Dining overhaul imminent, group says

At the DUSDAC meeting Monday, members discuss a new DukeCard feature, which would automatically recharge a student’s food points if the balance is low.
At the DUSDAC meeting Monday, members discuss a new DukeCard feature, which would automatically recharge a student’s food points if the balance is low.

Students may soon see changes to their dining plans, although details are unclear.

The Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee is working closely with Duke Student Government to cut the $2 million dining deficit while minimizing the impacts to students, said sophomore Pete Schork, DSG vice president for athletics and campus services.

“We really don’t want to see the dining experience go through any negative changes—that’s our stance,” Schork said. “An open forum for students is premature, though, and not many decisions [have been] made.”

Schork noted that dining is an important part of student life on campus, and would like to see few negative changes to the current model.

Administrators will likely decide on the changes to dining within the next month, he added.

“It is difficult to bring in new vendors in this difficult financial situation, but we will do what we think is the best for students,” Schork said.

Over the last few months, there have been rumors of Tommy’s Rubs and Grubs shutting down, but Schork said he declined to comment on the issue to avoid mere speculation.

In other business:

At their meeting Monday, DUSDAC members discussed progress on implementing a new DukeCard system for food points that would automatically recharge points to an account if the balance is running low.

“The DukeCard Office already has a full system of transferring Flex to Food when it runs low,” said DUSDAC member Mark Elstein, a junior. “Only terms and conditions are being worked upon.”

Because a student’s full balance of food points does not roll over at the end of semester, students would want to keep their balances as low as possible to avoid wasted points, Elstein said. He added that the new program would save students a lot of work because they would no longer have to add points manually.

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