At an April meeting with top administrators, Undergraduate Student Government (USG) representatives proposed substantial changes to the two meals per week program for upperclassmen. Instead of two meals expiring at the end of every week, upperclassmen would have access to 24 meals per semester usable during breaks and potentially even Late Meal.
Over the summer, USG members attempted to meet with University Services to discuss their proposal as well as a major report by the Huron Consulting Group on the state of campus dining. In August, the University abruptly cancelled.
Then, on Sept. 29, USG got its request — and much else they didn’t want. In a move that surprised virtually all undergraduates, the University announced that all students living on campus would be required to purchase a meal plan, effectively eliminating the independent dining option. The new options included a Block 32 plan for students in eating clubs and co-ops, with strikingly similar characteristics to USG’s proposal: consistent use throughout the semester, available during breaks, and usable at Late Meal.
The decision drew immediate backlash from a range of students and alumni. Independent students lambasted the decision, which also initially disposed of a separate room draw process for Spelman Hall’s apartment-style dorms, for eliminating their ability to cook their own food. Meanwhile, the Graduate Interclub Council launched a “Don’t Harvard Our Princeton” campaign protesting the impacts on eating club and co-op plan holders, even flying a banner over the Oct. 25 homecoming football game.
At the USG meeting on Nov. 2, the University announced an adjustment to the policy: It would cover the cost of the Block 32 plan for all upperclassmen, with independent students still required to purchase at minimum a Block 128 plan starting in the 2026–27 academic year.
The original changes on Sept. 29, along with the modified policy announced Sunday, followed months of only sporadic conversations between University administrators and USG representatives that were characterized by a lack of transparent communication and genuine engagement on the part of administrators, student leaders in the room said in interviews.
“In some of the conversations I’ve had with top administrators, I’ve told them the trust has been sort of broken,” said USG Vice President Aishwarya Swamidurai ’26 in an interview with The Daily Princetonian prior to the Nov. 2 announcement.
That friction has remained even after Sunday’s announcement, which meant students not on financial aid will not have to pay for Block 32 out of pocket. The modified policy, however, does not have material impact for students on financial aid, who would have seen the cost of Block 32 covered under the University’s initial plan regardless.
“USG stands by its original assessment that current students were not meaningfully engaged in the rollout of these dining policies,” USG President Enzo Kho ’26, University Student Life Committee Chair Anuj Krishnan ’27, and Swamidurai said in a statement.
University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill declined multiple requests for comment on the cancelled meeting between University Services and USG. The University has repeatedly pointed to surveys of undergraduates and alumni over 10 years, including a report released by the Huron Consulting Group in 2023, as evidence of genuine student engagement.
“We have very much appreciated the feedback and engagement from both this body as well as during our information sessions,” Vice President for University Services Chad L. Klaus said at Sunday’s USG meeting.
Even in trying to discuss the report and their proposed policy responses, USG felt stymied, students said.
USG engaged in three meetings with administrators about dining last spring. At an April 7 lunch meeting with University Services, USG presented the findings from a dining working group led by USG senators Samuel Kligman ’26 and Hriday Unadkat ’26. The working group’s survey of upperclassmen demonstrated strong student body support for the rollover of meal swipes, and led USG to compose its memorandum on dining changes.
Krishnan presented this memorandum at an April 21 meeting of the University Student Life Committee, with faculty representatives and Interclub Council members in attendance. The public release of data from the Huron Report was also discussed at this meeting.
USG followed up with University Services in May to discuss the memorandum and the University’s potential use of the Huron report, according to Krishnan.
Following the May meeting, University Services and USG mutually agreed to meet over the summer, according to Swamidurai. After USG reached out at the beginning of July to schedule a meeting, University Services agreed to a date in August. However, they abruptly canceled 24 hours beforehand, saying they were “unable to meet.”
“University Services was unable to meet with us due to the University ‘navigating a number of challenging issues’ and them requiring additional time prior to a meeting,” Kho, Swamidurai, and Krishnan said in a statement.
After that, University Services did not discuss the memorandum with USG or attempt to reschedule before the initial dining changes were released on Sept. 29, according to Krishnan.
“[The memorandum] just became dead in the water,” he told the ‘Prince’ prior to the Nov. 2 change.
In the wake of student controversy, however, Klaus suddenly praised the memorandum at Sunday’s USG meeting.
“We are grateful to USG for identifying this option in their memorandum and for articulating why it was important to students that the meals be available in block form,” he said.
The original dining changes would have required all students in eating clubs and co-ops not receiving financial aid to purchase a Block 32 plan at the cost of $900, citing budget constraints as the reason for the change.
“The two University-sponsored meals per week (commonly referred to as “free meals”) will be eliminated due to ongoing budget reduction measures,” read the Sept. 29 campus message.
“We did have a bit of a budget challenge that we were sorting through over the summer, and that’s how we ended up with the proposal that we did,” Klaus said at Sunday’s USG meeting.
University spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss provided a timeline of student engagement with dining changes to the ‘Prince’ after the Sept. 29 policy was first announced. Beginning in 2016 with student participation in a task force on the residential college model, the timeline cites the engagement of two undergraduate students in a Huron working group as another example.
“The absence of a required meal plan for residential students and an option to select independent status, unique among Princeton’s peers, has led to some students feeling isolated due to the inability to engage with others during shared meals,” reads one finding of the Huron report.
The effective end to independent status also left open the question of how housing in Spelman Hall would be incorporated into the new room draw process. The University has set a Thanksgiving break deadline to determine a solution, according to Klaus.
USG voiced concern over why the University had not considered Spelman prior to the dining changes.
“This all came out of Huron, a bunch of external consultants who were pretty sure that they didn’t ask questions regarding Spelman in that way,” Swamidurai said prior to Nov. 2.
Hotchkiss also included the 2022 dining pilot program on the timeline of student engagement, commissioned in order to promote “fluidity through the dining system.” However, a USG poll of undergraduate students found that 74 percent of respondents held “mostly negative” views on the dining pilot. The dining pilot became public after it was leaked to the ‘Prince,’ and a group of students including USG President Mayu Takeuchi ’23 even offered an alternate proposal to the University on dining
In USG’s written comment, they reiterated a commitment to advocacy on behalf of students while University policy changes.
“We will continue to act in good faith and bring forward compelling perspectives and proposals that respond to the needs and priorities of students,” they wrote.
Kian Petlin is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’ He is from San Francisco, Calif. and typically covers campus events and student life.
Gray Collins is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Villanova, Penn. and can be reached at gc7410@princeton.edu.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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