At least four restaurants will be left at the mercy of the student palette today during Food Fest, an event that will help the community determine which restaurant will fill the empty spot on the Merchants on Points System (MOPS).
Sponsored by the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate's Services Committee, it will take place today in the campus center during the open block, which begins at noon.
During the event, representatives from Papa John's, Boloco, Pranzi's, Pizza Days and up to five other restaurants will lay out menus and free samples of food, according to sophomore C.J. Mourning, who chairs the Services Committee.
Food Fest will be followed by the biannual Senate survey, which will be sent to students in the next several days. It will probe the community on a variety of issues, including which restaurant should be on points. The restaurant that receives the most votes will win.
Senators are enthusiastic about the survey, which they feel will help "trigger and direct" projects, according to sophomore Senator Scott Silverman, who is compiling the questionnaire.
"Since the Senate represents the student body, we find that the survey is a valuable tool in gauging student opinion and receiving student feedback," he said.
TCU President Neil DiBiase agreed. "One of our major goals always is to get student feedback," he said.
The current opening on the points system resulted from Dining Services finding out this summer that Domino's had changed ownership without informing the university.
When restaurants change ownership, they do not automatically stay on points. Dining Services traditionally leaves that decision to a student vote.
Since Domino's was removed from points, Henry Askew, its local franchise owner, has been trying to drum up student support to get it put it back on.
As of press time, though, a Domino's representative had not confirmed with Mourning whether or not the restaurant will be present for Food Fest.
Still, she said that Domino's has every opportunity to regain its old spot. "If students want to see them back on points, it's fine," she said.
Most of the restaurants that will come to the campus today were invited because they were popular with students last year during a Senate survey.
"Last year, we had a survey asking what restaurants students would like to see on points, so we took that into account," Mourning said.
DiBiase said that he hopes that the winning restaurant will be on points within the next three weeks, but a definitive timeline has not been set.
Silverman said that students typically have around a week to respond to the survey, but noted that the exact amount of time will depend on the response rate.
"That's something that we determine based on the number of responses that we've received on the survey," he said.
Rob Silverblatt contributed reporting to this article.
