Student Life Committee Minutes
December 1, 1999
Present: Kris Bartanen, Heather Douglas, Patrick Geile, Jim Jasinski, Terry Mace, Carol Smith,
Kyra Riste-Pater, Carrie Washburn
Guest: Bruce Bechtle
Jasinski convened the group shortly after 1:00 p.m. The purpose of the meeting was to overview
the dining services with the director of dining services, Bruce Bechtle. Jasinski overviewed our
charge to review student services and the response of students relating to dining services.
Washburn said that the main concern raised by student response was the point allocation system
and that the committee needed to understand the philosophy and development of the point
system.
Bechtle then described the overall theory of the system, the way in which it works in practice, and
some problems that are being addressed. The system's purpose is to promote an opportunity for
the students to purchase food at a wholesale price. The dining services' financial goal is to break
even. The way in which this is accomplished is by having two different kinds of charges in the
point system. The first kind of charge is a flat fee for all on-campus meal plans that covers the
overhead costs for dining services. Overhead costs are labor costs and do not include loss due
to theft in the dining hall. The overhead costs are calculated by dividing the total overhead cost
by 2400, the number of plans purchased. The second kind of charge is the set of points that
students purchase for the food. The points cover the cost of the food materials.
Cash prices differ from point prices because those who do not buy point plans do not pay the
overhead fee. Thus the cash prices reflect the cost of the food plus the cost of preparation,
whereas the point prices reflect only the price of the food materials. This means that depending
on the amount of preparation needed for the food, point prices and cash prices will not
correspond to each other. Only when the levels of preparation needed are the same will the two
prices have the same ratio across foods. For example, prepackaged products with little overhead
will have similar point:cash ratios, whereas foods requiring much preparation will have a different
point:cash ratio.
Students are required to buy points only if they live in the residence halls. For all of the meal
plans (light, medium, heavy), the overhead fees are the same. The price in the plan is due only
to the different quantities of points. At the end of the term, unused points can be returned for
cash, an unusual feature of the Puget Sound system compared with other schools. Students off
campus are not required to buy points but are encouraged to do so. The off-campus point plans
do not include the overhead fee, as a way of encouraging students who live off-campus to eat oncampus.
Discussion then turned to the issue of the healthiness of the food. Geile noted that the food had
much improved in the past three years. Bechtle told the committee that there is currently no
nutritionist or dietician on staff at UPS. Riste-Pater noted that the vegan menus were often not
really vegan, with dairy products in the food. Bechtle said this issue was being addressed and
that they were trying to clarify what vegan meant. Washburn noted that every year Prelude has
8-12 students requesting vegan meals (meaning no animal products) and they have responded
with making vegan pizzas. Riste-Pater asked whether there was some way in which students
could know what is in the food, and Bechtle responded that the dining services was moving
towards having recipes available on-line.
Washburn asked whether the food pricing system could be used to promote healthier eating
habits among students, by discounting healthy foods, for example. Bechtle responded that while
this is possible, it raises a difficult set of issues. One must be able to justify such a pricing policy
to students, and there is no agreed upon method for weighing nutritional value. In addition, such
a program would inhibit personal preferences and individual choice.
Bartanen raised the issue of students being uncertain about how many points they should spend
in a day. Bechtle responded that students currently learn by doing, and that many burn through
their points too quickly at the Cafe and at the Cellar. One way to address this problem would be
to have information in the dining plan brochure about where point values should be at certain
points in the term. Jasinski asked whether students have a hard time selecting plans, and
Bechtle responded that dining services tries to give advice to anyone that calls and that points
can be added to the plan at any point in the term with no additional overhead charge.
Jasinski then asked how students can give feedback to dining services. Bechtle then described
several methods for how students can give feedback, from e-mail and office visits, to the Food
and Safety Committee of ASUPS, which meets every Wednesday at 1 p.m. in 201 Wheelock and
is open to all students. Feedback is also received from Health and Wellness, student
newspapers, and the message board. Smith asked what the purpose of the rotating gates is, and
Bechtle responded that they are to reduce theft which is a big problem in the dining services, but
not included in the overhead fee.
The committee thanked Bechtle for his time and insight at the meeting. Bartanen then passed
out information on Health and Wellness for the committee's consideration in preparation for the
next meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 1:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Heather Douglas