INC NEWS - The dining bubble (column on the DukeCard in today's Chronicle)

[John Schelp]

"...it is far worse to keep the surrounding business
in Durham at their current disadvantage and to
continue to deny them business from Duke students."

Column: The dining bubble
by Elliott Wolf, Duke Chronicle (17 January 2006)

Self-described “conservatives” at Duke are fixated on
the notion that “liberals” are crowding out their
ideas, as shown by the uproar over “academic freedom”
and Harry Belafonte’s Sunday appearance. They might,
however, want to look into something that costs each
and every one of us thousands of dollars every year
and flies in the face of both common sense and basic
tenants of conservative philosophy:

Duke Dining

Although politicizing dining might seem an odd thing
to do, so many of the issues surrounding it boil down
to basic questions of government (institutional)
intervention, economic freedom and government
waste—things which, once upon a time, Republicans
actually took notice of.The only thing that can save
it: deregulation.

As you all know, at the core of Duke Dining is the
requirement that all students purchase a meal plan.
Freshmen are forced to eat at the Marketplace, and all
other undergraduates who live on campus are required
to purchase at least $1,420 in food points per
semester that can only be used to purchase food and
only from specific vendors.

Duke also, however, controls merchants as well,
arbitrarily assessing them a portion of their revenue
(and not just charging them rent and utilities) based
on an owner’s investment in the eatery and a number of
other factors, according to Jim Wulforst, director of
dining services. Vendors are rewarded by Duke Dining
for spending money on their establishments, leading to
questionable improvements and a disconnect between
vendor profits and student business.

Should students want to escape this system, we are
heavily taxed. Eighteen percent of our points spent at
Durham businesses will be recycled back into Duke (a
total of $540,000 per year), according to Wulforst.
This supposedly makes up for the lost commissions from
points going off campus. Considering that a
confidential Auxiliary Services budget presentation
put all parking ticket revenues at $600,000 in 2000,
it’s surprising that this tariff doesn’t earn more ire
from the students.

The results of this system are far reaching, and the
main losers are the students. Although Wulforst
maintains that “we pride ourselves on being
competitive,” students still pay inflated prices and
are severely limited in our options. We cannot use the
cards beyond the physical Duke “bubble,” and when we
purchase food for delivery from off campus, merchants
pass the commissions back to us. Although the money is
used to improve eateries each year, I don’t think the
freshmen now benefit from being told “Happiness is a
perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a
few drops on yourself,” by a plasma television in the
Marketplace.

Durham merchants and community members are equally
upset, as shown by recent coverage in The Herald Sun.
Restaurants in Durham, unlike on-campus
establishments, actually do have to face the cold
reality of paying rent, utilities and directly
catering to customer demands. While it may seem harsh
to force on-campus establishments to do the same
thing, it is far worse to keep the surrounding
business in Durham at their current disadvantage and
to continue to deny them business from Duke students.

Given all of this, why would Duke so heavily regulate,
subsidize and control everything? Duke wants to
promote on-campus dining establishments and ensure a
variety of options, a goal which is seemingly
legitimate but could be served by less intrusive
means.

The other goal is simply insulting. According to
Wulforst, Duke wants to assure our parents that we
actually eat, and therefore must maintain the
infrastructure that exits (“bubble!”). Surprisingly
enough, profit motive actually does not seem to be a
significant influence.

And ironically enough, the solution to all of this can
be found in our government-funded neighbor. UNC
considers its students to be qualified to decide when,
where and how much to eat and does not require that
they purchase meal plans. Students who do choose to
purchase a meal plan are subject to many of the same
restrictions as Duke students (including the 18
percent tax on deliveries), but, according to Mike
Freeman, director of auxiliary services for UNC, “our
most expensive meal plan is $1,170 a semester.” UNC
students have far more flexibility, spend much less on
food and can support the surrounding community at the
same time.The market will provide.

This seems to be something on which we as students
should all agree. I just find it bizarre that amid the
“conservative” resurgence on campus, it takes a
registered Democrat to advocate free trade with the
city of Durham and decry the excesses of big
“government.”


Elliott Wolf is a Trinity sophomore. His column runs
every Tuesday.