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I Wednesday, September 17, 2008 - The Michigan Daily TB
THE EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK with GABE NELSON
A look at the big news events this week and how important they really are. Conveniently rated from one to 10.
new rules
rule 133: If you get
the one parking spot
for your apartment,
you have to drive
your roommates to
class sometimes.
rule 134: Abstain-
ing from voting is
never a political
statement. It's either
lazy or douchey.
HILL DINING CENTER
From Page 4B
NO SECURITIES JOB, NO JOB SECURITY
Lehman Brothers went bankrupt this week, while
a nearly broke Merrill Lynch sold itselftto Bankof
America. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had to be
bailed out by the federal government, and no one
knows what will happen to American International
Group and Washington Mutual. All in all, it's been
a tough couple weeks for Ross School of Business
students, many oftwhom now face uncertainty about
what they'll be doing aftergraduation. Congratula-
tions, business kids - you know how itfeels to be a
liberal arts major.
PLUGGED IN
General Motors released yesterday the first images
of its planned Chevrolet Volt plug-in vehicle, a
battery-powered car that will run 40 miles on an
electric charge without gasoline. Some are calling
the Volt a step forward for GM, known for focusing
6 on trucks and SUVs rather than small, fuel-efficient
cars. It's unclear though, how many Americans are
willingto pay $40,000 for a small, fuel-efficient car.
That's why GM is seekingtax breaks for people who
buy the cars. Another major corporation seeking
government help. Get in line.
IN A BAD LIGHT
A freelance photographer commissioned by The Atlan-
tic totake pictures of John McCain for its October 2008
coverftricked John McCain into standing on topof a light
so she could take unflatteringpictures of him. The Atlan-
tic ran a more conventional image, but the photographer
put on her website what the New York Post described as
a mug of McCain looking "devilish, with bulging brows
and washed-out skin." The Atlantic has apologized to
McCain and says it won't pay forthe pictures. But it
seems like their choice of photographers was poor. Who
needs lighting tricks to make McCain look ugly?
r
c
c
ule 135: Never ZUNE ON THE DOLLAR MENU
omplain about Ina brilliant marketing plan, Microsoft released
a software upgrade for its Zune portable media
hanges to Facebook. player yesterday offering users free wireless
Internet access at nearly 10,000 McDonald's
- E-mail rule submissions to restaurants nationwide. It's a match made in
TheStatement@umich.edu heaven: Microsoft gets to associate their strug-
gling iPod competitor with inexpensive, low-qual-
Magazine Editor: Jessica Vosgerchian ity food. Hell, McDonald's might be able to help
EditorinChief: Andrew Grossman popularize the Zune by givingthem away with
PhtnEdiE Char nonGasog Happy Meals. If kids love cheap, useless plastic
toys, they'll love the Zune.
at the Hill Dining Center, $10.15 ver-
sus $10.75, schools nationwide are
beating the University's dining sys-
tem in not only quality but also cost.
While the University's meal plan
options range from $1,685 to $2,245
a semester for most students, unlim-
ited meal plans at Virginia Tech
and the University of Georgia. cost
$1,290 and $1,645 respectively. At
Georgia, that price includes a dining
location open 24 hours and parking
at no extra charge.
Mike Floyd, executive director of
food services at Georgia, said those
are the kinds of perks necessary to
keep students, whom he calls cus-
tomers, happy with every aspect of
their dining experience.
Floyd will be the first to tell you,
though, that options are what stu-
dents value most. And from south-
ern favorites like fried chicken and
black-eyed peas, to chicken chimi-
changas with black bean salsa, Floyd
said Georgia's menu is designed to
please a generation that has grown
up surrounded by international
foods and expects more than just
the meatloaf and mashed potatoes
of their parents' college years.
"I would say that today's student
is the most educated that we've ever
seen in college food service as far an
understanding of food," Floyd said.
"They have an appreciation for fine
restaurant dining in their local com-
munities and they're a part of the
food court generation where every-
body gets something different."
Universities across the country
are adapting to a new kind of stu-
dent population that expects more
out of their meals than ever before.
A trip to the dining hall isn't just a
study break to stifle hunger pangs
with a side of green bean casserole
anymore. For today's undergradu-
ates, eating on campus is a social
event, and at Bowdoin College, stu-
dents have made it clear that when
they come to eat, festivities should
be on the menu.
In response to student demand,
the chefs at Bowdoin came up with a
concepttheycall"SuperSnack."Held
every Thursday, Friday and Saturday
night, from at 10 p.m. to 1 a.m,, stu-
dents can go to Thorne Dining Hall
for high-quality, late-night eats.
Serving foods like fresh fruit,
grilled cheese sandwiches and a
variety of breads and hummus,
Michele Gaillard, associate director
of dining at Bowdoin, said the week-
end event complete with music, has
become "wildly popular," among
students.
"It's like a little cocktail party
without the cocktails," Gaillard
said.
And with mixers like that, it isn't
hard to see why the dining hall
menu is the most visited page on
Bowdoin's website.
But whether it's the Mongolian
grill at Georgia, where students
can pick from seasonings, sauces
and ingredients to be prepared by a
professionally trained chef, or Bow-
doin's peanut grindingmachine pur-
chased in response to requests for
natural peanut butter, the bottom
line is that students have demands
and schools are starting to listen.
That also means that some
schools have had to clean up their
act and start preparing meals with a
healthier approach.
At Notre Dame, flax seeds are
seated next to salt and pepper shak-
ers so students can sprinkle on extra
nutrients. Bowdoin grinds all of
their meats in-house to control the
fat content in things like ground
beef. At schools nationwide, as well
as here at the University, cooking
with trans-fat free oil has become
the norm.
And of course, how could any
modern cafeteria be complete with-
out a nod to going organic? At Bow-
doin, two large gardens tended by a
full-time garden manager produce
things like corn, blueberries, squash
and yellow tomatoes that are cooked
up in the school's two kitchens and
served with almost every meal. An
on-campus farmer's market sells the
excess produce directly to students.
As of 2007, 20 percent of Bowdoin's
dining hall budget was spent on
locally produced goods.
Schools like the University of
Georgia have also made a push
toward sustainable dining systems,
with locally purchased peaches,
peanuts and chickenmakingregular
appearances on daily menus. At the
University, only East Quadrangle's
cafeteria regularly serves produce
grown locally.
This newfound consideration for
the environment is also beginning to
show up at schools like the Univer-
sity of California at Santa Cruz and
George Mason University, which
have ditched meal trays to discour-
age students from taking more food
than they can eat.
Mike Lee, director of residential
dining services at the University,
said something like going trayless
could happen at a few dining halls,
but wouldn't work campus-wide.
"At some of the operations, doing
away with trays, the operations just
don't lend themselves to that," Lee
said.
He pointed to East Quad, where a
lot of dishes are kept in the seating
area, rather behind a serving line, as
a place where trays could someday
be on the way out.
"We're trying to look at which
(dining halls) would work and what
I want to do is have us workingwith
the students who live there and say,
'How can we do this?''What makes
sense?' so we can involve them in
the process," he said.
But the real question is whether
lobster, local produce and eco-
friendly cooking actually influence
which college acceptance letter stu-
The University of Michigan
Department of Recreational Sports
REC Intramural Sports Program REC
SPORTS www.recsports.umich.edu SPORTS
INTRAMURALS 734-763-3562 INTRAMURALS
Fun inthe Sun!!
Entries Due:
Manager's Meeting: Thurs 09/18
MANDATORY
".".. Thurs, 09/18
7:00 PM IMSB
Entry Fee:
"'" ..*$35 per team
Entries Due: '-,
Mon, 9/29 '
Tournament Dates:
"".. 09/19 - 9/21 Elbel Field
Entry Fee:
$35 per team "'-
$5 per individual -'".
. ..
Manager's Meeting: 0..*.. En-ies also
MANDATORY . taken online
Mon, 10/01 *.*
6:00 PM IMSB - -
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Earn All-Year Championship Points!!
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1 Meet Date:
Wed, 10/01--
UM Indoor Track
Al -
All entries taken at the IM Building and online
dents will choose. The answer from
dining directors across the country:
maybe..
Johnson said' students have told
him Virginia Tech's dining services
were the deciding factor in their col-
lege decision. And at Bowdoin, with
a cold climate and long winters,
the dining hall can often be a sell-
ing point. But for the University of
Michigan, which has academics and
athletics to make up for amenities,
catering to students' pickier tastes
might not need to be a priority.