Thursday, April 10, 2008

Rollover policy just a drop in the bucket

According to a Hatchet article, students will now be able to rollover unused J Street money for next year:
Freshmen and sophomores who have spent more than half of their mandatoryJ Street dining dollars are slated to see a complete rollover of their remaining funds, Sodexho officials told Student Association leaders Tuesday.
How nice of Sodexho...

Looking around J Street, I quickly noticed that most of the students eating there are freshmen who simply don't know any better (and don't have kitchens). By sophomore year, most GW students have housing with a normal sized refrigerator and even a stove. By junior year, many students even attempt to make their own food once in a while.

With the lack of variety at J Street, I'm impressed by anyone who isn't completely sick of the place after a year.

So let's look more at what the article says about the rolled over funds:
Students who get some or all of their funds rolled over must still spend that money at J Street next year. Capp said this offer by Sodexho shows the value of student input and lobbying.
Freshman who have their money rolled over will still have to spend a ridiculous amount of money at J street as sophomores, and sophomores who have their money rolled over will have to come back as juniors.

By junior year, I ate at J Street so rarely and had such a distaste for the place that I would have never gotten around to spending rollover money there.

Yes, the new policy is somewhat of an improvement, but Sodexho doesn't exactly deserve a pat on the back. Sodexho still has a monopoly over a significant part of a student's food budget, and thus able to provide lower quality food options.

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