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Opinion | Miami dining halls should make amount of food proportional to price

Editorial Board

Penny-pinching is not the only concern Miami University students face in the various dining halls around campus — now, cost-cutting measures are impacting food portion sizes.

Various dining halls are trying to cut down on portion size, specifically those with entrees that have meat as part of the recipe. These include the stir-fry and Mexican food stations, and students are noticing a difference.

It would be remiss of this board to complain about serving sizes at dining halls without acknowledging the very real food shortages across Butler County, let alone in the United States and in various parts of the world. These deserve more attention and effort than this issue. As a group, students are relatively nourished, sometimes over nourished. The issue here is that dining services is just being miserly.

Students are already paying enough to attend this university, and should not be nickel and dimed when just trying to eat a meal.

The editorial board of The Miami Student believes students have the ability and choice to control what and how much they eat, but the dining halls shouldn't pick a lowest common denominator for what will fill students up. What and how much we order should be proportional to what we pay for. The dining hall food is expensive and meal plans should not be a way for the university to take advantage of the students.

Unfortunately, students living on campus are required to get a meal plan, and if they wish to opt out, they have to pay a fee regardless. Therefore, the university should care about the outcomes and welfare of the students, and meal plans and dining services should also cater to these needs.

Even if the case is that dining halls are losing money, the approach should still be oriented toward the people who are utilizing their dining service.


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