Before I even stepped foot on this campus as a freshman, I was given the task of choosing a mandatory meal plan. I can’t say that I was especially excited to choose the meal plan that would stick with me for the duration of my first year of college, but I certainly understood the gravity of it.

It didn’t dawn on me until the end of my second semester that my $300 dining dollar plan was just too much to spend in one semester, so I just ended up buying pizza for all of my classes since there was no hope of any rollover. It felt extremely wasteful, but hey, how was I supposed to know which meal plan to get before I even lived here? I quickly learned my lesson and got the heck off of campus for my primary source of food. The grocery store turned out to be a much cheaper and healthier alternative than any UT meal plan could offer me.

Now, I’m not saying UT Dining is not trying to win you over and get you to spend money on campus. It is, however, doing a mediocre job at best. Their latest attempt at changing our dining experience on campus, the infamous Mandatory Meal Plan, failed miserably after it was first proposed to the Student Senate. So, after going back to the drawing board, what they brought back doesn’t look much different; but it seems inevitable nonetheless.

Last semester when discussing the new meal plan, Vice Chancellor Jeff Maples said that any restaurant on the Strip wanting to accept Vol Cards will be able to do so in the near future. This went over very well since it was an initiative SGA has been pushing for years. What’s a bit vague, however, is that this might mean you could use your All Star, your dining dollars or both. He really didn’t specify at the time.

Regardless, as I learned after attending the most recent Cumberland Avenue Merchants Association meeting, that story has changed. Every single merchant in attendance at the meeting said it would help their business incredibly to be able to accept dining dollars, which makes complete sense. So, why is it that we can’t use our dining dollars on the Strip, when both students and restaurant owners want it? The answer is Aramark and money.

Aramark recently opened up two locations on the Strip, Panda Express and Raising Cane’s. These have so far seemed pretty successful, and if students are using and enjoying it, I’m glad it’s there. But there are some negative consequences for local business owners. Since the land is owned by the University, and therefore the state, Aramark has the privilege of operating without paying nearly as much in taxes as its neighbors right down the street. That, in turn, leads to more profits for Aramark and UT, and less for places like OCI and Sunspot. Now, I really don’t have a problem with the University turning a profit off of dining services, but it certainly should not be a priority over student interests.

Opening up the use of dining dollars at locations on the Strip is the right thing to do for students. If the University wants to leverage a new fee on their already overcharged students, fine, but it would be extremely unfair to do so without giving students some sort of benefit out of it. And no, new dining facilities that won’t be completed until 2019 don’t count.

So, Dining Services, do the right thing. Give students the opportunity to spend their money how they want, while also supporting a struggling group of restaurants and bars that are as much a part of our University community as you are.

Thomas Carpenter is a junior in classics. He can be reached at [email protected].