The department is always open to input, says Hennessey, adding that it does try to incorporate new suggestions into the menu.

"For the most part, I think the menus reflect what the students want," says Hennessey. "I don't think the students are aware about how much we really do care. We're here to provide a service."

Despite the efforts of the department, though, students continue to grumble daily about their dining experiences.

"The portions are too small. It's ridiculous that the main entree is limited and you can eat as much salad as you want," says Chad H. Barker '93.

Another student adds, "The quality of the food is never that good. It seems like almost everyday there's some form of chicken. Its obvious that whatever was served the night before is transformed into the next day's entree. Beef tips one day, beef stew the next day."

And another student says, "My brother went to Cornell, and you should see what they have there..."

What We Haven't Got

With 12 different voluntary meal plans, some type of food available from 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and the lowest cost-per-meal in the Ivy League, Cornell is well-known for its dining system.

And while other schools don't offer as many different meal options, only Yale has a system as rigid as Harvard's.

The other Ivies run the range from Princeton, which offers two plans--one with 14 meals per week and the other with 20--to Cornell.

"Every school that has the standard 20 plan really has to look at it and ask `is this the best for us?' Usually, it is, from a financial standpoint, since everyone buys it," says Mark Robillard, Director of Housing at Boston University. "Unfortunately, the student eating 12 meals a week is subsidizing the student eating 20."

It is because of this built-in inequity that most schools now offer students some measure of choice in the number of meals they purchase each week.

But a variable meal plan could endanger the sense of community which the house system tries to provide, administrators say.

Epps and other administrators say that they are concerned that if they offered a variable meal plan, fewer students would eat in the dining halls. "You would weaken the house system," says Epps.

Food service officials and other Harvard administrators agree that the priority for the dining services must be to work within the framework of the 12-house system and not to make changes which could jeopardize the effectiveness of that system.