Demand change: eat at CDS

Not unlike the army, Oberlin College has a forced meal plan for anyone too lazy, unlucky or anything else to get off "bored," oops, make that "board" (motto: if something doesn't work, wait a month and try it again.) The people working in Campus Dining Services deserve a lot of credit for putting up with all the complaints and sarcasm, by the way. Especially when the problem is actually more a product of the rigid meal plan and lack of other choices. For those students who have "munch money" or cold hard cash, there is another option: the convenience store newly located in the Snack Bar dining area in Wilder. Unfortunately, being on board doesn't buy anything there. More unfortunate still, students aren't utilizing the store. There have, however, been reports of an M&M purchase. Slowly, the customers are trickling in.

"To dream the impossible dream" is to imagine board more along the lines of munch money: buy what you want, leave the rest to feed the bowels of hell or whatever it is CDS does with mass leftovers (a query in itself). More realistically, board could come in a variety of sizes: large (21 meals), for those people who eat breakfast regularly and medium (14 meals), for the rest of us. The question of a "small" size could be discussed at a later date.

Alas, Don Quixote's giants were only windmills, harmlessly rotating in an empty field. Somewhat akin to CDS, which appears at first glance to be the villian in this modern love story of an institution and the students that loved it. Upon closer inspection, too close at times, CDS is just the blade of a much stronger foe: the wind, no, wait, the administration. The point being, CDS is an easy and amusing target for sarcasm, but it is not at the crux of the matter.

And, another point, students will have to get involved now if changes in the board program are ever to come about. So reach into your heart, "climb every mountain" and announce to the world that you are not going to take it anymore. If there is going to be some long range planning happening you want in on it, you demand a voice in the future of Oberlin College, of which you will soon be an alumnus. Go on, see what happens.