Administrators reject off-campus dining plan
By: Alex Bates
Issue date: 2/5/09 Section: News
Webster University administrators
rejected a
proposal for an off-campus
dining plan Jan. 29.
A subsidiary of WU's
food service provider,
Off Campus Solutions,
introduced
the idea to the Student
Board of Directors,
who then
wrote a proposal
to administrators.
The proposal
would allow Off
Campus Solutions
to set up
an off-campus
dining program
for students. The
service would allow
students and
their parents to put
money on student
IDs to use at area
restaurants, providing
an alternative to
Marletto's Marketplace
and Crossroads.
The Institutional Planning
Committee turned
down the proposal even
though three groups - Sodexho,
Student Affairs and Housing
and Residential Life and the Student
Board of Directors - supported the
proposal. Comprised of 11 administrators
from across campus, the IPC
reviews programs from a universitywide
perspective.
Dan Hitchell, associate vice president
for resource planning and budget
and chairman of the IPC, said the proposal
did not offer any new services or
provide any economic rewards to students
or the university. Since WU offers
a debit card as part of the Higher One
financial aid refund program, the committee
did not see the benefits in offering
another debit card, Hitchell said.
Other IPC administrators include,
Benjamin Akande, dean of the School
of Business and Technology, David
Stone, facility and planning management
director and Bill Lynch, Faculty
Senate president.
Patrick Vacek, a member of the
Student Board of Directors and a senior
computer science and mathematics
major, said he thinks the IPC may
not have looked at the proposal from
every angle.
"I don't know if I feel like (the IPC)
is necessarily looking at it from all the
right perspectives," Vacek said. "I think
they might be seeing it from a purely
financial perspective instead of how it
rejected a
proposal for an off-campus
dining plan Jan. 29.
A subsidiary of WU's
food service provider,
Off Campus Solutions,
introduced
the idea to the Student
Board of Directors,
who then
wrote a proposal
to administrators.
The proposal
would allow Off
Campus Solutions
to set up
an off-campus
dining program
for students. The
service would allow
students and
their parents to put
money on student
IDs to use at area
restaurants, providing
an alternative to
Marletto's Marketplace
and Crossroads.
The Institutional Planning
Committee turned
down the proposal even
though three groups - Sodexho,
Student Affairs and Housing
and Residential Life and the Student
Board of Directors - supported the
proposal. Comprised of 11 administrators
from across campus, the IPC
reviews programs from a universitywide
perspective.
Dan Hitchell, associate vice president
for resource planning and budget
and chairman of the IPC, said the proposal
did not offer any new services or
provide any economic rewards to students
or the university. Since WU offers
a debit card as part of the Higher One
financial aid refund program, the committee
did not see the benefits in offering
another debit card, Hitchell said.
Other IPC administrators include,
Benjamin Akande, dean of the School
of Business and Technology, David
Stone, facility and planning management
director and Bill Lynch, Faculty
Senate president.
Patrick Vacek, a member of the
Student Board of Directors and a senior
computer science and mathematics
major, said he thinks the IPC may
not have looked at the proposal from
every angle.
"I don't know if I feel like (the IPC)
is necessarily looking at it from all the
right perspectives," Vacek said. "I think
they might be seeing it from a purely
financial perspective instead of how it
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