Progress in HDS

Huzzah to Ted A. Mayer and Harvard Dining Services (HDS) for the improvements we have seen this year on our trays and in our serveries. Mayer, who is now finishing his first year as the director of HDS, deserves praise for his "students-first" attitude.

Many of us already know that HDS takes student feedback very seriously. Students who fill out comment cards often receive a phone call or e-mail message the very next day. In fact, the recent addition of a frozen yogurt machine in Annenberg was largely due to such feedback by first-years. Events as diverse as the "Cookie Tasting" and "Great Grape Referendum" were also commendable efforts to rely on the student voice.

Thanks to Mayer's efforts, upper-class students will soon have the option of receiving bag lunches at Loker Commons. For many, this is a pleasant alternative to trekking back to the Houses for their midday meal. Not only is it convenient, but it will also reduce the overcrowding in dining halls such as those in Lowell, Adams and Quincy. We urge HDS to recognize the importance of implementing the plan efficiently, even if it means hiring more staff workers.

This increase in meal-plan flexibility was an effort, in Mayer's words, to "understand the reality of how busy students' lives are." Such an understanding is essential to providing a dining service that puts students' interests first.

Following this philosophy, we would like Mayer to consider other improvements, such as extending the meal hours in certain houses. Winthrop House's dining hall stays open 24 hours, and residents often make use of the free drinks and snacks during late-night cram sessions. Students would be grateful to see these extended hours in more dining halls.

Particularly, dinner and lunch hours need to be more flexible to student needs. Two back-to-back classes in the middle of the day are currently enough to wipe out lunch, and few students are built to be able to go to dinner at six and not eat until they go to bed, another seven or more hours later. If it is the job of HDS to keep students well-nourished, hours as well as food must be an issue that receives attention.

While most recent changes have been commendable, one change has not been for the better. HDS seems to have traded variety among its dishes for the more frequent presentation of such banal entrees as grilled chicken, barbeque chicken, fried chicken, chicken, parmesan, chicken fingers, chicken wings, chicken piccata, garlic chicken and General Wong's chicken. We like chicken, but enough is enough. After all, variety is the spice of life. Also, despite efforts to accommodate vegetarian needs, there has been a continuing lack of quality, nutrition and, most of all, variety among vegetarian options. HDS should make a goal of addressing these weaknesses.

The improvements that have been made are certainly steps in the right direction. We only hope HDS keeps moving that way.