University Daily Kansan Wednesday, May 17. 1961
Dorm Food Brings Gripes
By Virginia Mathews
(Editor's Note; This is the first in a series of articles on the quality of and expenditure for university dormitory food.)
Residents of University dormitories feel that they are not getting the food they are paying for. They say that they do not like the appearance or the quality of food that is served.
Some students feel that $90 out of the $315 semester fee pays for the room and the rest of the money goes for food. This means that the students think they are paying $1.50 a day for food. Actually they are paying 75 cents a day.
A SURVEY TAKEN in the women's dormitories shows that the majority of the women think that their semester fees pay for the food and the room rent. They said that the meals served in the dormitory lacked consistency; one meal would be good and the next meal bad.
They added that they thought the dietitians were doing the best they could but that food could stand improvement.
"With 400 girls to feed we can't expect the cooks and dietitians to cater to individual likes and dislikes," one woman said. "They don't know what we like."
But room and meals are not all the students' dormitory fees to for.
Because the state does not subsidize dormitory operations, the students pay for utilities, maintenance, employees' wages and a telephone and switchboard rental.
THE STATE NOW subsidizes the construction cost of the dormitory.
The dormitory allowance for food at Lewis Hall is $65,000, one fourth of the total dormitory budget. The remaining money covers utilities, $17,000; a telephone and switchboard rental fee, $4,200, and employees' wages, $85,000. Fees also pay for the yard work around the buildings, and equipment in the dormitory.
The students help pay for the dormitory because donations, the $400,000. from the state dormitory fund, and the revenue bond issue do not cover the cost of construction.
J. J. Wilson, director of dormitories, said:
"The donations we receive do not completely cover the cost of construction. Take Lewis and Templin Halls for example. These dorms cost
$3,500,000 each. We borrowed $2,700,000 on a revenue bond issue and the difference of $800,000 was paid by the state dorsitory fund and the Lewis family's donations."
STUDENTS IN LEWIS Hall pay $58,000 a year for the interest rate and principal on the bonds.
The $65,000 which is allotted to Lewis Hall for food is based on the number of people eating in the hall (contract feeding plan) and operating expenditures for the kitchen.
The contract feeding plan is based on a tally sheet which the dietitians keep at each meal. The students are marked off the list as they go through the lunch line. Mrs. Lenoir Ekdahl, supervising dietitian for the University dormitory system, said that after a few weeks it is possible to estimate how many students will be eating at certain meals.
"It would be impossible for us to feed the students the type of food that we do if every student ate every meal," she said. "We count the sack lunches that the students take and know how many won't be eating at the hall for lunch."
SHE ADDED THAT it would not be financially feasible for the dormitory to operate on a pay-as-you-go basis because the cooks would never know how much food to fix.
Ruth Hopkins, dietitian at Gertrude Sellards Pearson, said that she keeps an inventory constantly because three times a year she has to submit a list of the canned foods needed at the dormitory office. The dormitory office sends the list to the State Purchasing Department at Topeka.
IT IS LESS EXPENSIVE to buy food from wholesale grocers whose bids the state purchasing department receives and chooses, according to Mrs. Ekdahl. She added that meat comes from a hotel and institutional supplier in Kansas City.
Mrs. Ekdahl and the students interviewed do not feel that more money is needed to solve the food problem. They suggested that a representative committee in the dormitories should keep the cooks informed of the students' opinion about food.
(The next article deals with the chan-
diornty residents and the dietitians).
Bankers Oppose Higher Interest-
In a statement made in a report by the research department of the Kansas Legislative Council entitled "Interest on Inactive State Deposits," a resolution made in 1956 reads as follows:
(Continued from page 1)
"Resolved it is the position of the Executive Council of the Kansas Bankers Association that it not opposed to satisfactory legislation providing for a reasonable rate of interest to be paid by awardee banks on time deposits of inactive state funds."
SEN. MYERS said, however, that his bill died in the Senate Banking Committee.
Rep. Barringer's bill proposed that 20 per cent of the money in the inactive accounts be available for withdrawal at any time, but that 80 per cent of the money in the accounts draw the average interest paid on 91-day United States government bonds during the past five years.
Rep. Barringer said that by using the past five-year average, the amount of interest drawn would fluctuate with each five year period.
Sen. Myers' bill was similar to Rep. Barringer', but he proposed the interest on the 80 per cent of the accounts be based upon U.S. treasury securities that mature between one and two year periods.
The senator's bill suggests that the rate should be 70 per cent of
Other states draw as much as two and one-half per cent interest. Why can't Kansas draw more than 8 of one per cent? We could do so much with it!"
the average yield of such securities during the last 12 months.
He also proposed that if the state treasury board were unable to deposit all the available money at the suggested rate that it be invested directly into two-year government bonds.
ALTHOUGH NEITHER legislator's bill met with much enthusiasm this term, they are determined to keep introducing the plan until it, or a measure resembling it, is passed.
(Tomorrow's article will discuss the interest rates allowed in states investing or drawing interest on their inactive funds.)
Sen. Myers said:
Almost Buffaloed
"I believe if the inactive accounts could draw more interest, many people would benefit from it. The money could be used in welfare, to develop recreational areas, the educational building fund, or any other constructive use."
PIERRE, S.D. — (UPI) — Ray Hart, South Dakota research biologist, is encountering a number of problems in his efforts to control buffalo with tranquilizers.
In his first attempt, the dosage was too large and the buffalo promptly rolled over and died. Besides that, the hypodermic needle carrying the dose is shot from a gun, and if Hart doesn't score a direct hit the needle will bounce right off the animal's tough hide.
International Club
Annual Business Meeting and Elections
Friday, May 19th
7:30 p.m. --- Big 8 Room
NEW APARTMENTS
For Rent
2 BEDROOM
- WALL TO WALL CARPETS
- DRAPERIES
- ELECTRIC RANGE
- REFRIGERATOR
- GARBAGE DISPOSAL
- WASHER & DRYER FACILITIES
- AIR CONDITIONING
$25.00 deposit holds until September
BUILDER'S INVESTMENT CO., INC.
VI 2-0099
$85 - $90
729 $ _{1/2} $ Mass.
LAST WEEK'S RESPONSE WAS SO GOOD WE'VE DECIDED TO HAVE ANOTHER WEEKEND SALE!
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
(And today if you can make it)
SEE US FOR LEVIS We have your size in either button or zipper style
Fresh In! Another Shipment of Famous Brand Knit Shirts at $1.99
Ivy & Continental
Slacks
Reg. 3.98 & 4.95, Now
$2.99
Men's White Sneakers Was 4.95 $3.98
Dress Shirts
Short-Sleeve
White Button-Down
$2.00
Sizes $14^{1/2}$ to 17
SNAP-TAB STYLE $2.98
LAWRENCE SURPLUS 740 Mass.