YU? Well, why not.

Sometimes I just don't understand the students here in YU. It seems to me they always find something to complain about - the neighborhood, the campus and the lack of girls. Well, tell you what boys, open your eyes. We are in a great place that tries to provide us with everything we need as Jewish students. The small campus gives us the advantage of small classes, we enjoy some great sports facilities including the gym and the swimming pool and we even have a direct van to Stern! However, it doesn't mean that everything is perfect.

One of the issues that most students complain about, and in this case I think we all agree, is the food. Don't get me wrong, as a person who served in the Israeli army I learned to appreciate the quality of the food - the potential is there (although not all the time is it fully reached). The real problem is the quantity and the prices. We "get" $650 on our cafeteria card per semester ("get" is the wrong word, in fact it is money we are forced to pay in advance to the meal plan. I wonder who is behind this "plan".) Last semester we had 78 school days and 14 Shabbatot (not counting the 23 days of vacation during which I had to get food on my own.) A simple calculation shows we have $7.50 a day. That is seven dollars and fifty cents a day!!! And the prices in here can be considered the anarchism of the nineties. I opened the menu and tried to put together $7.50 worth of food. On a normal day one may only have a main dinner dish and 2 oz. of salad or a main lunch dish with french fries and a soda (small). That's it.

By this calculation, in order to buy three meals a day we'll have to fast for the next two days. If we do eat normally, I guess we'll have to announce bankruptcy by the end of the semester. We definitely can't afford treating friends for lunch, therefore, we cannot afford friends. Sounds ridiculous? Seriously, the best menu I could put together is a bagel with cream cheese and coffee for breakfast, pizza for lunch and one hot dog and a small coke for dinner. Well, you tell me how exactly do you expect us to get our recommended daily nutritional value.

Going to the Caf store does not solve the problem either; everything there is "fat free," "sugar free" and "half the calories." We even had "Weight Watchers" candies. I think the people in the food services had mistaken us for too long with Stern students. We have in this university athletes and people that study hard, but we need food in order to function. Is that too large of a request from a student?

Another thing that bothers me is Shabbat meals. With all the appreciation to the complimentary $5 cost, I do not understand why do I have to beg (literally) for wine or another piece of challah at Shabbat lunch. (I'm sorry for not being a perfect Ashkenazi, but I'm still not fully used to gefilte-fish.) In addition, the people that choose the menu need to understand that seudah shlishit is the only food we have from shabbat lunch until Sunday breakfast and we can't live on salads and cake.

We are forced to spend more money (money that we don't have) on food outside the university, whether it is extra supplies for shabbat or fast food during the rest of the week. I guess Time Out and Deli Kasbah are making good money, so at least someone is happy. Our only hope, perhaps, is Morg Mart, providing us twice a week with decent amounts of tasty food for affordable prices. (By the way, we are still waiting for the sushi night…)

Before he was elected, Dror Barber, our president, pointed out that the high prices are due to a bill that is only on the paper, as he described it, between the university and the food services.

I call on the administration in Yeshiva University to cancel this "fake bill" between the school and Food Services. I think it's about time.

I call on the people who give money to this university and ask you: Do you know where your money goes?

I call on the people who decide where to spend this money to reevaluate their priorities. It's really nice to have new elevators, but since we can't afford the food, I wonder who is going to survive this semester in order to benefit from them in the future?

I call on the people in the food services to cut the high prices. We need and, therefore, demand, enough food at reasonable and affordable prices. Curb your greed!

But above all, I call on my fellow students not to surrender to the thought that you can't make a difference, because you can. So let your voices and protests be heard! You have the power - we have the power to change.

To complain - we do all the time, to point it out - I just did, and I hope that someone is listening.