Under the current system, club members have the option of bringing friends either from other clubs or the residential colleges to a meal at their own club. If the exchange involves two clubs, students are given 30 days to attend the same meal at their friend’s club while exchanges involving a dining hall must be closed within the calendar month. If students fail to complete an exchange, their club charges them for bringing a guest. The entire system is held together by small slips of paper that are filled out at each club and collected by the Interclub Council (ICC).
A variety of problems arise from such a process. First, the requirement that exchanges involving a dining hall be closed within the month imposes an undue burden on underclassmen and discourages interaction across class years. Additionally, there is no simple way of checking where a student has an open meal exchange or whether they remembered to fill out an exchange slip after dining at a different club. Finally, some clubs are less reliable about filling out and delivering slips than other clubs, meaning students sometimes get charged for exchanges unnecessarily. The hassle of the entire system can discourage students from participating at all.
One possible solution to streamline the entire system would be to place the exchanges on an online database that could be updated by the officers or meal checkers at the clubs. This program could be accessed by students with their netID, allowing them to know where they have open exchanges and how long they have to complete them. Such a system could also incorporate e-mail reminders so students can avoid fines. Finally, this sort of system would do much to improve the popularity of exchanging meals between the dining halls and clubs. Not only would it publicize this option for those who did not know about it before, it would also streamline it for those who wish to participate but want to avoid the hassle of the exchanges.
Former undergraduates from the computer science department have already considered developing such a program and have a prototype available online, but the site is currently not in operation. The ICC and Dining Services should support this project. This campus would undoubtedly benefit from greater interaction between the various eating clubs and the residential colleges, and a simple program to streamline the meal exchange program would do much to facilitate this process.
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