Campus Dining Services has reinstituted a program allowing students to take their professors to meals. Now, students and their professors can chat about the ’08 presidential election at Rathskeller, discuss Proust over the salad bar at Stevenson or debate wage price spirals while dining on fried chicken at Lord/Saunders.

While students can take as many professors as often as they want, professors can only go once a week, since they recieve only 14 meals per semester from CDS. Therefore, students will use one of their own meals to feed both themselves and their professors.

Michele Gross, director of Business Operations and Dining Services, explained this decision with: “Students never use up all of their meals.”

Currently, students may only take teaching professors, but if the program is successful it could expand to also include administration and other staff.

This program is not as easy for members of the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association. OSCA members receive one meal in CDS per week and some must use this meal to eat at a foreign language table to complete requirements for foreign language classes, rendering them unable to use their weekly meal to meet with a professor. After announcing the new program, Gross received some disgruntled e-mails from members of OSCA, but as of publication, there are no plans to address their concerns.

Gross explained that this program was reinstituted since it was a “very popular program many years ago, but because of belt-tightening [on budget] the funding for it was cut. When Marvin Krislov became president of Oberlin College, he thought a program like this would be a very good idea. With Krislov’s support, funding was not problematic and the program was easy to reestablish.”

Gross said she has received many e-mails from faculty, both new and old, applauding this decision.

As of Tuesday, Oct. 2, three meals have been eaten through the Student/Faculty meal plan, and feedback from students has been mixed.

“I can’t imagine using it, but I think it’s cool,” said first-year Shira Korn.

Others were less in favor. “I think it’s awkward,” said a source who wished not to be named. “I don’t know any of my professors well enough to ask them to lunch.”

First-year Sarah Axelrath commented, “If they were trying to get students to get to know their professors, why would they make students use their own meals?” Others saw the program as unnecessary.

“I think it’s weird that they have to tell you it’s okay to take your professors to lunch, that they have to have a program,” said first-year Erika Karsch. “It shouldn’t be a big deal.”

Junior Emelio DiSabato agreed: “It’s bizarre and stupid. There is no incentive for the students,” he said.

Only time will tell whether students and professors will take advantage of this new way to connect outside the classroom.