Food: The source of nourishment required for people to live, grow, and create energy.
It is undeniably one of the most important aspects of our lives, which brings up an important question – why has Mason dining failed to uphold the basic needs and wants of the students this semester? It all started with drastic changes to the dining options on campus, such as a reduction to Pilot House’s well-loved menu, and Southside saying goodbye to being open on weekends and late nights. In addition to the deterioration of the dining options, the reality that meal plans were also made more expensive combined with increased prices all around the dining halls have made for a very unhappy group of patriots. All this lack of fairness and conveniency in the dining aspect of attending George Mason created an outrage among the campus community, leading to a petition.
Started at the beginning of the semester, it states “This petition is dedicated to bringing about reform to the Mason Dining! We want to bring back Pilot House, Southside on the weekends, and Late Night!!” This petition, created through change.org, garnered the support of over 800 students, and finally caught the attention of Mason Dining. On September 4th, Mason Dining announced that changes had been made to the student’s dining experience through a flyer entitled “you spoke, we heard.” The flyer, shown on Mason Dining’s website, Facebook and Twitter page, outlined the changes called upon by the student body. With Southside reverting back to its 24/7 status, Pilot House bringing back menu favorites, and Ike’s transitioning to new hours, a sigh of relief was heard across campus. Despite the changes, though, there still remains a level of unrest due to limitations on late-night dining places and meal plan prices. The Mason Dining system is still flawed, according to many students, but it seems that all that can be done has been done. For now, we will have to deal with these changes the best we can, and hope that in the coming months paying thousands of dollars for a meal plan will be worth it.
Sources:
http://www.change.org/p/gmu-mason-dining-changes-this-petition-is-dedica…