Self-described "conservatives" at Duke are fixated on the notion that "liberals" are crowding out their ideas, as shown by the uproar over "academic freedom" and Harry Belafonte's Sunday appearance. They might, however, want to look into something that costs each and every one of us thousands of dollars every year and flies in the face of both common sense and basic tenants of conservative philosophy:
Duke Dining
Although politicizing dining might seem an odd thing to do, so many of the issues surrounding it boil down to basic questions of government (institutional) intervention, economic freedom and government waste-things which, once upon a time, Republicans actually took notice of.The only thing that can save it: deregulation.
As you all know, at the core of Duke Dining is the requirement that all students purchase a meal plan. Freshmen are forced to eat at the Marketplace, and all other undergraduates who live on campus are required to purchase at least $1,420 in food points per semester that can only be used to purchase food and only from specific vendors.
Duke also, however, controls merchants as well, arbitrarily assessing them a portion of their revenue (and not just charging them rent and utilities) based on an owner's investment in the eatery and a number of other factors, according to Jim Wulforst, director of dining services. Vendors are rewarded by Duke Dining for spending money on their establishments, leading to questionable improvements and a disconnect between vendor profits and student business.
Should students want to escape this system, we are heavily taxed. Eighteen percent of our points spent at Durham businesses will be recycled back into Duke (a total of $540,000 per year), according to Wulforst. This supposedly makes up for the lost commissions from points going off campus. Considering that a confidential Auxiliary Services budget presentation put all parking ticket revenues at $600,000 in 2000, it's surprising that this tariff doesn't earn more ire from the students.
The results of this system are far reaching, and the main losers are the students.Although Wulforst maintains that "we pride ourselves on being competitive," students still pay inflated prices and are severely limited in our options. We cannot use the cards beyond the physical Duke "bubble," and when we purchase food for delivery from off campus, merchants pass the commissions back to us. Although the money is used to improve eateries each year, I don't think the freshmen now benefit from being told "Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself," by a plasma television in the Marketplace.
Durham merchants and community members are equally upset, as shown by recent coverage in The Herald Sun. Restaurants in Durham, unlike on-campus establishments, actually do have to face the cold reality of paying rent, utilities and directly catering to customer demands. While it may seem harsh to force on-campus establishments to do the same thing, it is far worse to keep the surrounding business in Durham at their current disadvantage and to continue to deny them business from Duke students.
Given all of this, why would Duke so heavily regulate, subsidize and control everything? Duke wants to promote on-campus dining establishments and ensure a variety of options, a goal which is seemingly legitimate but could be served by less intrusive means.
The other goal is simply insulting. According to Wulforst, Duke wants to assure our parents that we actually eat, and therefore must maintain the infrastructure that exits ("bubble!"). Surprisingly enough, profit motive actually does not seem to be a significant influence.
And ironically enough, the solution to all of this can be found in our government-funded neighbor. UNC considers its students to be qualified to decide when, where and how much to eat and does not require that they purchase meal plans. Students who do choose to purchase a meal plan are subject to many of the same restrictions as Duke students (including the 18 percent tax on deliveries), but, according to Mike Freeman, director of auxiliary services for UNC, "our most expensive meal plan is $1,170 a semester." UNC students have far more flexibility, spend much less on food and can support the surrounding community at the same time.The market will provide.
This seems to be something on which we as students should all agree. I just find it bizarre that amid the "conservative" resurgence on campus, it takes a registered Democrat to advocate free trade with the city of Durham and decry the excesses of big "government."
Elliott Wolf is a Trinity sophomore. His column runs every Tuesday.
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