After finishing meals at Boston University’s Fresh Food Co. dining hall, College of General Studies sophomore Elliott Gordon said he often wraps up an extra sandwich to store in his West Campus dorm for late-night hunger pangs.
“I figure I’m paying for any dining hall food I eat,” he said, noting that buying supermarket food for his room gets expensive. “I never use all the meals on my plan anyway, so it evens out.”
Gordon’s attitude toward hoarding extra food from the dining hall marks an trend that worries Dining Services Director Joshua Hubbard, among other BU administrators. According to Hubbard, taking that extra sandwich is considered theft and the dining plan aims to feed students during meals – not provide extra food.
“We realize that everyone is under a huge time crunch,” he said. “We’ve designed the program to allow dessert or a piece of fruit to leave the dining hall. But taking more than that is abusing the privilege.”
Students living in dormitory-style residences are required to purchase a dining plan, which range in price from $3,630 to $3,990 depending on the number of meals alotted for each semester each semester.
Hubbard said he finds it “unfortunate” that students seem to feel a sense entitlement to excess food.
“Where else in your life would you feel it’s OK to take something extra just because you believe you’re overpaying?” he said. “When you buy an [expensive] pair of jeans, do you feel entitled to a pair of socks with it?” But are campus dining halls comparable to businesses like clothing stores, food markets and restaurants?
“Yes,” BU spokesman Colin Riley said. “We’re a business and we run very efficiently. There is a cost of doing business and that is perceived as negative by a lot of students. It’s the only way this university, as a private institution, can operate.
“Our business is higher education,” he continued. “That includes providing dining halls.”
Ethics professor Daniel Dahlstrom said the rules pertaining to extra food must be made clear for people to consciously obey or disobey them.
“If people agree to play by clearly stated rules,” Dahlstrom said, “then it’s unethical to break that contract.
“There are a lot of things I think are unfair in the system,” he continued, “such as paying so many taxes. But if I agree to it, I have to do it.”
Some students said they feel it’s acceptable to take extra food because of a popular assumption that a standard fee is tacked to the price of dining plans.
Hubbard said contrary to these rumors, there is no extra or specific fee affixed to the dining plan that assumes monetary loss due to theft.
“Whatever is stolen must be absorbed through the dining program,” he said. “We don’t go about pricing the plans already assuming we have a bunch of thieves on our hands. We’d like to think everyone is responsible.”
While most students who take extra food from the dining hall do so in small amounts, Hubbard said he has witnessed students filling multiple plastic storage containers with cereals and other items.
In extreme situations, such as the storage container instances, Hubbard said he refers students to Judicial Affairs Director Daryl DeLuca.
“Ultimately that route is about real abuse,” he said. “More often, we just talk to the student and ask him or her to put the food back.”
Stolen silverware and dishes pose another problem for the dining halls. While breakage and inadvertent disposal of these items accounts for some of the loss, Hubbard said the dwindling supply is noticeable.
For students like CGS sophomore Lauren Stewart, drawing the line between stealing food and taking extra because of eating habits seems difficult.
“You’re entitled to eat however much you consider a meal,” she said. “For some people, that’s a very small amount. Is it immoral then for a bigger eater to go back for an extra sandwich?”
Stewart, who no longer has a dining plan, said while the different plans allow for flexibility, the dining situation wasn’t convenient for her.
“Between classes and practice,” the soccer player said, “it was a hassle to wait in long food lines or think ahead and order a bagged lunch.”
Hubbard said BU students should also be thankful because “BU has one of the most flexible programs” he’s ever come across.
“If you’re not eating all your meals,” he said, “switch your meal plan. Don’t steal to make up for it.”