone must be counted at all times constrains the spontaneity of decisions about where and when to eat, the ease of arranging cross-unit functions that involve food, the possibility of having food support academic functions in the colleges, and the physical layout of college serveries. The stated meal hours in the dining halls are not always a good match for students' academic and extracurricular obligations, or for their internal time clocks.

The Committee noted also that the differential pricing of meals is an anomaly at Princeton. There is no differential fee structure based on use for libraries, laboratories, number of courses, or recreational facilities. The Committee appreciates that differential pricing of meal contracts corresponds to the prevailing custom at many of our sister institutions, and, importantly, that it reflects a long history of trying to be responsive to student desires. However, the Committee sees the advent of the new college system as a moment to re-examine the basic premises behind our charges for meals and to contemplate some practical changes that will have profound effects on the collegiality and community we seek to foster. In particular, we believe that it is time to reconsider this policy and change the fee structure so that all students get some food as part of their housing plans.

The Committee strongly encourages further study and analysis of a new approach to dining at Princeton. In an ideal world, we would like to see the dining halls open without students having to be checked in. Students would come there frequently to enjoy meals and fellowship. Meal hours would be more flexible than at present, and there would be some food and beverages available well into the night. A dining plan worthy of consideration is a four-tier program that might look something like this: all freshmen and sophomores would be required to take +/- twenty meals; juniors and seniors in residence in the colleges would have a +/- fourteen-meal plan, with a partial "rebate" program for college residents who join eating clubs or provide proof of independent dining arrangements, so that they could divide their meals between the college and an eating club or the college and an independent arrangement; and nonresident juniors and seniors would be charged a fee, folded into tuition, which would cover receptions, snacks, and occasional meals in the college with which they were affiliated. Any new plan should feature simplicity of access, flexibility, opportunities for meal exchanges between colleges and clubs, numerous guest meal passes, and built-in points for Frist.

In any such plan, juniors and seniors resident in the colleges must take a sufficient number of meals there to function fully as participating members of their colleges. At the same time, the colleges should maintain a strong connection with eating clubs and independents. Thus, we propose to maintain, and if possible enhance, eating club/Dining Services meal exchanges. We also propose to explore further the possibility of a split meal contract option between the clubs and Dining Services.

The Committee appreciates the practical challenges of implementing the vision it has sketched above. It suggests that a subgroup of its members, plus selected other administrators (for example, the director of dining services and the senior vice president for administration), be charged to study this question and to make recommendations for a new dining plan for Princeton.

Second, the quality of food needs to be improved. While the current preparation and presentation of food in dining halls may compare favorably with peer institutions, there will need to be significant improvement for meals in the residential colleges to be viewed as comparable to what is provided in Frist and in the eating clubs. Such parity will be a critical factor in creating the attractive environment we hope to achieve in the colleges.

The Committee recommends that the University provide Dining Services with the resources to improve and upgrade the equipment in the kitchens and serveries of all five existing colleges; to enhance the quality control of meals; and to add higher-quality, fresh food products (recognizing that freshness and healthy preparation are highly valued by students). The Committee suggests also that Dining Services review both the range and variety of menu offerings and the timing of the menu cycle; ongoing consultation with college staff and students is critical in this process.

Third, we strongly recommend that the quality of the space in the existing dining halls, and the new dining hall in Whitman College, reflect high standards for furnishing, lighting, acoustics, and ambiance. The large common dining areas should be furnished graciously and should be designed to accommodate and be welcoming to intimate as well as larger-sized groups (the use of alcoves, smaller round tables, and booths would help to accomplish these objectives). There should be adjacent smaller dining areas (that is, one or more private dining rooms). Tables and chairs should be easily moveable. If feasible, the design of dining space should incorporate patios or other outdoor elements. The servery areas should be appealing and efficiently organized, as they are in contemporary marketplace settings, so that access is uncomplicated. They should be able to be closed at night, so that the dining rooms can remain open to students seeking only snacks or beverages. Those aspects of meal preparation that reflect mass production should not be on public display.

The Committee envisions a common room adjacent to the dining room, with comfortable couches and chairs to encourage lingering. Utilizing the dining rooms and the adjacent common room in the evenings for study groups, informal conversation, and study breaks is crucial to building community and ensuring that the colleges become attractive "homes," especially for juniors and seniors.

The dining subcommittee talked at some length with Stuart Orefice, director of dining services. It is clear that the dining hall spaces in the existing colleges will require significant renovation to bring them up to contemporary standards. Physical renovations in some of the existing colleges would need to occur in order to restrict access "after hours" to kitchen and servery areas, while enabling evening and late night dining hall use. Furthermore, the installation of special ovens and new food preparation stations is key to offering more entrée options, better quality, and better presentation. An unsustainable disparity would be created between Whitman and the other five colleges were these features not incorporated into existing facilities. If existing facilities are not renovated and we continue to permit students on a meal plan to dine in any location, Whitman will not be able to handle the numbers of students who will want to eat there. The Committee is convinced that these renovations are essential, that they should be undertaken in the near future, and that they will contribute to students' overall satisfaction with dining services.

Finally, in addition to these recommendations for the primary dining areas of the colleges, the Committee recommends some additional variety in dining spaces and options. Extended meal hours in the dining halls are a high priority. Each pair of colleges (or each one, if that is feasible) should have a small café/snack bar/sandwich shop, probably run by students, that would provide a limited menu well into the night. (That menu might include substantial fare, like pasta or pizza and sandwiches, as well as snack food, like leftover cakes, pastries, and other desserts from the dining hall.) A coffee/cappuccino bar or cart might be located in the common room adjacent to the dining room or in or near the recreational zone. We recommend a minimal number of kitchenettes in public access areas for use by undergraduates and resident graduate students (ideally, these might be located in close proximity to graduate student suites). The masters' kitchens may, as appropriate, serve as sites for students who are interested in baking or in preparing group meals.