Princeton Day School has undergone many changes in the past year. The Campus Center has changed colors, the cushions are new, and many new faculty members have joined the community. But, one major change that has caused a lot of controversy in the PDS community is the snack bar, and more specifically its goal of becoming “healthier.” In the hallways you can hear students complain about the higher priced food, and the way the school has infringed upon their right to eat junk food. Junior Noah Liao claims,“The cookies are no longer the same. I don’t even buy things anymore.” It does not seem right that Flik all of a sudden changed their food so drastically, but surprisingly, this is not something new.

Students who have been at PDS for a number of years share rumors of times when French fries were sold on Fridays. Maybe the school has gone a little too far now. Students will find ways to eat “unhealthy foods” if they want to. Already, students who can drive go to Wawa and buy their sugary milkshakes and snacks. The snack bar should offer more variation among their products. The snack bar, like last year, should keep both healthy foods and unhealthy foods. It should allow students to make the decisionof what they want to buy, because in the end it is their body, and ultimately their money. If there are more food options, then students learn to make decisions on their own behalf. It is a way of increasing responsibility. If there is variation, I have seen that students tend to go with celery sticks, wraps, and pineapple. If something is not forced upon them, students make the right choices.

Some students, such as junior Daniel Mahmoud, expressed dismay at the school’s “oppression” and actually claimed that the snack bar is monopolizing on student hunger and necessity for snacks, and for that reason is able to force upon them alterations to food that they don’t want, and price increases that they do not accept. He even humorously stated that there should be two snack bars, operated by two different companies so that Flik “doesn’t take advantage of students, already paying high tuition.” Flik’s changes seem to have spurred a unanimous anger among the students (and some faculty) of PDS. They should offer a larger range of treats and allow students to make their own decisions of what to put in their bodies.