University of Virginia Library

Observatory Hill Facility Construction
Causes No Rise In Student Fees

Through an agreement with
the Board of Visitors approved
at their June 1 meeting,
construction of the new
Observatory Hill dining facility
will result in no increase in
student fees, Student Council
President Larry Sabato said
yesterday.

Because of an initial
$200,000 overcost in the
facility's construction, Mr.
Sabato said that he feared that
student fees or the price of
Contract Cafeteria tickets
would go up to make up the
difference.

However, he said, $80,000
of the cost was cut through
economizing, and the
remainder will be covered by
private donations and by an
intertransfer of $5 of the
student activities fee.

The building, now under
construction in Webb Woods
on Alderman Road, will be
ready for use for the fall of
1974, and possibly for the 1974
summer session, Mr. Sabato
said.

He added that he had
expressed initial reservations
about the value of constructing
the new facility, but said that
he was afraid that its
construction would mean
either an increase in student
fees or in the cost of Food
Services prices. "I was wrong,"
he noted.

He also pointed out several
changes in Food Services
procedures which have been
approved after meetings
between Student Council and
Food Services personnel.

A new system will go into
effect in the fall under which a
student will sign a written
contract for both semesters on
Contract Cafeteria. Then,
instead of having just four

days, the student will have
until Thanksgiving to drop
Contract for the second
semester, if he wishes.

Changes in Contract
operations must now go
through the Food Services
Advisory Committee, Mr.
Sabato said, and two weeks'
public notice must be given on
any decided changes.

As initial improvements,
students eating on Contract in
the fall will be allowed
unlimited salads at dinner and
second desserts at lunch.

The price of a Contract
ticket will increase in the fall,
Mr. Sabato said, "but this isn't
surprising. Our Contract price
was the lowest of its kind on
the east coast." He added that
he thought that the quality of
Contract meals had been hurt
by the efforts to keep the
prices low.

He will soon confer with
Food Services Director Bernard
C. Fontana on the amount of
increase in the Contract ticket.
"I want to strike a medium
between quality and cost," he
said.