Between the free food samples outside the Campus Center, numerous online surveys and those ubiquitous Pizza Days socks, it's hard not to notice that the Merchants on Points (MOPS) system is on students' minds.
A series of articles in the Daily last week examined the MOPS system in light of the ongoing TCU Senate election process to decide which local restaurant will be added to the system next semester. Boloco and Pizza Days are currently in a runoff election, after the initial election's results were too close to call.
Around campus, students had their own ideas about what is working and what should be changed when it comes to the points system. Some said they would be happier with more restaurants on the system, while others said they didn't think a change was necessary.
Freshman Daniel Testa said he's glad the TCU Senate is holding an election to choose the new restaurant and that he thinks more needs to be done.
"I guess it's a good step to get more involvement from students, but the whole system needs to be expanded, and it needs to be updated," freshman Daniel Testa said.
Senior Wes Jacques said the most important change would be to add more variety to the food available.
"It could be more diverse, because pizza and calzone places are the only places open," Jacques said. "I just want more selection."
Sophomore Danielle Okai agreed.
"I feel like I would order more if there was a greater diversity. A lot of the restaurants are Italian or pizza-based. If there was Thai food or African food, I'd be a lot more interested," Okai said.
Many local restaurants are not on the system due to financial and feasibility issues with the MOPS system. Some students feel that they miss out on good food as a result.
"I feel like a lot of [restaurants on points] are run-of-the-mill places," senior Jeff Goldberg said. "City Slicker Café is really good and quality food, and that's not on points. It's like home-cooked meals."
Other students, however, were satisfied with the current system, which allows them to pay for some delivery food with points.
"I cook at home most of the time, and I try to shop at Shaw's and use the kitchen," senior Annabel Goa said. "On a Sunday night or a night when it's too crazy to cook, I usually order out. I'm very satisfied with it; I don't have any complaints. I'm happy with what we have now."
Senior Amod Rajbhandari said he thinks MOPS serves its purpose and suits a certain need.
"It's college food, so pizza, panini and all that stuff," he said. "It's not that healthy, but it fills you up as a late-night snack. When you don't have time to cook, you order."
In addition to expanding the options available, Okai said she would like to use MOPS at the restaurants themselves, instead of only ordering out.
"It gets kind of expensive, because a lot of places have a minimum ordering amount," she said. "It would be cool to go any time of day and get stuff on points, because I wouldn't have to pay delivery, and you can take advantage of lunch deals."
Jacques added that the points system makes paying for delivery more complicated.
"[At] a lot of places, you can't tip on points," he said.
Another common complaint was the distinction between Points Plus and Dining Dollars. Students said the dual system is confusing and hard to keep track of.
"If they eliminated Dining Dollars and put just Points Plus instead, it would make everything so much simpler," Rajbhandari said. "With Points Plus, you could buy stuff, and it's a convenient way of doing business. You can buy anything from the bookstore, for example. Dining Dollars just limits you."
Many students felt that expanding the points system should be a priority at Tufts, regardless of whether Dining Services would lose revenue. Testa was especially surprised to learn about the technology that the school currently uses.
"The fact that that they use receipts is ridiculous; I don't get that at all," he said. "The argument is that they can't expand [MOPS] because they're using an old system, and because they're using an old system, they can't make money from it."
Jacques felt the extra expenses needed to update the system would be worth it.
"There would be hardware expenses, but I don't feel like it's that technologically advanced or expensive in any way," he said. "Tuition goes up consistently anyway. I feel like that should just be accounted for."
Goa agreed.
"[Tufts] make[s] money off plenty of other things. If it would make students happy, it's something where they should implement the change," she said.
Okai thought that the recent buzz about the MOPS system has created valuable information for Dining Services and should send them a red flag.
"This should encourage the administration to step up their game with the facilities here," she said. "The Commons' food isn't that good for your body, and Dewick can just get old. I feel as if the administration, instead of saying, 'This is taking away from us,' should use this as a way to take more input of what type of food to serve."
"Tufts has good food," she added. "But I feel like it could be better."
