Re: Campus food pantry relocates to Kellogg Hall
While I was glad to read that Dartmouth students can access the campus food pantry to supplement their culinary creativity without the burden of an expensive grocery bill, I was deeply troubled that, at a school as lavishly resourced as Dartmouth, some students remain food insecure.
During its 224th meeting in 2022, the Dartmouth Alumni Council, of which I am a member, gathered more than $1,000 in food and cash donations to stock that very food pantry. As we did, we learned a troubling fact: While the College gives all students on full financial aid a stipend large enough to purchase the unlimited dining plan, it does not require them to use the money for that purpose.
As well-intentioned as a policy of ‘free choice’ may be — and attempts to expand which students are required to purchase an unlimited plan have been opposed by both DSG and The Dartmouth’s Editorial Board — its results are cruel. Low-income students are left with an impossible decision: feed themselves adequately or remit their stipend money to support family needs back home. That’s no choice at all. Indeed, in 2022, a staggering 61% of high need students chose a smaller meal plan and pocketed the difference.
Alumni donate to Dartmouth because we love to see students thrive on campus academically, socially and personally. It’s hard for us to stomach the idea that those contributions may be diverted elsewhere. Dartmouth can — and should — issue the unlimited dining plan directly to needy students, bypassing the moral hazard of a cash stipend.
We would not conscience a policy that left our students homeless. We should not accept one that leaves them hungry.
Nathan Bruschi is a member of the Class of 2010 and serves as president of the Dartmouth Club of the Midwest. Letters to the Editor represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
