The Yale College Council is developing a policy proposal in response to concerns over new Yale Hospitality policies. The Council plans to submit its proposal to Yale College Dean Marvin Chun and Yale Hospitality leaders over the weekend.

There is the return of full-capacity dining halls and, notably, the opening of the Schwarzman Center, which includes the Commons dining hall and the Bow Wow cafe, among other venues. A raft of policy changes have accompanied these developments — but some students have expressed concerns that said changes have made the College’s dining program less equitable and accessible. 

“At the heart of Yale’s campus lives our vibrant dining halls, and Commons provides a complementary experience for our on-campus community,” Dana Courtney, director of business administration and finance for Yale Hospitality, wrote in a statement to the News. “Yale Hospitality provides a variety of flexible meal plans designed to meet the needs and service requirements based on the constituencies they serve.”

YCC Actions

In an Oct. 18 Zoom community meeting hosted by the YCC’s health and safety team, students logged on to share their experiences with Yale Hospitality. According to YCC Health and Safety Policy Director Jordi Bertrán Ramírez ’24, who ran the meeting alongside YCC senators Mahesh Agarwal ’24 and Viktor Shamis-Kagan ’24, students on the call shared a variety of opinions and suggestions. 

Pandemic-related concerns were central to the conversation. Bertrán Ramírez said that some students contrasted COVID-19 safety policies in the dining halls to those in other areas of University life — like the performing arts — and labeled dining restrictions as “lax.” 

Bertrán Ramírez recalled that one student expressed safety concerns about operating dining halls at full capacity and took the position that while the Yale community’s cases are currently low, they are not low enough to warrant full-capacity dining. According to Bertrán Ramírez, that student said they are taking additional personal precautions as a result and typically refrain from eating in the dining halls.

According to Courtney, Yale Hospitality’s service standards were “tailored” to meet both Yale’s public-health restrictions and “key stakeholder requests for service modifications.”

Bertrán Ramírez said that to-go boxes were one source of frustration at the meeting. In recent weeks, both Commons and the residential college dining halls have adjusted their to-go box policies, asking students to first assemble their meal on a plate and then transfer the food to a box, a process some students called an “inconvenience.”

Among the suggestions generated at the meeting was a proposal to offer more individually-packaged food options, including nut butters and yogurts in individual packages, rather than in communal tubs.

A draft of a YCC policy proposal obtained by the News crafted recommendations for Yale Hospitality based on students’ concerns from the Oct. 18 meeting. The proposal broke down recommendations by category: swipe policies and transparency, residential college dining halls, Commons and specialty cafes. 

Swipe policies and dining hours

The swipe policies section of the draft posed questions about the value of a meal swipe and whether a swipe carries equivalent value across the venues at which it may be used. The proposal also questioned whether the University is “underfeeding students to make a profit.” 

A Yale Hospitality spokesperson did not respond to the News’ request for comment on the critique.   

According to Courtney, the value of a lunch swipe is equivalent across Yale Hospitality’s dining options — residential college dining halls, Commons and cafes like the Bow Wow and Steep — and one option is “not more advantageous than the other.”

The YCC proposal recommended implementing a policy of allowing meal swipes to “roll over” and accumulate across multiple days if not fully expended on any given day. 

Another section of the proposal was concerned with residential college dining hall schedules. Yale Hospitality’s current policies create “inequity in dining,” the proposal asserted, because students’ class schedules “[determine] how much food [they] eat.” 

“Our dining halls continue to be a focal point to support the values of community-building and more within the residential college system,” Senior Director of Residential Dining Robert Sullivan wrote. “Because of that, Yale Hospitality’s meal plans are diligently centered around this model.” 

In previous years, students were allowed to swipe into two different residential college dining halls during the same lunch period. This year, students are only able to swipe in once.

According to Courtney, the double lunch swipe policy was eliminated because of the development of the current meal plan options. These options offer increased flexibility for Yale affiliates, including to-go offerings and SmartMeals, Courtney wrote.

The proposal also recommended staggering dining hall hours to ensure that at least one dining hall is open at all times throughout the day. It also emphasized that any change in dining hall hours should not come at the expense of Yale Hospitality’s staff members. As an alternative to extending dining hall hours, the proposal recommended setting up vending machines around campus that accept meal swipes and offer options like sandwiches and salads.

Another recommended change in the proposal draft is to extend the hours during which the Bow Wow accepts lunch swipes until 5 p.m. Currently, the residential college dining halls accept lunch swipes between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., while Commons and the Bow Wow accept them between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. — a policy that sparked frustration from some students earlier in the semester. Such an expansion would enable students who have consecutive classes from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. to still use their lunch swipe.

The proposal draft also asserted that the Bow Wow is “up-charging” students for food, beverage and sundries, sometimes “up to 200 [percent].”

Adam Millman, senior director of retail, catering and auxiliaries, wrote in a statement to the News that the Bow Wow’s pricing model is consistent with those at other on-campus retail dining locations. Millman noted that among the Bow Wow’s “number of options” is a combination meal that includes bottled water, fresh fruit, chips and either a sandwich or a salad. 

“In addition, curated snacks only available at this location offer a diverse combination of better-for-you, local items paired with a taste of some global-inspired standout indulgences,” Millman wrote.

Commons

The section of the draft focused on Commons proposed a variety of recommendations, such as expanding beverage options to include a drink fountain, a coffee machine and tea offerings. Among the other recommendations were incorporating dessert into the value of a Commons meal swipe and setting out fruit baskets. The proposal also asserted that Commons’ single-dish offerings are not “always [completely] nutritionally sound” and suggested offering a salad bar.

Maurice Harris, director of marketing and communications for the Schwarzman Center, called Yale Hospitality’s expansion of dining options beyond the residential college dining halls “truly impressive.”

“While [Schwarzman] staff cannot speak to the University’s meal plan program, we believe the acceptance of lunch swipes at Commons and The Bow Wow helps ensure that students have access to healthy meals and a place for all to forge connections as part of a campus dining experience,” Harris wrote in a statement to the News. 

Another element of the proposal concerned Commons’ policy of providing only one serving of a dish in exchange for one meal swipe. While additional portions can be purchased with meal plan points, Eli Bucks and credit cards, the proposal asserts that this policy may disadvantage student-athletes and other students whose dietary needs require them to consume larger portions. 

Sullivan wrote in a statement to the News that in contrast to the “all-you-care-to-eat operational format” of the residential college dining halls, Yale Hospitality’s retail operations provide a “complementary experience for our Yale community with unique offerings and opportunities.” Commons’ design is geared towards a single point-of-service model that features a “variety of signature dishes,” Sullivan wrote.

According to the draft, the YCC will also recommend keeping Commons open during dinner hours. Such a change could both offset crowding in residential college dining halls and provide  “reliable fish and tofu [options]” for students who do not consume meat for religious or dietary reasons, the proposal stated.

Expanding food options

One section of the draft asserted that students enrolled in classes that meet further from central campus — in the School of Management or the Divinity School, for example — are at a disadvantage when it comes to convenient dining options. The proposal encouraged Yale Hospitality to expand the list of dining locations that accept meal swipes to include those venues further from the heart of campus.

Besides the Schwarzman Center’s venues, Yale Hospitality’s other retail platforms include Steep Cafe at the Yale Science Building, Ramen at Becton Hall and Charley’s Place at the School of Management. There are seven additional retail locations. 

“The options should be equal in quantity and quality,” YCC Events Director Diba Ghaed ’24 said. “Students shouldn’t be forced to spend money they might not have to eat out because either there just wasn’t enough food or because the hours don’t match up with their course schedule.”

Ghaed added that changes like those recommended in the YCC’s proposal draft — including extended hours, supplementary options for students with allergy-, preference- or religion-based dietary restrictions and increased leniency — would “help ensure that students are happy, well fed and getting the most out of their meal plans.”

Construction began on the Schwarzman Center in 2017 and the center opened its doors during the fall 2021 semester.