Since the semester began, students have noticed that they can no longer use their meal swipes at Durfee’s after 12 p.m. on weekends and then eat brunch in a residential college dining hall.

For the past few years, students have been able to “double-swipe” on weekends ­— spending up to $7 at Durfee’s with a meal transfer swipe before swiping into the dining hall for brunch. But this semester, students have not been able to eat brunch in their college dining halls if they used a meal swipe at Durfee’s beforehand. Despite the apparent switch in meal swipe regulations, neither students, Durfee’s employees nor dining staff interviewed were aware of a formal change in Yale Dining policy.

Emily Briskin ’15 said she discovered something about the meal swipe rules had changed soon after she returned from winter break. Briskin said she took a routine Saturday trip to Durfee’s and then tried unsuccessfully to swipe at brunch in the Berkeley dining hall.

Confused by what had happened, Briskin emailed Michael Aaronian, a Berkeley dining hall manager, who told her in a Jan. 21 email that there was no new policy in place, and students had not been allowed to swipe at Durfee’s before brunch for at least three years.

“This rule has been in effect for at least 3 plus years since I was made aware of it, and you can find this information in the meal plan section on our web site,” Aaronian wrote in an email that Briskin provided the News. “I don’t know why or how long this process of double swiping has occurred.”

Troy Jackson, an assistant manager of Durfee’s, said he did not know that students had encountered problems this semester with using meal swipes at Durfee’s and then swiping at brunch.

Tom Tucker, Yale Dining’s director of retail development and operations deferred comment to Jeanette Norton, Yale Dining’s deputy director of finance and administration, who declined to comment.

Of 18 students interviewed, those who had been aware of the option to double-swipe at Durfee’s and then brunch on weekends criticized the apparent change in policy.

Kevin Liu ’14 said he used to swipe at Durfee’s on weekends before eating brunch in the college dining halls, and thought it was unreasonable that the option no longer existed.

“We are paying for a full meal plan which is supposed to be 21 meals per week, but on weekends people eat two meals,” Liu said. “Where is the third meal going to come from? It would be reasonable for us to get two meal swipes, even if we don’t wake up earlier on Saturday or Sunday.”

Connor Lounsbury ’14 also said he thought students were supposed to get three meals a day, and did not understand why students could no longer double-swipe at Durfee’s and then brunch on weekends.

Lucy Hui ’15 said she goes to Durfee’s several times a week, including Saturday and Sunday. She would often take her suitemates’ ID cards on weekends and combine their meal swipes to buy about $25 worth of food, she added.

“The new change makes me sad,” Hui said. “I’ve always used a Durfee’s swipe and then gotten brunch. I’m hoping that the Timothy Dwight dining staff will let me still use meals swipes there after going to Durfee’s.”

Durfee’s is open from 10 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, and from 12 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Ben Prawdzik contributed reporting.