RACKHAM: Dining on Comm Ave.

It’s 6:30 p.m. and I can feel my stomach grumble as I watch Bobby Flay plate his grilled chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese with smoked chile cilantro sauce. It’s time to eat.  With my mouth watering and my mind set on having a delectable dinner, I almost cry when I realize what my options actually are. I’m too far away from the GSU, plus it closes absurdly early at 7 p.m., and I don’t feel like eating in the dining hall where it’s too deafening to even have a conversation.

All that’s left is ordering in. Usually I would jump for joy at the idea of eating food from a restaurant, but all that BU offers with the use of dining points is Papa John’s and Dominoes, and that’s no dinner at all.  In fact, if I have to eat one more slice of disgusting Dominoes pizza because I’m too penniless to use real money at a real dining establishment, I’m going to be sick. Realizing that I don’t really have much of a choice, I reluctantly go down to the dining hall with my roommate. I guess it’s another night of create-your-own stir-fry for me.

I don’t know how many times I’ve stood in the middle of the GSU staring blindly at the same old dining choices that I’ve been eating for two years.  I’m just plain bored of clam chowder, mixed salads and a Panda Express that doesn’t even have the Panda Bowl meal combo anymore (don’t even get me started on that).

My Terrier Card is loaded with a generous amount of dining points, but I have nowhere that I want to use them. If I heard someone complaining like I am I would probably tell them to be quiet and deal with what they’ve got, but the thing is, BU really has a chance to improve its meal selection and make its students much happier.  Commonwealth Avenue is lined with great places to eat, from Chipotle to Espresso Royale to UBurger, but alas, the only time I get to enjoy them is when I get my paycheck. You’d think that BU would have come up with some sort of agreement with the restaurants that help make up a lot of its campus, but instead, Raising Canes is the only one that accepts Terrier Cards.

Now, I don’t think it’s only me that would run to Chipotle if BU announced that we could use our parents’ money to buy some burritos, more specifically the money that BU already charges our parents for our supposedly delicious meals.

Actually, I think I would most likely be sprinting to the front of the line. Besides making us ravenous college students unbelievably happy and full, the food establishments would be making a lot more money – and I mean a lot.  So it seems as if the only part of this equation that is missing is BU. So how about it Boston University, are you ready to start making your students actually brag about this school’s dining selection?