Stanford Dining officials unveiled a plan to restructure residential dining yesterday in what they said was an effort to make meal plans simpler, more flexible and a better value for students.

More than five months in the making, the plan, which will go into effect for the 2005-2006 academic year, came in response to student feedback and a need for Stanford Dining to tighten its budget. The changes will make all residential dining halls all-you-care-to-eat, which is more cost-effective for the University. Students will be able to choose from three meal plans, each of which will cost $4,656 for three quarters. This translates into $19.90 per day, an average price increase of 2 percent from the current system.

Two of the three new meal plans will offer Cardinal Dollars, which will be accepted at all Stanford Dining-run cafes. In addition to the “unlimited” 19-meal-per-week plan, which will not include Cardinal Dollars, there will be a 14-meal-per-week plan with 370 Cardinal Dollars and a 12-meal-per-week plan with 585 Cardinal Dollars. Meal “points,” which students use now, will no longer exist.

The changes will not affect the Row, eating clubs, or Yost and Murray houses, which will maintain their current dining programs.

“Our goal is to ensure that we are responsive to students,” said Rafi Taherian, executive director of Stanford Dining.

Taherian and his staff gleaned student opinions through surveys and a dinner series, during which administrators talked one-on-one with undergraduates about their dining needs.

Shirley Everett, associate vice provost of residential and dining enterprises, took part in the dinner series and played a key role in developing the proposal.

“We’ve taken into consideration many, many opinions,” she said. “The challenge is to satisfy all of the different palates.”

Research conducted by Stanford Dining indicated that student needs had changed dramatically over the past five years.

For example, the recent addition of eateries such as Union Squared at Tresidder Union has created a demand for greater flexibility, motivating the decision to create Cardinal Dollars that will be accepted at all Stanford Dining venues.

“[Students] want to be able to go around the campus, to eat in different locations,” Taherian said.

He also said he found there to be a “perception of inequality” when different meal plans are offered at a range of prices.

“People with smaller meal plans were paying more per meal; students with larger meal plans felt like they were subsidizing the smaller meal plan,” he said.

The new plan, Taherian explained, will largely benefit athletes, freshmen and students on financial aid. Through surveys, Stanford Dining officials found that athletes and freshmen often run out of points under the a la carte system. Also, the two-thirds of undergraduates who are on financial aid were a major consideration, Taherian said.

“The single-rate meal plan helps the financial aid office be fair in giving students on financial aid a meal plan,” he added.

As of next year, Wilbur and Manzanita Dining Halls will no longer offer a la carte service, switching instead to the all-you-care-to-eat system now used at Stern Hall.

The main reason for this change is the need for “fiscal responsibility” within Stanford Dining, according to Taherian.

“We have to be very careful with the overhead costs of a la carte service,” he said. “If one day we decided to go all a la carte, the cost would be significantly higher.”

Because people expect different standards of quality from a la carte as opposed to all-you-care-to-eat, he said it is unwieldy for the two systems to coexist.

“You cannot have two standards of service,” he continued. “You can’t have all-you-care-to-eat and a la carte within the same residential dining program.”

The revenue from residential dining alone is around $15 million per annum, and the total revenue, including that from all facilities run by Stanford Dining comes to approximately $36 million.

Although Everett and Taherian said the profits from the cafes and eateries such as Subway and Tresidder work to offset the cost of meal plans, there is still a need for greater cost effectiveness.

The switch to all-you-care-to-eat will not affect the grab-and-go stand at Wilbur.

“We need to have something on East campus that is continuous service,” Taherian said. “Students can go in the middle of the day to Wilbur and have a smoothie.”

Still, the plan to revamp Wilbur stirred some immediate student backlash.

In an e-mail to The Daily, Wilbur freshman Logan McClure wrote, “I love Wilbur. So many people — faculty, older students and friends — come and eat in Wilbur because they are able to get whatever they want and only have to pay for what they eat.”

ASSU Undergraduate Senator Russell Husen, a sophomore, said he met with and lobbied Stanford Dining to change their proposal and said he was happy that some ASSU requests were incorporated into the final draft, including the greater variety of dining options that meal plans will now offer.

“Other requests were not fully addressed in this new plan, though we are continuing to work with Stanford Dining to resolve them,” Husen said.

“Our requests to allow points to be used at non-Stanford Dining locations such as the TreeHouse, Jamba Juice, MoonBean’s and select off-campus locations, were completely dismissed because of the costs Stanford Dining would incur,” Husen continued. “Allowing students, particularly upperclassmen, the ability to opt out of dining plans was also dismissed for similar reasons.”

Dan Zeehandelaar, another Wilbur freshman, expressed concern over the added food waste that could result from an all-you-care-to-eat system.

In an a la carte system, “students are more likely to only buy what they plan to eat, thus reducing food waste, as well as reducing the tendency to overeat,” Zeehandelaar said.

Yet junior Greg Laughlin, the co-director of SPOON, a group that collects excess food from dining halls and distributes it to the needy, was not worried about food waste.

“Stanford Dining works hard to reduce food waste and plays a very active role in encouraging the Stanford community to aid in that endeavor,” Laughlin said.

Another provision in the plan will make dining more flexible for students staying on campus over the summer.

Currently, summer residents are required to purchase a meal plan but as of next year, Mirrielees will be reserved for students who do not wish to have a meal plan for the summer. In these dorms, which are equipped with kitchens, students will be able to cook for themselves.

Everett said she expected there to be controversy surrounding the proposal, adding that Stanford Dining has been a “lightning rod” for discussion during her 13-year tenure.

Moreover, Husen said that the ASSU “will continue to voice student concerns with Stanford Dining to find new and innovative ways to improve dining service for all students on campus.”