Quad Dining Policy Is Unfair

Edward F. Mulkerin III's dissent to the staff editorial on 29G dining restrictions ("Residents of 29 Garden St. Could Use the Fresh Air," Feb. 3, 1994) is factually inaccurate and degrading to residents of 29G.

Mulkerin states, "It's common knowledge there that if you utter 'Yard' to the checkers at Currier, you can have all the monk fish you want without fear of reprisal." Just as Jews couldn't hide their identity in Nazi Germany by stating, "I am Christian," 29G residents can't hide our identities from a checker who has known us as 29G residents all year long and who has a list of all dormitory residents.

Second, Mulkerin's belief that allowing first-year students into a dining hall destroys house morale is off base. As first-years, we have many of the same concerns as our upperclass friends. Caricaturing us as "whining about Expos and the QRR" presents a shallow representation of first-years. We take the same courses as upperclassmen; we participate in the same extracurriculars. When we eat at Currier House, the dining hall is at lest half-empty. We are not barging in and sitting between a group of seniors debating their theses.

We are no different from any other non-residents dining in a house dining hall. We have been placed arbitrarily into dining groups by Linda Boland, a first floor proctor, without regard for our friendships. In particular, the second floor has been divided among two dining groups for the rest of the year--we may never eat in the Quad with our floormates again. Of course, Boland's entire floor is dining together, but that's another point. Moreover, dietary concerns such as the need for a kosher or vegetarian table have been ignored in this process. Most importantly, it is unfair to single out a single group for interhouse dining restrictions.

Why is it that if a Yardling walks to the Quad for her meals, she is crazy, but if a 29G resident walks to the Yard, "the exercise will make the food taste all the better?"

Michael N. Alper '97, Johnny A. Arguedas '97, Kairi M. Bailey '97, Nasreen B. Bulos '97, Alexandra A. Durbin '97, Jaime G. Fitzgerald '97, Justin E. Jones '97, Cindy Leung '97, Nancy C. McGuire '97, Luis F. Sanchez '97, Raymond E. Soccio '97