Casual Friday: Forever Young

College can be stressful, and there are moments when we wish we were back in kindergarten. Which is why we would like to thank Columbia Dining Services, which, by offering reusable take-out containers this semester, now make us feel that way every time we head to the dining hall.

For those who do not have a meal plan (congratulations), allow us to explain the origin of the take-out container. Many moons ago, the EcoReps on the Dining Advisory Committee suggested reusable containers. After much product searching and testing, a suitable vessel was found.

We’re all for environmental friendliness. And, in all sincerity, there are some real benefits to this plan. A lot of work obviously went into it, and we believe the powers that be in Dining are sincere in their desire for positive change. So we’re willing to overlook the fact that students will have to carry their containers through the hallowed halls of wherever their classes are, hearkening back to the days before their mothers trusted them with lunch money (or, alternatively, to the days when they were chased through middle school for continuing to carry a lunch box).

We are not, though, going to pretend that the logistics of this plan are any more practical than those we devised for our schemes back in preschool. All first-years and registered upperclassmen should have received a token in their mailboxes—“should” being the operative word. Those who do not bring a token cannot redeem it for a reusable box, and thus must pay 50 cents to use an option that is technically part of their meal plan. Those who manage to get a box (which is no meager feat—perhaps Dining thought it would be fun to make finding these tokens as exciting as finding one of Willy Wonka’s famed Golden Tickets) must return it the next time they come to John Jay and exchange it for another (clean) box.

Perhaps the best part—yes, better than taking dirty boxes to Lit Hum, better than not receiving the token you were supposed to, and better than not being able to decorate your box with stickers of the Disney princess of your choice because you need to return it—is the way Dining left it to us, your intrepid correspondents, to figure all this out.

Apparently, there was hope for “buzz marketing” and EcoRep promotion—but EcoReps don’t make posters because they’re bad for the earth. Which means that this was all a bit of a surprise. Like a Christmas present! Or a new puppy! Or any of the other things we asked for incessantly as children!

Let it not be said that Dining does not care about its students. On the contrary, Dining cares immensely for its students. It thinks its students are five years old, true. But it cares nonetheless.

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The Editorial Board would be remiss if it did not acknowledge the recent passing of John Kluge, Columbia alumnus and benefactor. Kluge, who had previously donated $100 million for a scholars program to be created in his name, pledged $400 million to be given to Columbia after his death. To say that this was generous does not begin to express the kindness and consideration of the gesture. But Kluge was more than what he bequeathed to Columbia. We will remember him not only for the programs developed with his donations and in his name, but for his lifelong dedication to his school and ours.