Spring Break
No Deals on Meals
Dining Services says roll-over meal plan not viable for department, students
Madeline Novey
Issue date: 2/4/09 Section: News
Student government leaders are crying foul after a heated meeting with CSU's Housing and Dining Services director who they say refused to provide public information and to discuss a roll-over meal plan that could save students money.
HDS officials said that implementing the plan would leave the department with less money to fund necessary operating costs - including food, utilities and salaries ññ and student would end up footing the bill.
"While allowing students to roll over the unused meals from one semester to the next would seem to be an obvious solution," said Director Deon Lategan in an e-mail to the Collegian, "in reality it would sharply decrease our revenues, resulting in higher priced meal plans to all students."
When they met Lategan to get specific statistics and discuss their roll-over idea, Associate Senator David Ambrose and Senator Katie Marshall of the Associated Students of CSU said Lategan did not cooperate.
According to the senators' meeting notes, Lategan refused to give them documentation showing how unused student money is allocated in the HDS budget and told them, "I do not want to give you something that will end up on the front page of the newspaper."
"… being opposed to exploring a roll-over meal plan in detail, with its benefits and shortfalls, bothers me as a representative of the students," Ambrose said in a statement. "Students' budgets are extremely tight in these tough economic times and all options need to be thoroughly explored."
But Lategan said later in an e-mail to the Collegian, "It was not a refusal to provide this information, it just wasn't readily available."
And Tonie Miyamoto, the director of communications for HDS, "… it takes a little bit of time to pull those (statistics) … and he didn't feel he could give accurate statistics on the fly."
A look at the numbers
Miyamoto said the department plans the year's budget, including allocations for salaries, food and renovations, each spring based on upfront meal plans revenues.
HDS officials said that implementing the plan would leave the department with less money to fund necessary operating costs - including food, utilities and salaries ññ and student would end up footing the bill.
"While allowing students to roll over the unused meals from one semester to the next would seem to be an obvious solution," said Director Deon Lategan in an e-mail to the Collegian, "in reality it would sharply decrease our revenues, resulting in higher priced meal plans to all students."
When they met Lategan to get specific statistics and discuss their roll-over idea, Associate Senator David Ambrose and Senator Katie Marshall of the Associated Students of CSU said Lategan did not cooperate.
According to the senators' meeting notes, Lategan refused to give them documentation showing how unused student money is allocated in the HDS budget and told them, "I do not want to give you something that will end up on the front page of the newspaper."
"… being opposed to exploring a roll-over meal plan in detail, with its benefits and shortfalls, bothers me as a representative of the students," Ambrose said in a statement. "Students' budgets are extremely tight in these tough economic times and all options need to be thoroughly explored."
But Lategan said later in an e-mail to the Collegian, "It was not a refusal to provide this information, it just wasn't readily available."
And Tonie Miyamoto, the director of communications for HDS, "… it takes a little bit of time to pull those (statistics) … and he didn't feel he could give accurate statistics on the fly."
A look at the numbers
Miyamoto said the department plans the year's budget, including allocations for salaries, food and renovations, each spring based on upfront meal plans revenues.
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