The university seems to be sending mixed messages to its students.For the first year ever, both freshmen and sophomores are required to live on campus. With two new residence halls and two more under construction, TCU is pushing the idea of a more residential campus for its students.

Increasing the required minimums for on-campus meal plans goes along with this idea – the more money students have on their ID cards, the more they’ll eat on campus. It’s pretty simple.

However, the recent changes dining services has implemented completely invalidate this push toward a more residential campus.

The hours The Main is open on the weekends has changed. Now, students are expected to either eat by 4 p.m. on the weekends or make the trek to Worth Hills to eat at Pond St. Grill.

For a student living on Main Campus, or in the new dorms for that matter, walking to nearby Dutch’s Burgers and Beer or Fuzzy’s Taco Shop is closer than Worth Hills.

Going to one of these places, though, means the student won’t be utilizing those extra hundreds of dollars TCU required their parents put on their meal cards.

On weekdays, the late-night snack – almost a necessity for college students – is nearly an impossibility. Ultimate Baja, the Tex-Mex stand in Frog Bytes known for being open late, has been replaced with La Vincinta, a pasta bar.

Not only has the fare changed, but the hours as well. Now if one wants a snack in the late hours during the week, it’s Grill 155, or nothing.

With this lack of flexibility in on-campus dining, why then has TCU increased students’ meal plan requirements?

And why, if the university wants a more residential campus, have all these inconvenient changes occurred in dining services?

The university needs some consistency between its goals and actions. Right now, there seem to be more questions than answers.

Managing editor Aly Fleet for the editorial board