By Lauren Cherry, News Editor

Published Oct. 8, 2014

Are you okay with someone else telling you how to spend your money?

Well, apparently, UNCG Dining finds it perfectly acceptable to dictate how students are allowed to use their meal plans.

A policy has been put in place to limit the amount of guests that a student can swipe into the dining hall.

Students with the Spartan Unlimited meal plan, of course, cannot swipe in guests.

Students with block plans that come with a declining balance of flex and a set number meal swipes per semester can have as many guests as their heart desires.

This last part is what ticks me off; Students with Spiro 15 or Charlie’s 10 (15 or 10 meals per week, respectively) can only swipe in one guest per meal.

What? UNCG is telling us how to spend what is essentially a gift card that we have purchased?

The policy has only been in place for a few weeks, though my friend and I were told that UNCG has always had this policy.

That’s a lie.

This is my third year at this school and I find it hard to believe that as a well-informed journalist and student that I missed the notification of such a policy for two whole years.

My advice to dining services for the next idiotic policy they cook up would be to not insult my intelligence by attempting to cover themselves with something like, “Oh, well that’s always been the policy, ma’am”.

No sir, I am not buying it.

Now my meal plan comes with $750/flex with no meal swipes.

I mean, seriously, I’m now forced to pay $8 for overcooked and oily vegetables that are completely devoid of any nutritional value.

It’s a “caf-tastrophe.”

Sometimes my friend will offer to swipe myself and another friend in for a meal.

It is convenient for her so she can get the most value out of her meal plan which comes with 10 meal swipes that expire at the end of each week.

When we walked into the caf last week, we saw a sign by the cashier stating that she could only have one guest per meal. I was appalled.

What gives dining the right to say that some students can have one guest and others may have unlimited guests?

At first, we were told by Director of Fountain View Dining, John Eddings, that it was to prevent everyone at the end of the semester with leftover meal swipes from swiping in a ridiculous amount of guests for which their facilities would not have enough food for.

That’s another lie.

With all of the food that is inevitably wasted in a buffet style setting, such as the caf, I know they have enough food to serve, especially when we, or our parents, have already paid for it.

Should I mention the fact that those with 10 or 15 meals per week will not have leftover meal swipes at the end of  the semester but can only have one guest while those with, say the Gold 117 pack, will most likely have plenty meals left over and are able to swipe in as many guests as they want?

Really, that’s irrelevant because regardless of what meal plan you have, if you have extra meal swipes you should be able to swipe in whomever you chose because it is YOUR MONEY.

The real reason for this policy, according to Resident District Manager, Kevin Deans is to prevent hazing amongst sororities and fraternities.

Apparently, some pledges in the past have been required of their organizations to swipe in upperclassmen sisters and brothers using their meal plans.

Oh. Okay, thank you Mr. Deans. Now everything makes perfect sense.

You have a hazing problem that occurs within a percentage of the school’s population so you decide to take it out on the rest of the students who may or may not have meal plans but don’t participate in hazing or Greek life.

I am sure that the people responsible for hazing in their Greek organizations will automatically halt all forms of hazing just because you will not allow this particular form the dining hall.

Thanks for clearing that up. Way to go and what a great way to deal with this issue!

That totally makes much more sense than actually working to find solutions with the presidents of individual sororities and fraternities or perhaps the presidents of the governing bodies over Greek organizations, such as the College Pan-Hellenic Council or the National Pan-Hellenic Council, for example.