Merriam-Webster defines ‘scam’ as a “dishonest attempt to make money by deceiving people.” Yesterday, The Daily published an article regarding a new pricing system at Forbes Family Café, which now operates under Residential and Dining Enterprises (R&DE) at Stanford. Based on that article, as well as multiple conversations I had with people associated with the Café, it seems that Stanford students may be facing a new “dishonest attempt” to suck money out of their small pockets.
The scheme involves a substantial increase in the prices of an essential life necessity: food. To make things worse, the decision-making process by which the new prices were set lacked transparency, involving very few decision-makers and no formal or direct involvement from the students, whom R&DE claims to serve. The new pricing system at Forbes Café raises serious concerns, which I try to summarize in the three points below.
First, let’s focus on the new pricing system itself. Using R&DE’s own numbers, the average 25-ounce plate of hot food used to cost a student $7.25. By the new pricing system, the same 25 ounce plate will now cost $14.25 – a 97 percent price increase. In other words, if a student walks into Forbes Café today and gets the same average amount of food they used to get (and need), they will be charged almost double the price. When Forbes took over the space in Huang Engineering Center a year ago, R&DE promised to deliver a “healthy and affordable” service superior to Ike’s Place. There is nothing “affordable” about double-charging students overnight. Most students have a limited amount of financial resources, supplemented, in many cases, by their financial aid or work stipend. To my knowledge, the University did not increase the students’ financial aid or stipends by 96 percent recently, making this increase in food prices for students by this percentage nothing short of outrageous.
There is also nothing “healthy” about forcibly reducing the amount of food students can consume, which brings me to the second concern. The new average plate size of 12.42 ounces under the new pricing system raises serious questions beyond meal prices to touch on students’ diet. Did the student customers of Forbes Café “freely choose” to suddenly cut their food consumption by half? Or were the students unable to afford the new prices, so they “were forced” to adjust by either reducing their food purchases or finding another, cheaper venue altogether? In plain English, I am very troubled at the possibility that the new pricing system at Forbes may be negatively influencing the students’ diets by forcing them to eat less, which in turn may affect their ability to properly conduct their daily activities. It would be offensive and insulting if R&DE is negatively interfering in our diets, let alone claiming it to be for good reasons like “sustainability” or “reducing food waste.”
Third, the original pricing structure at Forbes was set after consulting with several focus groups that included ASSU representatives as well as students in the Science and Engineering Quad (SEQ). Upon transitioning to this new pricing structure, however, no such focus groups seem to have been formed. In fact, I learned from the staff managing the food vendors at SEQ that even they were not consulted on the new pricing system; they were only informed about it upon its implementation. Furthermore, the pricing change was initiated during the summer quarter, when most students (and student leaders) are off campus and cannot voice their concerns. Therefore, I can’t help but ask: Why? Why so few decision-makers, and why were students not involved in this key decision? Shouldn’t this raise suspicions that alienating students from the decision-making process was intentional? And doesn’t this raise serious doubts about the transparency of RD&E’s services to students?
In conclusion, the situation at Forbes signals a broader concern: The interests of students are deliberately left out of the decision-making process in favor of market analyses to generate profit. Given this reality, and all the unsettled questions and concerns I outlined earlier, I can only urge R&DE to suspend the new pricing system at Forbes immediately. Subsequently, R&DE should initiate a new, more inclusive decision-making process regarding the pricing system at Forbes and its other eateries, a process that allows for an active participation by both the student governments (ASSU and GSC) as well as representatives from the student population working in the places they serve.
Students at Stanford should not be subject to overnight price hikes, and we should be allowed the right to collectively negotiate affordable food options on campus. In economics, this is called “buyers power,” and there are 14,000 smart student buyers at Stanford. I urge my fellow students to begin this process by making their voices heard and raising their concerns. If you are reading this article, email your ASSU or GSC reps., The Daily and R&DE, and let them know your opinion. Here, I want to acknowledge the ASSU President John-Lancaster Finley, who has been very supportive since I brought this issue to his attention last week. The student voice is powerful when it is expanded beyond the writings of one Ph.D. student, and we need to make it known that the student voice still matters at this University.
Karim Farhat
Ph.D. candidate in Management Science and Engineering
Contact Karim Farhat at kfarhat ‘at’ stanford.edu