Tenzin Jorden

Yale Hospitality is set to remove “hot lunches” from five residential college dining halls after spring break, according to the Yale College Council.

Anna Krans ’27, YCC dining director, told the News that at a meeting with Yale Hospitality, the team was told traditional “hot lunches” in Timothy Dwight, Pierson, Davenport, Trumbull and Jonathan Edwards dining halls will be phased out after spring break. Instead, these dining halls will adopt a “Power Lunch,” consisting of options such as sandwiches, vegan burgers, greens and grain bowls.

In addition, according to Krans, seven residential colleges will begin providing “Breakfast Express,” which would include additional breakfast items such as scones, chocolate tahini banana bread and espresso.

In an email to the News, Yale Hospitality wrote, “Yale Hospitality continues to adjust service levels to align with evolving demand and utilization across campus. Yale Hospitality has been working collaboratively with the Yale College Dean’s Office on these adjustments. Communications about this are slated to go out this week.” 

“It’s difficult to imagine students in the affected colleges being able to form lasting memories over a ‘power lunch,’” Krans wrote. “Beyond breaking a ‘long tradition,’ removing standard lunch service from these five colleges imposes a hierarchy upon the residential college system itself.”

According to Krans, Timothy Dwight, Trumbull, Pierson, Davenport and Jonathan Edwards, would also move dinner from 5-7:30 p.m. to 5:30-8 p.m. on Monday through Thursday.

YCC President Mimi Papathanasopoulos ’26 and Vice President Esha Garg ’26 expressed disappointment in response to the changes.

“Students are deeply and rightfully concerned,” Papathanasopoulos and Garg wrote in a joint statement to the News, “If true, this will create inequities within the residential college system and will worsen overcrowding in unaffected dining halls. Major dining changes require clear justification and direct student input before implementation.”

According to Papathanasopoulos and Garg, the YCC has contacted the administration and plans to advocate for transparency and student consultation regarding future administrative decisions.

Kyan Ramsay ’27, a senator from Berkeley College said at the YCC meeting that he believes the removal of current “hot lunches” could be a segue into the removal of lunch as a whole from certain colleges.

In response to these alleged changes, Krans proposed an open letter at this past Sunday’s YCC meeting. As of Feb. 24, the letter has been signed by 21 YCC senators and over 70 non-senator students.

The letter, addressed to University President Maurie McInnis, Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis and Yale Hospitality, details student dismay at “cost-cutting changes made without transparency to students, faculty, and staff” of Yale. It cites changes such as Schwarzman Commons Center’s closure on Fridays and the removal of to-go boxes from residential college dining halls as other cuts that have continued “as both the cost of our meal plans and items at retail locations have risen.”

In protest, Krans proposed that the student body “may choose not to host prospective first-years in all of our residential colleges for Bulldog Days,” an admitted student pre-orientation program which will be held from April 21-23.

“A Yale where residential colleges have unequal dining options is not one we are proud to share with prospective students,” Krans wrote, “We hope you will reconsider your decision to fundamentally alter the residential college experience for the worse.”

Yale has 14 residential colleges.