<p>People asked for a definition of “decent fraction” above. The number of 17yo and younger college freshman may be more than 10% of the number of 18yo freshman, which I would call “decent”. The fraction of gifted college freshman below age 18 is likely higher, since the gifted are more likely to be accelerated. Here is the number of students (in thousands) in the U.S who are college freshman by age from</p>
<p>Beliavsky, the conversation at the time you made your remark had to do with a university’s duty to protect its students from the peanut because so many of them are minors. The person who originally made the comment was using the term “minor” to describe anyone under 21, which is largely inaccurate with respect to the age of majority in this country. We were not discussing freshmen in particular either in that short conversation. So in terms of all college students, the huge majority of students attending college are no longer minors.</p>
<p>The procedures outlined make offering peanuts in the dining hall more expensive. If the university drops peanuts from the menu, the expense of preparing allergen-free pre-ordered meals no longer applies. Dropping peanuts makes the expense of trying to police and clean self-serve stations go away. </p>
<p>Peanuts are the most common allergen to which food allergic people have severe, life-threatening reactions. By going peanut-free, the university avoids the costs of dealing with peanut allergies in the dining halls. Going peanut-free does not cost anything. Cooking with peanuts and offering self-serve stations are associated with costs–and ongoing liability. </p>
<p>It’s not possible to drop milk, or soy, or wheat, or eggs from the menu. The universities will always have to deal with students with food allergies. All allergies are increasing in prevalence, and have been for the last 50 years.</p>
<p>Nrdsb4, I gather the Hygiene theory is currently favored. Our gut flora are much more important than hitherto imagined. We raise our children in comparatively sterile environments, and use antibiotics.</p>
<p>Which is why, for the benefit of those who haven’t followed this entire thread, incidence of peanut allergies is more prevalent in developed countries (and within them in more affluent households).</p>
<p>They have to ban all weat products, all milk products and all meats, polutry (too many antibiotics and potential gaggiong on meat - some people have problem swallowing and it is more severe with meat (I have this problem), fish - too much mercury, and many many others. Thinking about it, they basically have to ban existanceof the didning hall, except if it serves only purified WATER.</p>
<p>Cobrat please stop taking my commentary on the issues touched on in this thread and making it about yourself and your friends. When I made the comments you keep quoting and misconstruing I was talking about the experience of the average student in universities across the United States. </p>
<p>Near full ride students make up a very small portion of any school’s student population because the school has limited financial resources and can only offer such accommodations to a select few. In fact, we can call them uncommon as well (Now we’re getting back on topic). The experiences of these exceptions are not relevant at all to the point I was making. I’m done discussing this</p>
<p>^^Written by a third tier B-school graduate with more than adequate mathematical as well as written and verbal communication skills. I’m also gainfully employed by a fortune 150 company as well thanks for asking.</p>
<p>Periwinkle - based on what I read the school is now going to have to label food that wasn’t labeled before and rearrange their kitchen a bit to be able to segregate certain foods. To me, this doesn’t transalate into a very expensive change. Also, the additional services they have to provide will be only a few students a year so I don’t see why they would have to expand their staff and incur expenses there. I am interested in hearing a your counter point on why you think it will be a significant expense.</p>
<p>Increased food allergies may be unanticipated side effects of cleanliness and antibiotics. Going peanut-free could also have unanticipated effects.</p>
<p>No, MIAMI. No one has to ban meat because YOU have difficulty swallowing it, because the solution is that you don’t eat meat. See how that works?</p>
<p>While this is the most favored theory, what about the possibility we’re much more aware of and mindful of food allergies than we were 50 years ago?</p>
<p>As for solutions, one ideal solution proposed by more than one PA/food allergy sufferer is for medical doctors/research scientists to research a way to completely cure the issue. </p>
<p>Cobrat, it is really frustrating when your posts are about what you believe to be other people’s opinions. Give your own opinions. That’s what these boards are for. Please stop presenting what you think other people think about things, as if we should care. You do it again, and again, and again, on every thread.</p>
<p>FinanceGrad, Lesley University enrolls almost 2,000 undergrads. If the student body has 4% PA students (4% being the national prevalence of peanut allergies), that adds up to 80 students. 80 students is not a few. (By the way, all the provisions set out in the agreement with the government apply to students with celiac, and other food allergies.)</p>
<p>Every one of those 80 students has a right to an individual allergy action plan. Every one of those 80 students has the right to pre-order food online. The food order is to be sent to the university’s Food Service Manager, the Food Service Executive Chef, or the Dining Hall Manager. (Who all have other things to do. This entails hiring more people, which is an expense.)</p>
<p>The university also agrees to supply a kitchenette (“a separate area to store and prepare food.”) Allergic students are supposed to have swipe card access to such area. Can peanut allergy sufferers share this area with celiac students? Probably not. Milk allergy students? uhh…</p>
<p>Also, training all food service staff, dieticians, etc. in the new agreement is also a cost. People who run professional development courses don’t do it for free.</p>
<p>I think you underestimate the prevalence of food allergies. Even if the campus dining hall is peanut-free, there will still be students enrolled who are allergic to other allergens. Peanuts seem to have the caused the most severe anaphylactic reactions overall, but a student recently died from an allergy to milk. Going peanut-free does not free the university from the costs of allergies. It is, however, relatively easy to cease ordering peanuts and peanut butter. Many school cafeterias have already done this.</p>
<p>Periwinkle, your “stats” are COMPLETELY overblown (and unsubstantiated, as far as I can tell). The 4% figure you cite is for ALL food allergies combined in people 5 and older.</p>
<p>Your problem is quite different from the problem faced by a person with a peanut allergy.</p>
<p>Let’s say that you’re eating in a buffet-style restaurant (a situation similar to a college cafeteria). Because someone was sloppy with the serving utensils, the pesto sauce you’re about to put on your pasta is contaminated with traces of beef from the adjacent container of meat sauce. No harm will come to you from eating these traces of beef.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you had a peanut allergy, and there were traces of peanut butter on the knife that you used to spread butter or cream cheese on your bagel, you could have an allergic reaction to the contaminated bagel.</p>