HUDS Televisions Do Not Make Any Sense

To the editors:



RE: Televisions Light Up Dining Experience, news, Oct. 10.

I doubt that I’m the only one who sees the irony in a university dining service that deems plasma TVs a necessary expense but balks at living wages for its workers, fair trade policies for its produce, and its perennial anathema, extended dining hours. Apparently, Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) was able to make this decision because it derives profits from its “retail operations.” This begs the question, why should a university dining service be extracting profits from those who already pay its operating budget? As its name implies, HUDS is not a corporation, but a service. “Profits,” if there are any, should go toward the interests of the community it serves. Though I wouldn’t expect too much from a university dining service that employs a “marketing director” in the first place.



THEODORE M. LECHTERMAN ’08

Cambridge, MA

October 11, 2007