Legal issue with university - do I have a case?

witheringdreams · August 17, 2007, 3:14pm

This is a message I wrote to a director at the college. The problem with this meal plan policy is that it is not listed ANYWHERE. Not even in the student handbook for the campus’ rules and regulations. If I do have a case, is there anything I can do? Thanks.

" _______,

I have explained this issue to others in your department only to get
either completely blown off or given an answer that does not legally
nor ethically resolve my complaint. It is my second year living on
campus at _________ and for some reason I have all of a
sudden been REQUIRED to purchase a meal plan from the school. My
complaints about this issue are wide ranging and I will be sure to
include all of my details to the dean if I cannot get this resolved
from you.

The first issue I have with this policy is the fact that it is not
legal. There is no basis in your terms and conditions for meal plans
on the portal or on your website for insisting that I have to purchase
a meal plan. There is writing concerning freshman and first years on
campus but none of those apply to me. I originally enrolled in your
university this semester under the premise that I would have the
option not to purchase a meal plan from your university and not having
access to such valuable information is an egregious attempt at fraud
in my estimation.

Now, let’s discuss the ethical ramifications of this policy. It is bad
enough that your office can enact charges with little or no
explanation to students who can barely make ends meet at your
expensive university. Moreover it is even more unethical that the plan
is complete fraud that is used only to milk money out of students. How
do I know this? As I explained to someone else in your office, the
plan costs 1,250 dollars for a block 75 meal plan which has 75 meals
only to be used at , , and the  and 300 dollars in
_______. I subtract 300 from 1,250 and get 950 dollars. I divide
that by 75 and understand that I am paying 12.75 per meal. The problem
is the retail value of every meal at the _, , or  is
at least under 10 dollars a meal and some around 5 dollars! Why is it
my obligation to lose a guaranteed 2.75 per meal? This is hardly a
service, but what I believe to be a scam. I have received no ethical
or rational basis for such a rule so I am going to assume it is
because the school just really wants to find discrete ways to extract
money out of me.

Now let me discuss the health ramifications of this policy. The food
at ____ gave me constant stomach and digestive issues last year for
some reason. Perhaps it is just me, but I would not pay 3 dollars for
a meal at _____ if it was up to me. Instead of providing “healthier
alternatives” to students, you instead prefer to force people to eat
things that they do not like? Does that really promote a healthy
environment on campus?

So as you can see this policy is absolutely a joke and one that I am
not willing to commit to. I am not the only one who feels this way. In
fact my parents are also demanding a legal explanation from your
office and more than just a simple “we will send your concerns to the
appropriate people”. Moreover, I am more than willing to make this a
political problem when I get back on campus and show you just how many
students think this is completely unfair but are not confrontational
enough to say anything. I expect to have the option not to pay for
something that violates my rights as a consumer. I believe, ______,
that this is indeed the American way.

Sincerely,
_______"

MagsMom · August 17, 2007, 3:26pm

I think if you want to have a legal standing you should stick to one point - the fact that you can’t find any university policy that states you are required to purchase the plan if you are enrolled in school. I would simplify the letter to a strong point - unless you have resolved yourself to paying for the plan and just want to complain. I would cc this letter to dining services, dean of students, registrar, etc. Remember when writing a letter like this it is best to state reason, ask for policy, and give notice that you are respectfully declining to pay until you are in receipt of university policy. Is this a private school? If you don’t get anywhere then you can start in with the ethical implications, etc. Good Luck!

Northstarmom · August 17, 2007, 3:27pm

You need to talk to a lawyer not get advice from uninformed strangers.

Your letter was very rude, and unnecessarily threatening, and you’re unlikely to get a reply in your favor.

MagsMom · August 17, 2007, 3:29pm

Oh and I forgot to mention, if you don’t get anywhere with a reasonable approach then you next step should be to give your letter you sent with written responses to the school/local newspaper. I think you could write a great article by expanding on your ideas in this letter. Again, Good Luck!

newmassdad · August 17, 2007, 3:29pm

Did you try speaking with anyone before you sent this note? If not, I fear you may have burned a few bridges.

You need to learn that for every university rule there may be a path for exceptions. But one needs to discover those paths and how to work them.

Unfortunately, frontal assaults rarely work. Instead, they just cause the institution to raise the defense shields.

But, to answer your question: Probably not. You have no obligation to purchase a meal plan (or prove you have health insurance or any one of a number of other things they may require) but you also have no obligation to attend…get the drift?

witheringdreams · August 17, 2007, 3:33pm

Right, but advice from a lawyer would only end up costing me more money.

I think it may end up being that I will have to suck it up but I am determined to politicize this as it is a large complaint from many students on campus. It is a private school, but the administration is notorious for giving the students the shaft concerning issues like this. Northstarmom, I have tried being very civil in this process to their office, only to get absolutely nowhere. They don’t even answer my questions.

Rude and threatening? maybe. But to get the shaft in this manner is completely unfair.

zoosermom · August 17, 2007, 3:37pm

It was rude and threatening and not particularly well written. Hysteria never works in a professional setting.

blossom · August 17, 2007, 3:40pm

withering-- your tone is egregious.

Try calling the director of medical services-- explain that you’ve had health problems with the food service and would like to get a waiver from purchasing a meal plan for nutritional reasons. You will probably get the waiver within a day or two. No need to be hostile or start threatening lawsuits.

There are kids all over America with severe food allergies, religious dietary restrictions, ethical issues over consuming animal products, or whatever. Even when they are on campuses which require a meal plan, virtually all of them get exemptions. Why? They are polite, they stick to one issue (your comments about the “value” of the meal are completely irrelvant to your argument), they go to the person who can get the waiver for them (a chaplain if it’s a religious issue, the dietician for a food allergy, etc.), and they put the request in writing early in the game, ie. not ten minutes before the fees are due.

Good lesson for you next time. you don’t need to politicize this-- just get yourself a waiver and move on. Why you feel shafted I don’t know. My tax dollars go to support a lot of causes I don’t believe in-- my choices are to not pay the tax and face the consequences (penalties, jail, etc.) move to a country with a different tax/value system, or suck it up and pay. However, I don’t walk around feeling shafted.

Opie_ofMaybery2 · August 17, 2007, 3:41pm

Good luck at your next school.

ses · August 17, 2007, 3:51pm

I agree with the above posters. Unfortuately, lots of schools require you to have a meal plan.

However, if this is a new policy, you should perhaps find out WHY it was implemented.

In the future, wait an hour before sending any angry emails that you’ve written. You may regret reacting without thinking.

witheringdreams · August 17, 2007, 3:53pm

Yes, I know the tone was very excessive and I did apologize for it. However, if I tried to get a food allergy waiver, would that not be unethical in itself? The food makes me feel terrible, but there is no way for me to prove what the main cause of the problem is(as in an ingredient). It is a little concerning to me that in this country these kind of policies can fly with little or no complaints.

I buy the points about taxation and that is why I am a libertarian. I certainly am going to leave my university, but it is tough if you have just committed to attend for another year(or at least a semester).

I know that many of you think I am a ■■■■■■■ or am confused about how the process works and I apologize for that. I have received the answer I was looking for.

cwatson · August 17, 2007, 3:54pm

yea they may not even reply at all, just one disgruntled student.

violadad · August 17, 2007, 3:55pm

I have to agree with what some others have said. The letter was harsh, threatening, and opinionated.

When addressing a complaint in writing, first formulate your thoughts and assume the position of an uninterested third party. Try and not let your status as the aggrieved party rule your writing. Think logically, not emotionally.

Explain the problem, or address the policy (or lack thereof).

Factually demonstrate how the other party created the problem by not following policy (or having an unclear or nebulous one).

The absence of a policy can be labeled as confusing, unclear.

Ask for clarification, free services, new goods, in a relation to how much you have been “harmed”. Wanting a new car because someone scratched your car door is unreasonable.

Try and position the complaint to get the reader to see the affront from your eyes. In other words, “what would a reasonable person expect” in these circumstances?

Go through channels. Escalate when necessary. Use lower level shortcomings, poor responses when repeatedly addressing the same complaint at the next level.

Be reasonable. Accept a valid explanation or service when offered. Learn to compromise.

It’s an acquired skill. Think, reread, and edit before committing to your final version. Often a day’s perspective will result in a far better formulated letter.

Allmusic · August 17, 2007, 3:59pm

First rule of thumb when dealing with bad situations in institutional settings (or any, for that matter), is to remember that screeching about things rarely has the desired result. Threatening people simply does not bring people to your way of thinking.

Whether or not you have a “case”, I don’t know, but I do know that if I were the intended recipient of your letter, I would not provide you with your desired result either. I would wonder how a college student could be so disrespectful.

Lesson for the future…you will always get further but trying to be understanding of the other point of view, of being clearheaded, civil, etc. Always.

Good luck. I hate bad food myself, so can commiserate on that end.

Armando · August 17, 2007, 4:11pm

Don’t send letters/messages when you’re angry.

edad · August 17, 2007, 4:16pm

It is good that you are in college - - I hope it is a first rate institution with some emphasis on writing skills. You need to learn how to write concisely and persuasively and to avoid venting. It would probably also help if you had some facts and knowledge to back up your claims. That can be especially important if you want to make claims about legal matters.

In addition to gaining some communication skills, I hope you also learn more about human behavior and learn how to achieve goals when working with others. There are better ways to achieve goals. A long incoherent rant is not one of those ways.

bluebayou · August 17, 2007, 4:20pm

There are essentially three distinct points to your rant, and yes, it comes across as a rant.

1) You do not beleive the school properly notified you about the requirement to purchase a food plan if you live on campus.

2) You think the cost is excessive. [btw: that is exactly the same costs as a food plan at my son’s college.]

3) You apparently have food allergies, or the cafeteria has major problems. If the latter, there would be scores of folks getting sick, not just you.

IMO, the only relevant portion of your letter to the Powers-that-be is #1: you would like someone to point you to the written policy. [However, think about this for awhile: once they point it out to you, what’s the next step?]

Issue #2 (price) would make for a good editorial in the student newspaper, and might even garner some support from other students and the student government.

Issue #3 (health) is something that you should check out with health services first, before being impudent. For example, are you borderline celiac such that the stress of college has created problems with gluten?

JHS · August 17, 2007, 4:21pm

<ol>
<li>Your letter was a mistake – the tone, the content, the carelessness, the whole idea of it. No one who sees it is going to respect you, and if they treat you with respect at all you should be grateful for that. Any contact you have with someone who may have seen the letter should begin with your sincere apology for it. You have to accept that. </li>
<li>If – and this is a big if – there’s really nothing on the website or other easy-to-access information telling you that upperclass residential students (or nonresidential students, if that’s what applies to you) must purchase a meal plan, then you may have some kind of case. (You would have an even better case if you signed a residential contract that didn’t mention it, but that seems very, very unlikely.) Your case, however, may be for refund of your tuition/housing deposit after you withdraw. My guess is that if you withdraw you will be able to get that stuff back without suing, unless you keep acting like a 9-year-old playing lawyer.</li>
<li>“I originally enrolled in your university this semester under the premise that I would have the option not to purchase a meal plan from your university.” That, making allowances for poor word choice, is the only legally relevant statement you make. Since it seems almost universal for colleges to require that students living in university housing purchase meal plans of some sort, it is really hard to imagine that you are living in a dorm and were ignorant of that requirement at your college. It is a lot more rare for schools to require non-residents to buy meal plans (but those that do usually make a point of telling you about it). So if you are not lying about your only relevant point, you had better have a credible (and humble) explanation for why you thought you wouldn’t have to buy a meal plan this year, and why that was not nuts.</li>
</ol>

(You probably could get an exemption if you have a health issue, but you clearly didn’t go through the hoops you would need for that. That could still be a path to take in the future, but right now your claim rises or falls on whether you should have known about this requirement.)

<ol>
<li>Frankly, I’m skeptical. You come across here like someone who thinks the meal plans are unfair because the food is crummy and they’re a rip-off economically. You may be right about both, and you are entitled to protest, expose, advocate, lobby, criticize, and organize around the issue to your heart’s content. But that doesn’t get you out of a valid requirement, if it exists. And the more you emphasize the value points, the more it will make people think that you are making up the ignorance point.</li>
<li>If you “win” your legal point, by the way, it will be for a maximum of one semester. Adequate notice is the easiest thing in the world to fix going forward.</li>
<li>There is not enough a stake here to get a lawyer interested on a contingency basis, nor is there enough for you to make a rational decision to pay a lawyer yourself. You are doing a really bad job representing yourself – sorry, but that’s the case. If there really is a problem with notice, and there are others in your position, maybe you could get someone to represent all of you. Absent that, you are probably not going to get a result that satisfies you. (Even with that, you are probably not going to get a result that satisfies you.)</li>
<li>Your reasonable options seem to be:</li>
</ol>

– sucking it up, paying for the plan, and continuing to advocate for changes
– if the requirement is caused by your living in a dorm, trying to negotiate – NICELY – for the ability to move off campus immediately without losing all your housing money to avoid paying for the meal plan. If you have a believable explanation for thinking you didn’t have to get a meal plan, they may let you do this. Big if.
– if the requirement applies to all registered students, same thing, but withdrawing from the university altogether.

Opie_ofMaybery2 · August 17, 2007, 4:48pm

“I know that many of you think I am a ■■■■■■■ or am confused about how the process works and I apologize for that.”

I honestly didn’t think that at all. I thought of my D at about age 4 or 5 when she didn’t get her way.

I don’t think anyone thinks your a ■■■■■■■, immature… maybe, tactless… possibily.

Maybe gleaning from your bits of information you could have approached it as such… (rough draft)

dear xxxx,

When I spoke with “aaaaa” on “aaaaa”, she assured me because of my special requirements regarding foodservice preperation that I would be allowed to waive the foodservice expense.

I suffer from a severe reaction to “aaaa” used in most meal preperations. The reaction often is life threatening and requires hospitalization. I can make my medical records available upon request.

Rather than put the university at risk, or have the school create all my meals separately from the student body, I thought the most reasonable track would be to waive my foodservice fees and I would get my foodservice elsewhere thus removing the risk or extra costs to the university.

If you would like to speak with me about my condition and what we can do, I can be reached at…

sincerely,

xxxxxx

I think you’d stand a better chance of getting what you want with a different approach with these thoughts.

<ol>
<li>always refer to whom told you this and when. It assigns responsibility to someone.</li>
<li>have a legit reason for the request. I don’t like your food isn’t reason.</li>
<li>make the problem theirs by pointing out the risk in a concerned rather than threatening way.</li>
<li>offer a solution that saves them.</li>
</ol>

Anyway just a thought.

Northstarmom · August 17, 2007, 11:12pm

"Northstarmom, I have tried being very civil in this process to their office, only to get absolutely nowhere. They don’t even answer my questions. "

Then, you politely go up the chain of command. You don’t become rude and threatening, which is likely to cause those in control to lock and bar their door against you, instead of opening their minds to your concerns.

Legal issue with university - do I have a case?

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