Since Bard College's recent switch to a food service contract with Parkhurst Dining, the quality of the meals offered has steadily declined, along with a concurrent increase in the price of the food. Many students throughout this semester have been afflicted with food poisoning, with others finding themselves unable to even partake in the food due to dietary restrictions such as allergies, religious restrictions, sensory issues, or simple revulsion towards the food. 

DTR, the other main destination for food at Bard, is advertised as being a better option, however a sense of disillusion has begun setting in among many students due to recent developments. Prior to the day that this petition was created, a student could obtain a entree such as pizza, a burger, or a sandwich along with fries and a drink from DTR using a meal swap three times a day. Today, the meal swap policy changed from providing this option to students having a limit of $6 worth of DTR goods to purchase with each meal swap. While this change sounded enticing due to the expanded variety it offered, it came with a price increase in many of the food items offered - as a vegetarian the only entrees that I am able to purchase within the $6 limit are a plain pizza or a quesadilla. 

Bard is an isolated campus - if you do not have a car here, you have very limited access to food sources outside of campus. Thus, despite Bard being a school which prides itself on inclusion - inclusion of different races, different sexualities, and different social classes, the negative reality of the dining services that are offered mainly effects the students with the least money, as they are forced to either resign themselves to Kline Commons, attempt to eat a filling meal within the $6 limit at DTR, or pay $4 for about a cup of pineapple chunks, or $6.49 for a small Naked smoothie - these are real figures from the prices at DTR.

Considering the amount that students pay to attend Bard - the 49th most expensive school in America, this situation is ridiculous. Bard students must mobilize to either demand nutritious and filling food, or to obtain a refund on the around ten-thousand dollars that the majority of us are paying for Parkhurst Dining services.