The news feeds of Elizabethtown College students have been full of posts regarding rumored changes that will affect student meal plans. Students rallied together in an effort to explain their position to the dining services staff by starting a Facebook page called “Let Students Choose: Elizabethtown College Dining Services.” Online petitions and discussions about the issue have started circulating about the nature of these changes. However, there are no immediate changes in progress.

The Dining Services management staff contacted the student managers and team leaders last week with information to help quell the stream of concern. In this email, dining services employees were informed that “there will be no changes to the meal plans for Spring 2015, but Dining Services is working with a consultant on a meal plan study.” The reason for the study is to see how students use their meal plan and to decide on changes that are mutually beneficial to the students and the College.

The study that has been conducted over the past few months has considered the meal plans of several comparable colleges  while analyzing the information that the on-campus study produced.

While no changes are slated for the spring semester, it is possible that different options will be created for the 2015 fall semester. Some of the changes that have been discussed include changing how guest swipes are counted, but not eliminating them, offering new meal plan options and creating a meal plan with more Jaybucks.

In a campus news email, the Dining Services staff released the following information: “Six student senators, representing all classes, have been invited to participate in the working group that is reviewing meal plan options with the director of dining services and the consultant. The students meet for the first time with Envision Strategies Thursday, Nov. 13, to evaluate the preliminary meal plan recommendations. The students in the working group will engage fellow student senators and have been encouraged to talk with students about the recommended options. They are asked to bring ideas from the student body back to the working group for consideration. We anticipate the new meal plan recommendations to be shared with students in March 2015 thereby allowing students the time to review the plans and decide which option best fits their needs for fall 2015.”