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UMass Lowell meal swipe donation program falls short

(Photo courtesy of Bergmeyer) “University Dining Commons is the main dining hall on East Campus.”

Troy Lafond
Connector Editor

Last week, students at UMass Lowell received an email looking for students willing to take part in a meal swipe donation program. Claiming that 37% of the student population often goes undernourished, this program looks for students to donate a guest meal swipe to students in need. While this program is an opportunity for students to potentially feel good about helping a fellow student in need, the efforts fall vastly short in countless ways. 

While UMass Lowell does not provide the statistics on students with meal plans versus those without, the school does supply statistics on those living on campus versus those living off. Approximately 35% of students live on campus, while 65% live off campus. All students who live on campus must have a meal plan, and the majority must have an unlimited meal plan. The exceptions to this are students who live in apartment-style housing such as Riverview West and River Hawk Village, who still need to get a limited meal plan. 

Through this donation program, students can donate only one meal swipe each semester. If every student who lives on campus donated a swipe, and every student in need requested to be a part of this program, that would only supply one to two meals per student in need per semester. The lack of ability for students to donate any other meals prevents the need from being fully addressed. 

Granted, more than just students who live on campus have a meal plan. Commuters will often opt to get a limited plan so they can pay their food costs for the semester up-front. However, even if the entirety of the 63% of UMass Lowell student population that is not undernourished donated a meal swipe, that would still not even cover two meals for every student in need. It is unlikely that every student getting a proper diet has a meal plan. 

When reading into the details of this program, many students will opt against donation. The request starts out by looking for “meal swipe donations,” but the email later reveals that guest swipes are what is being sought out. Meal swipes for most students on campus are unlimited, but students only have eight guest swipes per semester. For any student who often has friends or family visit, donating away guest swipes is not a practical choice. Many of us living on campus have unlimited meal swipes, why not let us donate from that pool? We could donate more and actually work to resolve issues of food access.

However, it is still unlikely that access to more meal swipes will resolve this issue. Students go undernourished for a variety of reasons beyond access, including poor options, busy schedules, and eating disorders, and more.  

Personally, I have a remarkably busy life. I work until 9:00 pm two to three nights a week, which is past the closing hours of all meal swipe options on campus. I have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-1:45, and options within the dining hall are often scant in the 2:00-4:00 range, since its past usual rush. Late night meal swipe dining used to be available through Hawk’s Nest East, but this has still not fully re-opened since the pandemic. These students going undernourished do not need meal swipes donated to them, they need more dining hall operating hours and more consistently available food at all times of day in the dining hall. 

For students spending a day on North Campus, there is still no meal swipe options whatsoever, as Southwick Dining has still not reopened since the pandemic. East is not far, but not everyone has gaps in their schedules. These students going undernourished do not need meal swipes donated to them, they need meal swipe options on their campus. 

Students throughout UMass Lowell history and this year specifically have also criticized the options within the dining hall and the quality of food. For particularly picky eaters like myself, either getting a knowingly “safe” meal that may be low in nutrients or skipping a meal entirely is sometimes a better choice than trying to choke down whatever is available. These students going undernourished do not need meal swipes donated to them, they need better, tastier, and more consistently well-cooked options. 

Simply sending out donated guest meal swipes does not alleviate the structural problem of food access at UMass Lowell. Guest swipes are a very finite resource with no refill possibility, preventing students from being willing to donate them. The responsibility for alleviating this problem falls squarely on the shoulders of the school to re-open still-closed dining options, extend hours to accommodate college life, ensure high-quality nutritious food in the dining halls, and allow students to donate more generously through their actual meal swipes instead of guest ones. 

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