For those of us students stuck with a full 21-meals-per-week meal plan, not going to the Snack Bar after skipping dinner in the dining halls seem like a waste of money.

The dinner equivilancy points were created for busy students who cannot go down to eat in the dining halls during dinner hours. Before coming to Williams, it never occured to me that there will be some days when- in between those meetings, classes, long lab periods and rehearsals- I would not feel like getting dinner at the dining halls. However, as soon as we freshmen arrived at Williams, we learned that the late night snacks at the Snack Bar and the ‘82 Grill are pretty much the best things ever when trying to stay awake through that assignment due tomorrow.

However, the system is not without its negatives

The main problem with these dinner equivalency points seems to be that the students often feel pressured to spend the $7 worth of points at the Lee Snack Bar, even if they are not particularly hungry at the time. The points do not roll over and must be spent that day. In reasoning that not spending the points at the Snack Bar is like throwing away money, students often buy food that they’re not going to need to eat. There aren’t many options at the Snack Bar that can be saved for the next day (only those cereal and oatmeal packages, at least, as far as most are aware of), so the students will often consume unnecessary amounts of food in order to not waste the points.

“The major downfall of the Williams Dining system is that the points don’t roll over,” I overheard a student say on that long line to the cash register. She continued. “I mean, what if I didn’t want anything tonight? Why can’t I save it for another night, when there actually is a reason for me to want extra food?” While everyone might not consider it as the dining system’s biggest problem, everyone remembers those few days where we all wished that the points would roll over to the next day.

Another problem with the Snack Bar may be the lack of healthy options you can get with those $7 of dinner points. As a health-conscious entity, the Dining staff has few healthy options at the snack bar, such as the veggie pockets or black bean burgers. However, these vegetarian items often equal less quantity for the same price of non-vegetarian items. “I can never get a smoothie with a black bean burger,” one vegetarian student said to me, “The side salads here are an expensive option compared to the french fries. The Snack Bar made me realize that- oh, yeah, it really is more expensive to try to eat healthier.”

There also exists problems with long waits for the Snack Bar. The staff works diligently to keep the line moving, but it is inevitable that the wait for certain nights will go up to 40 minutes, just to get the order in. “I’m not surprised,” a friend observed, “I mean, they’re serving how many people per night from that tiny little corner?” With usually one or two worker taking orders, one person making the drinks, and three of the staff working in the kitchen area, it really seems impossible to streamline the process without expanding the kitchen and staff.

So can these problems be solved? Maybe. The last one seems to be the hardest to solve, as the popularity of the Snack Bar– the demand that keeps it going– will not die down soon. Few students suggested that there be multiple locations open late night for access to food, especially the Eco Cafe in Schow Atrium or one of the dining halls. However, it seems that this is not a plausible option in the midst of trimming costs. The same applies to the increase in cheaper healthy options or storable foods, and even the roll-over of points seem not as quite easy to set up as we think.

For now, the Snack Bar will have to stay this way.