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Hard News Story 1
Flexed Out: Meal Plan Changes Coming to University
By Eric Jensen (The Chronicle, Student Life)
Meal plans are changing on the University of Utah Campus. New meal plans significantly slash the amount of flex bucks students will have to spend starting next fall. Flex bucks are a virtual capital students can use at a variety of different locations on campus.
The current 18- meals per week plan at the University of Utah has $400 flex bucks on it. In 2020 with proposed meal plan changes starting next fall that amount would be halved to $200 a semester. Along with decreasing flex bucks comes lower meal plan prices. The 18-meals per week plan will drop from $5,001 to $4,425. Across the board meal plan prices are dropping. Part of the dropping of flex is also due to the fact there will be more places on campus that will now accept meal swipes. Still some students and student leaders are unhappy with the changes. While others view it as a positive.
Above are the proposed meal plan changes for the 2020-2021 academic year.
Flex bucks are being cut back because according to Barb Remsburg, who negotiated the new dining plans with Chartwells Dining Services, because students simply had to many of them.
“Students provided direct feedback that they felt like they were wasting their flex dollars at the end of the year. They would have preferred a lower cost meal plan with few flex dollars than a higher cost meal plan and have to “binge spend” at the end of the year” said Remsburg.
Most meal plan costs will go down in 2020. The four weekly meal plans of 10, 15, 18, and 21 meals per week will all decrease in price an average of $858.25. A goal for Remsburg to make dining on campus more affordable.
Remsburg had four goals in reviewing the new meal plans one of which was to “Evaluate the cost of the meal plans to ensure accessibility” according to remsburg.
Though some involved in the project, namely student leaders like Nick Tygesen who is the Lassonde Dining Chair, are against the cutting of flex bucks.
“I have seen that Flex Dollars are one of the best parts of the meal plans. Students like having the ability to eat almost anywhere on campus and knowing how much they have” says Tygesen, who is against the proposed meal plan changes.
In fact, if Tygesen were to have negotiated the new plan he would have focused on adding more flex bucks.
“If I could have it my way I would move to 100% Flex Dollar meal plans” Tygesen believes flex bucks give students more options of where they want to eat.
The counter to this idea though that is with new meal plans students will be able to use their meal swipes in more places than just the dining hall.
“The U of U meal plan flex dollars increased several years ago when students were not able to transfer a meal on campus” said Remsburg.
The New dining plan allows students to use transfer meals all over campus now instead of just in the dining halls.The Union Food Court, The Hive, Miller Café, Honors Market, Crimson Corner, Union: Crimson View and Food Court, Student Life, The Hive, Peterson Heritage Center and Kahlert Village will all now accept transfer meals. So students will have more options on where they use their meal swipes.
Nathan Jackson, a student who uses his meal plan every day sees the upside of the proposed changes.
“For me personally I don’t mind the amount of flex dollars going down. Just simply because if more areas are opening up to actually using meal swipes and that reduces the amount I would need to use flex dollars” said Jackson.
Not all students feel this way about the proposed changes though. Claire Stanley uses flex bucks every day and doesn’t like the plan.
“I don’t like it at all, I don’t think that’s going to be popular, and I know my friends and I all use flex more than transfer meals” Stanley said.
Megan Becklin is split on the subject.
“I don’t know, I use them (flex bucks) pretty strategically” Becklin said. She uses them mainly for toppings on her acai bowls at the gym. She doesn’t know how many she has left but she likes the option.
Clearly there are mixed feelings when it comes to new meal plans coming in 2020 on the Utah campus. The goal is clear though, make it more affordable for students to live on campus by reducing meal plan prices. Even if it means cutting down the amount of flex money students have to spend.
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2,977 Americans were killed on September 11th 2001 in one of the deadliest terror attacks in American history. 21,492 Americans have been killed by COVID 19 (commonly known as the Corona Virus). The disease has been 10 times more deadly than the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001 and created one of the greatest American tragedies to date forever changing the way we will go about our lives in American society.
According to the CDC the United States has had 554,849 COVID 19 cases and 21,942 deaths. That within the span of just over two months. Since that time businesses, churches, and even sports leagues have shut down or moved workers to a remote schedule. Due to these massive societal changes its easy to wonder, when this is all over how will the American public have changed? According to several history professors at the University of Utah the answer to that question is complicated.
Salience is a word associated with the mass changes in society right now. What is salience? It’s a term history scholar use when referring to protest and societal change. It means that a problem has arisen to the point that it can no longer be ignored in our day to day lives.
“One of the keys to protest and activism is Salience. That is – a problem may have existed for years or suddenly arises. We often live easily with problems. But, Salience means that we now realize that a problem threatens our well-being: our lives, income, or health. The problem now absorbs our attention. This is the spark to seeking information, guidance, and solution. “Said PHD, History Professor from the University of Utah Bob Goldberg.
Protest is often important because it forces societal and political change in the United States. If no one votes, nothing changes, and without protest the national awareness of an issue is never fully brought to the forefront of the American psyche.
“Protest is not an everyday, ordinary action. People live in habit; they follow daily routine. It takes much to move someone off the couch or out of the rat mazes of work and play.” Said Goldberg
A mass tragedy like this can force people to change though. With medical professionals like Dr. Anthony S. Fauci predicting massive death tolls from COVID 19, this will go down in history as one of the greatest American tragedies the United States has ever faced.
“The top government scientists battling the coronavirus estimated Tuesday that the deadly pathogen could kill between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans, in spite of the social distancing measures that have closed schools, banned large gatherings, limited travel and forced people to stay in their homes. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, and Dr. Deborah L. Birx, who is coordinating the coronavirus response, displayed that grim projection at the White House on Tuesday, calling it “our real number” via The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/world/coronavirus-live-news-updates.html
Despite those alarming numbers there is still the question of when the American people will speak out and protest the flaws that have emerged in the infrastructure of the United States. A question Matthew Basso Professor of History and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Utah poses.
“The bigger questions are how long, in what ways, and who has to change and who gets to change.” Said Basso.
Expanding on this line of thinking Basso explains what he means by who gets to change.
“While folks who are in economically precarious straits have been forced to change their routines in many ways, like the rest of us. they also have been required to do things that many folks who have privilege have not had to do. This might mean doing certain kinds of work or trying to access food, shelter, and health care through avenues that are extremely trying.” Said Basso.
According to Basso protest needs to be thought of as a form of privilege that not everyone has necessarily. Especially those in the lower class. Everyone has been affected by this but the lower class has been hit particularly hard.
“The US government needs a response to the coronavirus that prevents people from having to choose between a missed paycheck and risking their and their families’ health,” said Lena Simet, senior poverty and inequality researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The government should target its economic stimulus packages to the low-income communities that will be hit first and hardest, and ensure an adequate standard of living for all.” Via Human Rights Watch https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/19/us-address-impact-covid-19-poor#
Those lower-class workers who work in retail, hospitality, childcare and many other fields cannot necessarily work from home. They are also in the segment of the population that can’t afford to lose their jobs.
This crisis has a direct impact on those workers and that according to Basso is something that can immediately affect change.
“It depends if the events directly impact the U.S. or not, and it also depends on which American public you’re talking about. We are a country that often sees itself as a super power or even as the center of the global community.” Said Basso
He expands on how mass tragedies like this affect all segments of the population and urges others to take a broader view.
“It is crucial to remember to not always center the majority white settler population in this equation. Millions of recent immigrants to the U.S. not only work incredibly hard, often at difficult jobs, but they also stay connected to the communities they emigrated from. That does not make them any less American, it only means they often have a more worldly view. These folks will be far more drastically influenced by world altering events in parts of the world they emigrated from than will be others in the U.S.” said Basso.
PHD History professor at the University of Utah Danielle Olden also points out that it is important to keep the current situation in context.
“We tend to think of things as unique but usually there are parallels in history.” Said Olden.
Olden points out it is important to look at history in context. Mass tragedies cause different reactions she points out.
“If we’re talking about the Great Depression, then yes. If we’re talking about any number of school shootings, then no.” Said Olden.
Olden also points out that after other mass health crises have not generated much societal response either.
“There was not much major societal change after the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed roughly 50 million people worldwide, including about 675,000 Americans. Things kind of just want back to normal and over time people forgot about how awful it was. This is one of the reasons the U.S. was so woefully unprepared for the current pandemic.” Said Olden.
That said the massive economic effect this COVID 19 crisis could have on the American population could force massive societal and political change. Olden points out that FDR’s New Deal emerged from the great depression and was one of the most sweeping changes of the way government functions the nation had ever seen.
So how might students affect change in this crisis? Olden offers the context that this is not the first-time schools have been shut down for public health crises and that times now will affect how students are able to adapt in the current landscape.
“There are a lot of examples of when schools got shut down, usually for some kind of public health crisis. And again, these students did not have the benefit of the internet. This current situation is certainly a prominent example and, depending on how long things remain shut down, it may turn out to be unique in some way. But generally, this really isn’t much different. What is different is the experience. That is, students out of school today are having a much different experience than students in past public health crises.” Said Olden.
This is certainly an example of salience, so how will this affect student protest? Goldberg posits that students have only been on the edge of protest a select few times throughout history.
“Students have only been in the forefront of activism in select times: 1930s anti-war, 1960s Civil Rights Movement and Anti-Vietnam movement. Note: how powerfully salient these events were to those ages 18-25.” Said Goldberg.
Basso backs up what Goldberg has to say. Students usually only come to change things when it directly affects their lives.
“Depends on the change, but students tend to be pretty resilient and also to internalize the lessons of the major event they go through as young people.” Said Basso
COVID 19 has certainly affected students. A majority of colleges in the United States have transitioned into online formats.
However, this is a change, especially at the University of Utah, that may not stick long term according to Cameron Vakilian Academic Advisor Department of Communication at Utah.
“I think it may prepare us to offer more online options and assess the success of those online courses, but I imagine the University will shift back to in-person learning environments.” Said Vakilian.
Citing that some teachers are not used to teaching online and most students prefer the in-person formatting of classes. Vakilian expands on some of the challenges students are currently facing during this crisis.
“Some students may choose to put their education on hold because of difficult circumstances such as losing a job, caring for a sick family member, or taking on more work to make up for the economic hardship. However, some may choose to focus more on their education because of losing a job and not immediately being hired somewhere else in the workforce.” Said Vakilian
These challenges are the hardships that Basso is referring to. The type of salient moments in student’s lives that could potentially cause protest and real societal and political change.
It is up to students though to make that change. Perhaps Goldberg is right perhaps students won’t go out to the polls and vote.
“Note, those ages 18-30 vote in less numbers than those older.” Said Goldberg.
In the end, history is instructive but it doesn’t directly provide a look into the future. It can help us learn from our mistakes but only if we chose to listen to it. In the end only time will provide the answer to the question, how will this change us?
Writing for Daily Utah Chronicle, University of Utah’s Student Newspaper.
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