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Show Page 9 Thursday, January 11,2007 M '• THE CHRONICLE'S VIEW , . :, I Chartwells ' charts out I f nothing else, Chartwells at least affords unacquainted U students some common groundWherever you go, whomever you ask, pretty much everybody shares at least one qualm about the Union Food Court or the Heritage Center buffet in the Residence Halls. i Some degree of culinary discontent is to be expected at a large institution, but Chartwells management and the U administration should still be receptive to mounting student concerns. According to a recent survey by Compass Group Loyalty, student satisfaction with the U's food-services has fallen for the third consecutive year—by a dramatic margin. Sadly, this news hardly portends change- Chartwells has little incentive for an extreme makeover. Even if legions of students march to University :Street, or choose to pack lunches as an alternative source of midday sustenance, the Chartwells locations are busy enough thoroughfare to ensure that their lines are always full (and slow) during bustling lunch hours. It doesn't matter what they're serving. Worse still, the U's policy of mandating meal plans is—quite literally—force-feeding students living in the Residence Halls. It's virtually impossible for them to dine at home with guests on a regular basis, as few possess friends loyal enough to endure the substandard Heritage Center cuisine at such a steep price ($8). The circumstances help make the decision to move out of the Residence : Halls easier for many U students. •. In the survey, "taste of food" received one "excellent" at the Heritage Center—out of 193 surveyed— ;as did "frequency of menu changes." Among the Swords used by survey respondents were "too dry," '"more plates," "fresher ingredients," "more va-' . . •• Jriety," "cooked bacon," "dishes noticeably dirty," ;"more meat," "not raw" and "make food warmer,'^ ; One student at the Heritage Center explained, ^Basically, I'm just giving you free money." : Echoing those fiscal concerns, a Union Food •' ' Xourt customer pleaded, "Lower the prices! We're Jpoor." •; The food court fared slightly better than the ; •Heritage Center, but that's not saying much. : "The veggie line is never busy—that should tell 'you something," wrote one student. Eating Pizza Hut is like having a trans-fat transtekd cold food is unappetizing. The spunky, carefree appearance. e ultimate question is: Will the Golden Rule ;prevail upon Chartwells management to do right ;by students? How can they be motivated to change '.without expecting financial windfalls? *; Chartwells management responded to the survey ^by stating, "As we grow more loyal customers, the 'responses in these top two ('excellent' and 'very ; good') areas will grow." : Hard to see where this increase in loyalty is go:ing to come from. The quality of Chartwells' food 'As substandard, and it has lost the trust of the student body. At this point, students are waiting for Jthe E. Coli equivalent of Chernobyl to bring about 'a higher bidder. -• , _ . \ ; As with other crucial areas of student interest— ^such as parking and health care—the U's administration continues to skirt the issue of improving *food services, choosing instead to perennially •explore alternatives. . •-,.,,-v {'• Hopefully, the advantages of having a well-fed ; student body will occur to Chartwells and/or ad;ministrators before long. Otherwise, we may begin r.to bite "the hand that feeds us. The problem out a Clnar+weNs survey • box -for JENNI ZALKIND/ The Dj,lv Utah Chronicle Is money an object for you? If rising tuition bothers you, get involved! T he acute, cancerous ineptitude of the U's student body never ceases to amaze me. Year after year, U students stand idly by in a cloud of vapor while the Utah State Legislature guts higher education funding and subsequently raises the U's tuition. In 2000, the cost of tuition for 12 hours.'after fees, was $1,220.40. Sounds reasonable, right? Seven years later, reason has disappeared. If you are taking 12 hours this semester, you are paying $1,983.85. This is a 62 percent increase, or $763.45. If tuition keeps increasing at current rates, the class of 2011 (freshman) will be paying more than $3,000 for 12 credit hours. College is already out of reach for countless young people in Utah and across the nation. If we allow tuition to rise at its current rate, then we are heading for catastrophe. Hopefully, many of us are asking how we can stop such a thing from happening, especially freshmen and sophomores! There is a motive behind this continuous gift of increased student debt from the Utah Legislature. To put it bluntly, U students really don't seem to give a damn—at least politically— about rising tuition costs. As long as we continue our political silence and never utter a word of protest to the Legislature, it will continue to raise our tuition and focus its priorities elsewhere. JAY RICHARDS I am not only suggesting direct action and protest against the Legislature. U students need to initiate some sort of dialogue with their representatives. Roughly 30,000 people live in an average Utah housing district. Despite this, a legislator thinks the entire district is revolting if they receive 20 personal e-mails or letters from people in his or her district about a single issue. One of the political benefits of the U student body is that we come from all over the Salt Lake Valley and parts of Davis County. We could jam three-fourths of the legislators' inboxes with e-mails demanding lower tuition. The Legislature is set to launch another financial missile toward our campus next Monday. Weekly, until Feb. 28, members of the Higher Education Appropriations Committee and the House and Senate Education Sub-committees will be meeting to set the fate of our future. We need to be in those meetings, raising hell and showing that we actually care about what happens at our school. Hopefully, Associated Students of the University of Utah Government Relations will be organizing students in letter-writing campaigns and trips to the Hill to demand more funding. If they are not, we need to demand it of them. The job description of ASUU Qovernment Relations Board reads, "The board is responsible for educating and mobilizing the student body in theur lobbying efforts and in raising political awareness on campus." (Ingrid Price is the current director of the ASUU Government Relations Board and can be reached at 5812788). In a perfect world, U students would have full control over our policies and agenda. Student body elections would be about higher education funding and working as a student body to make our community a better place to live. Real, deliberative Democratic control is the answer we are looking for. Until that happens, though, U students need to be proactive in the current process. We need to get over our passive, immature attitudes and step up. Then again, if you want to be paying $7,000 for tuition, just continue the present flaccid attitude and watch as your student debt reaches the atmosphere. It's your future. letters@ chronicle.utah.edu LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Gardiner is a lazy journalist Editor: Did Dustin Gardiner ("Animal rights group targets U researchers," Jan. 9) even ask U spokeswoman Coralie Adler why Utah Primate Freedom knows so little about the research? Lazy, lazy, lazy. When Jeremy Beckham requested that information, the U went to the government and had legislation passed to stop giving out that information. This is anti-Constitutional in itself. Taxpayer money is used for these experiments and citizens have a right to know how their money is being used. Did Gardiner talk to these protesters? I see tons of direct quotes from U spokeswoman Coralie Adler and Alessandra Angelucci and just a few direct quotes from the protesters. I guess citizens don't deserve direct quotes as much. Gardiner, really, what are you in journalism for? Is it for a paycheck, fame, prestige or just another job? The free press is meant to be the voice of citizens to check the actions of government, institutions, and corporations. This is lazy journalism, Gardiner. We need journalists who are watchdogs, not lapdogs. The public doe'sn't need journalists like you. Gardiner, please pick another career. Stewart N. Thorpe Salt Lake City, UT Consider the wisdom of common sense CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO -Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of The Daily Utah Chronicle Editorial Board. Signed editorials, editorial columns and letters to the editor are strictly the opinions of the author. The forum ''• created on the Opinion Page is one based on vigorous debate, while at the same lime demanding tolerance and respect. Material defamatory to an.individual or group because of race, ethnic background, religion, creed, gender, appearance or sexual orientation will be edited, or will not bd published. All letters to the editor will now be published online at www.dailyutaiwhronicle.com. Letters that the editor deems best represent those received will be printed in the newspaper as . well as online. \ . ...-..-•" Editor: Your article on vivisector Audie Leventhal ("Animal rights group targets U researchers," Jan. 9) addresses true matters of life and death. Because domestic abusers target the powerless, crimes against animals, spouses, and children often go handin-hand. Certainly, the more an individual such as Leventhal forces highly social and sensitive primates to suffer through painful experiments, the greater his desensitization to other people. Furthermore, on a logical level, I think we can all agree that animal testing is based on faulty science. When you get sick, you go to a doctor, not a veterinarian. So then why would experimenting on animals help find solutions to people's afflictions? The reality is that animal testing is a cruel and inaccurate Way to allow individuals to cash-in off the good intentions of people like you and me. In today's world of virtually unlimited choices, our continued exploitation of animals is simply unac- ceptable. We can eat better, educate ourselves better, clothe ourselves better and entertain ourselves better without torturing and killing animals. We have the power to spare animals excruciating pain by making better choices about the food we eat, the things we buy and the activities we support. For free stickers and info on what you can do to help, visit www. peta2.c0m. Pulin Modi Norfolk,. Virginia College Campaign Coordinator, Peta2.c0m |