At 9:45 p.m. one night last week, Christine Galib '08 went to Frist Campus Center to satisfy a late-night food craving. Having used only one of her three dining hall meals for the day, she planned to double-swipe using the late meal program. As she attempted to pay for her $9 worth of food, however, she was informed that she could not double-swipe since she only had one late meal credit available.
"I thought I could double-swipe because I missed breakfast and lunch," she explained, "but they wouldn't let me." Confused, she resigned herself to using points to cover the balance of the meal.
Other students are similarly uncertain about the specifics of the late meal program.
Asked about his understanding, Andris Zvargulis '08 said he thought "you have a daily limit on meals."
"It's confusing, though," he said.
While many understand the basic notion of using unused meal credits at Frist during late meal periods, few actually understand the details of the program.
Most Frist employees who staff the cash registers are, ironically, just as confused about the program as students.
When asked to explain the late meal program, one Frist employee working at the cash register said, "I don't even know . . . it's confusing for me and it's confusing for you."
Part of this confusion stems from the fact that a software glitch last year allowed students to cheat the system by double-swiping when they were not allowed to. This fall, however, the issue has been resolved.
Responding to a question about students' ability to double-swipe at late meals, another Frist employee explained, "you get two double-swipes per day, but I don't really understand it."
What, then, is the official version of the late meal program? Director of Dining Services Stuart Orefice said "The Late Show," the title for the late meal program, is explained on the Dining Services website.
According to the site, "one meal credit (swipe) may be used in all late period meals or two credits (swipes) may be used if a student has not eaten during the regular breakfast, lunch, or dinner period that day."
One Frist employee who did understand the program, Cheryl DiLoreto, explained it in terms of overall credits per meal. In total "a student has two meals per meal period," she said.
In other words, students can always single-swipe during a late meal period, regardless of whether or not they have also eaten at the dining hall during the regular meal period.
Students can double-swipe only if they missed the corresponding regular meal in the dining hall.
Students are not allowed to eat at a dining hall and then double-swipe at Frist, for that would be using more than the allotted two meal credits for a given meal.
Contrary to popular belief, however, the late meal program has not changed this year.
Nevertheless, the restrictions placed on late meal usage frustrate some students.
"If I want to use all my meals at once [at Frist], I should be able to," Zvargulis said.
Orefice agreed, saying "students would enjoy [the late meal program] more if there were higher [money] limits or extended hours," but budget restrictions make these changes unfeasible.
Addressing the seemingly low money value assigned to the late meals, Orefice said that in the dining contracts "what you pay for is labor and food."
By taking advantage of late meals, students are "just getting food credit," as the employees staffing the dining halls must still be paid, he added.
Given the great deal of uncertainty that many feel towards the late meal program, it is clear that much needs to be done to clarify the program's details for both the students who take advantage of it and the employees who must enforce it.
"I know there's a lot of confusion," DiLoreto said, "but we're trying to help [students] out."
In the more than ten years since its inception, the late meal program has improved significantly. Originally, the program was only designed to be used when students could not attend a meal because of academic conflicts.
The program also ended each week with late breakfast on Friday.
Over the years, the academic conflict qualification has been removed, the hours have been extended and a Friday late lunch has been added. According to Orefice, student input has been instrumental in all the changes implemented.
"Students are very supportive of the program," Orefice said. "We want to make it the best we can."
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