Young Americans for Liberty challenges mandated on-campus meal plan

The MSU chapter of Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) is currently advocating to allow on-campus students to opt out of University-mandated meal plans. On campus, YAL is pursuing its meal plan initiative through petitions, phone banks and student testimonies. MSU maintains that it is confident in its current system and does not plan to change it.

According to its profile on GuideStar — an informational service that reports on U.S. nonprofit organizations — YAL is a national libertarian youth organization based in Austin, Texas aimed at “advancing liberty on campus and in American electoral politics.”

Currently, MSU requires all students to pair their housing plan with a meal plan. This includes students who live in housing with kitchens installed in each unit, such as the Julia Martin Apartments. MSU’s chapter of YAL aims to remove this mandate allowing students to choose if they would like to pay for on campus food services.

"You’re being forced to spend your money on the dining hall whether or not you want to go there,” said YAL MSU chapter Vice President Dashiell Johnson.

While YAL acknowledges that groups unhappy with the mandated dining hall situation may not be the majority, “someone needs to be able to advocate for those people,” YAL MSU chapter Secretary Ethan Russell said.

Johnson acknowledged potential skeptics but insisted that change is possible: “Yes, it can be done. A YAL chapter in the Colorado School of Mines has done it recently.”

According to Ellerton, YAL collected over 800 signatures last year, on a petition they advertised on Centennial Mall to support the movement. Following this, YAL met with the Head of Auxiliary Services Duane Morris in April to discuss this initiative, according to Ellerton. However, they claim to have seen little progress since.

After the meeting with Morris, YAL applied pressure to MSU auxiliary services to allow on-campus students to opt out of meal plans. “We did a phone bank where we called up everybody who signed the petition to leave a voice message for [Morris] telling him that they supported the petition and want to see the mandatory meal plans overturned. We get a very, very high success rate for that type of event, which is something YAL does all the time,” Ellerton said.

According to MSU Spokesman Michael Becker, student feedback and comments are welcome on any University policy or practice, but not all petitions will result in action. “There is no plan to change the current arrangement. MSU is committed to this way of structuring housing and meal plans because we know it puts our freshman students in the best place to succeed. Decision making in this area is driven by data supporting what is best for students overall,” he said.

The next step of their initiative is to organize what YAL sees as evidence, Ellerton explained. “We have a lot of testimonies and something we probably plan on doing here soon is compiling some of those. People who get food poisoning from the dining hall because it happens a lot. People who are unhappy with the selection. People who are unhappy with the accommodations for people with allergies or food restrictions.”

However, Becker stated they maintain a safe and accommodating food service. “Culinary Services serves millions of meals per year,” he said. “Our sanitarian has confirmed that during the past eight years there have been no reports of food-borne illnesses connected to MSU Culinary Services. Our operations are exceedingly clean and safe.”

There are many opinions about this initiative and the dining hall around campus.

“I like having access to [the dining halls] personally, but it shouldn’t be mandated,” said math student Ethan Rankin.

“I would say that living on campus shouldn’t mean we need to purchase a meal plan, but it would probably be recommended since the dorms only have communal kitchens. I think the dining halls are overall pretty good because of the variety of different foods they offer. Though I would appreciate if they had something in place to keep the food hot because eight out of 10 times my food is cold,” engineering student Jenna Cordes said.

“When you go into college you are an adult, and you are learning how to be an adult. You work, you go to classes, you have all this responsibility and responsibility is a natural co-requisite for freedom. You can’t have freedom without responsibility,” Johnson said.

If students feel they do not have adequate dining choices on campus due to dietary restrictions, Becker stated there are options. “MSU has a registered dietician — Allison LaRock — on staff and nutritionists who work with students to accommodate dietary restrictions,” he said.

To explore MSU’s options for nutrition and special dietary needs, head to https://www.montana.edu/culinaryservices/nutrition.html.