Students who live on campus are required to buy meal plans, but a lot of times those meals go unused. The lunch and dinner times at Pfeiffer are already limited. If students have classes from 11 to 2, they can’t eat lunch. Even having Express open a half hour earlier would allow students to pick up lunch before class.

We understand that the school needs to save money, but we also think it is important for students to be able to eat lunch. It benefits learning and helps us do better during class.

If students are hungry, they will be distracted and have a harder time paying attention.

One possible solution would be to open Express at 10:30 and open the dining room at 11. That way, students could get lunch to go, but they would only have to pay one employee for the extra 30 minutes.

It is not fair to students to charge $7 for a meal without providing ample opportunities for them to use the dining services.

Another possiblity would be to provide meals to-go in the Grill that students could use their meal plans on. Currently, if students purchase pre-packaged sandwiches, they have to use flex dollars.

It would be a lot more convenient and practical to allow students to use their meal plans to purchase such products.

Not only would it benefit students who have class during the typical lunch hours, but it might alleviate some of the wait time over peak hours.

Over fall break, Pfeiffer was open on a cash basis only.

On Sunday night, when students returned to campus and tried to get supper, they were told that the cafeteria was only open to athletes.

If students have a long way to travel to return to Simpson, it makes sense that they may come back earlier. It’s safer to drive during the day, and it would be impractical to come back Monday morning. They shouldn’t have to go off campus to eat once they return.

If dining services are open to athletes, why can’t they be open to the entire campus? It doesn’t make sense to discriminate in such a way.

Students, administrators and Dining Services employees have been working to improve the dining experience for everyone on campus, and that communication is definitely important. The importance of being able to actually get lunch during the day should not be overlooked. It’s an issue for students, that could probably be resolved easily.

Dining Services gets paid for student meals regardless of how many we use. But they should make every effort, within reason, to provide students with decent meals during reasonable hours.