Cierra Smith, Staff Writer
Ever heard of the quote, “change is inevitable, why hold onto what you have to let go of?” Well, if you have, then you know that change sometimes can be difficult, but it is bound to happen, so you learn to live with it. That isn’t always the case!
For some students at a local North Carolina university, change is just what has occurred and the results of which are astonishing. Students who attend Wingate University just outside of Monroe, N.C. have just been bombarded by a new lunchroom modification; the unlimited meal-plan.
Their previous meal-plan options have been stripped away, and they are now forced to live with only one choice. Now, I’m sure you’re thinking “unlimited meals? Why are they complaining?” but if you knew what they were losing in order to have unlimited access to food, then you would feel the exact same way.
In exchange for more meal swipes in the dining hall, the students are being deprived of their only other option for food on-campus; bulldog bucks. If you’re not familiar, Bulldog Bucks is the funds that students are given along with a meal-plan that they can use at other on-campus food places, such as Subway and Einstein Brother’s Bagels.
They are given an amount of these funds per semester, and depending on the meal-plan, they could have more or less bulldog bucks. Now, with the new unlimited meal-plan, students have been given less Bulldog Bucks and as a result. The residential students are fed up with the unanticipated change that has occurred and are demanding a call for action!
Through their many complaints, you can see that the altering of what they were accustomed to has sparked an outcry. Students feel as if they weren’t included in these decisions that have been made and believe that their opinions should be taken into account before making such drastic amendments to what they know and love.
In order to get a better idea of how the new meal-plan has affected residential students, a few interviews were conducted in order to see student’s opinions. During one interview, a sophomore student, Brea Childs, stated “It’s an inconvenience. I live in an on-campus apartment, so I buy my own groceries and don’t frequent the dining hall as much. It would be great to have a smaller option with more bulldog bucks.”
During another interview, a junior student, Sarah Kelly, said “I feel as if the meal-plan is solely geared towards athletes. They eat more than the average person, so it is ideal for them to have unlimited meals. But, what about those students who don’t eat as much, it’s a complete waste.” Based on the two interviews, one can only conclude that students prefer the old way better.
Through the many protests of the new meal-plan, it is easy to see how change cannot always be a good thing. Sometimes when adjusting things that were never issues to begin with, it can cause for unforeseen debacles and complications that could have been avoided all together.
By simply asking students if whether or not a new meal-plan was a good idea, it could have cut down on some of the backlash that is now surfacing. It pretty much ties into the old statement that says, “Why fix something that isn’t broken.”
Edited by Brea Childs and Jenna Turner
Wingate Triangle 