Do you support the freedom to choose?
The ‘choice’ option is simple:’ If you are of the trendy socially responsible opinion that going trayless will save the environment, do your part. Don’t take a tray at one of Northeastern’s dining halls. Al Gore will smile upon you from his private jet. There are plenty of other reasons to take a tray, or to leave one in the rack. It’s not a big deal one way or another. But it becomes a big deal when you start to harass and restrict those who choose differently.
The Huntington News smarmily opined that students concerned about losing their often-utilized but underappreciated amenity ‘should consider a good pair of walking shoes, an energy drink or a butler.” How about the students looking for the most efficient and pleasant dining experience possible? Students who would rather not set $300 books down on a table and return to the twenty-minute wait? Students who’ve completed co-ops and who realize their time is money and refuse to give up their costly time or hard-earned money for a lesser degree of service?
I am of the belief that dining halls should provide the maximum level and quality of service to students at the lowest possible cost. The option of taking a tray is an acceptable cost to ensure the best possible service. At Northeastern, costs are shared. I don’t mind paying for Jill Husky’s ‘free’ leadership classes if she foots the bill for my post-cram ride home from the library. Sure, some would like to end all quality-of-life amenities whatsoever, but in Northeastern’s ‘university community,’ the key word is community.
In the past few years we’ve seen tutoring decontralizations, paper quotas and now this. Anything to improve our image and save NU a buck or two. But this ‘trayless’ sham, put in the perspective of the cost of meal plans, will save pennies. Your meal costs will still rise.’ Your Student Activities Fee will increase. Your tuition will rocket higher into the stratosphere, year after year. You can depend upon this. So why is your Student Government Association (SGA) wasting its time trying to take away a virtually costless, incredibly convenient amenity?
Because it looks good. It makes us look like we’re doing something. It sounds greenish. Hey, other schools are doing it, right?
Northeastern is not other schools. I didn’t enroll in Birkenstock University for several reasons. One of which is that I don’t force my views upon other people, and I don’t like other people forcing their views upon me. Particularly the cadre of so-called ‘student leader’ bureaucrat-wannabes who so often think they know the right choice for everybody else. These nattering nay-trayers will tell you surveys have shown a majority of respondents favor the end of the tray option. What they won’t tell you:’ The survey gave numerous reasons why trays were terrible, zero why they were helpful, and then followed with ‘Do you support Northeastern removing trays from the dining halls?’ Hardly the way to determine a statistically reliable result.
The survey also managed to implicate trays in food waste and the ‘freshman 15′ (gasp!). Based upon this flimsy evidence we’ve seen a recommendation sent to the upper echelons of the administration, vociferously demanding an end to the option of trays in dining halls currently under construction, regardless of the fact that the entire hall was constructed to accommodate busy students carrying trays. Not a bit presumptuous. Your SGA is hard at work to keep you safe from yourself, and save a few gallons of water too.
Let’s end the madness here. Your SGA does not exist to constrict the options of Huskies, it exists to expand them. In the great tray debate, color me pro-choice.’

‘- Derek Miller is a senior economics and political science major and executive vice president of Student Government Association.