 "Photo: The Maroon")
As every Loyola student is well aware by now, the Orleans Room has been inundated by Tulane students every day during the lunch and dinner hours of operation. It’s hard to find an exact number, unless one were to count every “Green Wave” t-shirt they see, but an OR employee working the register once estimated at least 75 percent of the crowd is Tulane students at the most popular hours (all of lunch, and 5:00-6:30 during evening operations).
Our complaint doesn’t lie in resentment toward Tulane students, or rivalry between our two universities; rather, it is simply the fact that Loyola students who pay to eat here (especially freshmen, who are forced by the university to buy a meal plan) often come to a cafeteria that has run out of food, no thanks to half of the Tulane student body coming here to eat.
If the pizza bar ran out of pizza for a few minutes or the sandwich bar ran out of wheat bread for the night, the situation would be different. When Loyola students are forced to eat Lucky Charms or drink only water with their meals because of supplies running out, it presents a clear and present problem.
This is not to mention the wait times students now experience. Many times Loyola students have had to eat elsewhere because the wait times to get in the cafeteria have been entirely too long; either that, or show up late to class.
Adding insult to injury, while Tulane students come to the OR and use the unlimited Bruff swipes, Loyola students are forced to use their Wolfbucks anytime they want to go into Bruff. (Which, incidentally, not many students do, because the food is so God awful miserable) Not only is Loyola making a gigantic profit out of the Tulane students coming to eat, but the dining services policy towards their own Loyola students screws us in the process. Nice looking out!
The list goes on and on. Bruff is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday compared to our 9 hours per day of total operation. The only people who seem to care are the students who loyally write checks to this university every semester just to be cheated out of their money.
A final point — and an issue that hits deep to Loyola students - is the elitism and rudeness we tolerate from Tulane. Whether it’s the running joke among Tulane students that Loyola grads work in grocery stores, or that our students are “poor” or “stupid”, or the nastiness with which Tulane students treat the staff of the OR, we Loyola students strive and remain the bigger people. Now these same jerks who wouldn’t spit on Loyola if it were on fire want to come to our already overcrowded cafeteria to eat. Well we say no. No, no, and no.
Ours is a proud and distinguished university. Many of our students got into Tulane (or quite frankly, better schools) and chose to come here instead. We neither want nor need this invasion of Tulane students, and we don’t appreciate dining services or the Loyola administration taking a back seat to our complaints. Something must be done about this problem. Dining services loves to advertise that they listen: well we are shouting Loyola...very loudly. Fix this problem!
Chris Bournes is a political science junior. He can be reached at cabourne@loyno.edu
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