Students will most likely not have to make a mandatory transition to the Ivy Unlimited dining plan, according to senior vice president of capital planning and campus operations Josh Keniston.
At Dartmouth Student Government’s weekly meeting on April 7, Dartmouth Dining director Jon Plodzik announced a proposal to revise the Ivy Unlimited meal plan, according to past reporting by The Dartmouth. The new plan generated controversy on campus — Dartmouth Student Government sent a letter to both the president’s office and the student body on April 13 opposing the new meal plan.
According to DSG’s campus-wide email, the proposal would introduce three versions of the Ivy Unlimited plan — each with unlimited meal swipes into the Class of 1953 Commons and varying Dining Dollars — and mandate one of the three for freshmen, sophomores and juniors. The unlimited dining plan is currently required only for first-year students, according to the Dartmouth Dining website. The DSG letter argued that the proposed plans would “lack sufficient meal equivalency values” and fail to address issues of food insecurity.
Following the April 7 meeting, however, Keniston told The Dartmouth that — though the proposal at large is not “firm” or “definitive” — the College is unlikely to mandate the unlimited plan.
“We’re actually very much thinking that we’re not going to mandate everyone be on a certain plan,” Keniston said. “… The conversation is more around how we can make dining better, and how we can make it work for everyone.”
He added that Dartmouth Dining has worked with DSG, a food advisory group, the Greek Council and a food and security working group to determine which changes to implement. Currently, the College is “exploring and looking for feedback” on issues such as all-you-can-eat Late Night dining and meal swipe equivalencies, Keniston said.
Plodzik added that “no decisions have been made” about the details of a new meal plan in an email statement to The Dartmouth.
“Senior leadership of the College and the Student Government are looking at modifications of the current meal plan offerings,” Plodzik wrote.
At the April 7 DSG meeting, Plodzik said Dartmouth Dining may update the unlimited plan to include a $150 increase in Dining Dollars and raise the Dining Dollar value of a swipe. The proposed changes to the meal plan would also make ’53 Commons Late Night dining all-you-can-eat, add 100 seats to ’53 Commons and expand swipes to all dining locations, according to the email from DSG.
Keniston explained that consulting with DSG members helped provide clarity on their priorities in the program’s development.
“We met again [on Wednesday] with a group of representatives from the Dartmouth Student Government to discuss the pros and cons of various improvements and changes that are being evaluated for the meal plan,” Keniston wrote in a follow-up statement. “We will be working with DSG over the next few weeks to arrange an additional opportunity to gather student input before any plan is finalized.”
According to student body vice president Kiara Ortiz ’24, Dean of the College Scott Brown and other senior College leaders attended the meeting.
Ortiz said addressing student food insecurity has been one of DSG’s priorities. DSG members JJ Dega ’26 and Anthony Fosu ’24 are part of a College task force that deals with food insecurity and have been “able to provide student input and perspectives” into the decision-making process, she added.
“We had concerns because we didn’t know whether this proposal was supposed to [specifically address] food insecurity, and how we could better integrate student feedback and perspective,” Ortiz said.
Student body president Jessica Chiriboga ’24 said DSG is focused on collecting information to best represent student perspectives.
“We are ultimately dedicated to representing all undergraduate students, and part of that is gathering more information on what this proposed change [could mean],” she said. “This process of gathering information and talking to relevant decision makers is important for us so that we are able to provide feedback before anything is implemented.”
Some students said it is difficult to afford the food they want on their current meal plans.
“When you want a meal other than [’53 Commons], such as Collis Cafe or [Courtyard Cafe], it’s hard to get a drink without spending a lot of money,” Eugene Park ’27 said. “Usually, I try to preserve my DBA by going to [’53 Commons] as much as I can. But, sometimes, you just don’t feel [like eating at ’53 Commons].”
Elisaveta Samoylov ’26 said meal swipes often do not cover the cost of a full meal at dining locations aside from ’53 Commons.
“For breakfast, a lot of times a swipe just doesn’t cover what you get at Novack for breakfast,” Samoylov said.
Helen Cui ’27 said it can be challenging to find healthy options on campus for a reasonable price.
“None of these [proposed changes] address the issue that a cup of strawberries is [around] $6 at the Hop, or that there aren’t [more] options for food in our main library,” Cui said. “[There] isn’t enough healthy food in a lot of our dining locations.”
Park added that some of the proposed changes to dining might be beneficial for students.
“Unlimited Late Night sounds really good,” Park said. “The fact that the student government is trying to voice our opinion is awesome.”
