News Briefs
UA Senate Approves Student-Written Dining Report and Discusses Blue Ribbon Report
The Undergraduate Association Senate approved the student-written Dining Proposal Committee report on dining at MIT last night in an emergency meeting called to discuss dining.
The Senate also discussed the administration-chartered Blue Ribbon report, but decided to vote on the report after its final version is released next Monday.
Students at the meeting voiced concerns about the administration-led Blue Ribbon Dining Committee’s proposal to increase mandatory dining payments of students living in residences with dining halls from $300 to $500. Residents would have to pay $600 per semester to get a “declining-balance” dining account or pay $500 to avoid the dining plan altogether.
Donna M. Denoncourt, chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee and associate dean of residential life, and some student members of the committee attended the UA Senate meeting. They reaffirmed their committee’s proposal to raise mandatory payments, saying that it was necessary to decrease the dining system’s current operating deficit.
Senators questioned the Dining Proposal Committee’s proposal to close some dining halls, but representatives of the committee argued that the data in their report supported the recommendation.
According to Michael A. Bennie ’10, current vice president of the UA and member of the Blue Ribbon Committee, the Blue Ribbon committee will discuss changes to its report on Thursday. In the days following its meeting, members of the committee will vote on each individual recommendation. A final version of the report will be released on Monday.
—Nick Bushak