The demise of union food
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The Wildcat has an article out today concerning campus-area restaurants wanting the ability to accept CatCards as a method of payment. For those of you outside the University of Arizona, the CatCard is our official ID card. There’s a "SmartChip" on which one can load money for dorm laundry, and a magnetic stripe on the back for use with security doors or the Arizona Student Unions meal plans.
Ultimately, the manager of Arizona Bookstores–a private textbook vendor with two locations just outside campus–put it best. The CatCard’s lack of compatibility with off-campus restaurants and supermarkets is Arizona Student Unions’ best friend. Parents of incoming freshmen will load bewteen $1,650 and $2,850 onto the plan expecting the student to eat that much food from the union throughout the year. Then the freshmen discover that, yes, Panda Express gets old after eating it for dinner every night for a week despite a discount and sales tax elimination on every purchase. The freshman who ends up not using up the plan has the option of either making a large involuntary donation to Arizona Student Unions’ deficit fund or holding very large pizza parties in the dorms.
Outsiders please note: the University of Arizona has no actual "dining hall." Rather, it’s just a bunch of restaurants mostly within a couple of food courts.
Imagine a world where the Union people shut up about mandatory meal plans or union fees (link outdated) and are actually forced to improve the food. That might start with telling ASUA (the student government) to pay for its space within the union. The current situation between the two only gives the Union more financial trouble and more justification for charging mandatory fees for bad food.
Previous related satire:
The Mandatory Meal Plan: In Support of Equality
