SGA needs to make guest swipes a priority

Since last spring, students have been unable to swipe guests as they please in the Caf. It had been determined that this was a minor programming glitch that was allowing students to swipe multiple meals freely – but it was quickly taken away and, with its passing, a strictly enforced meal plan policy fell into place. Students who pay for a meal plan are only allowed a certain allocation of guest swipes now – forget trying to swipe in a friend.

SGA once said this was an issue it wished to fix. However, it has been pushed aside and replaced by bigger and more important issues, such as smoothie stations and tray-less initiatives. Instead of students being able to use their paid meal plans as they choose, they have to deal with a cap on guest swipes and pay out of pocket if they want to swipe more than five times. Meal plan 4 also offered the quick fix, but you had to swipe from your weekly allocation of meals.

The Setonian does not see what the issue is here – if a student purchases a meal plan, should they not be allowed to use it as they wish? Shouldn't they at least be able to transfer regular meals over to use in the guest category? It is completely irrational to expect a student to pay out of their pocket for a guest meal, with cash or Pirate's Gold, when they have already purchased a full-priced meal plan for the semester.

Rather than work on smoothies or trays, SGA should make this a priority because it is a matter of fairness. The issue of guest swipes has become so trivial and frustrating, especially when the University's stance is to use Pirate's Gold. Why do we pay for meal plans if it means that we can't use what we pay for?