Additional vegetarian options and a new computer system will give students who eat at residence hall dining centers more choices this year, said Stewart Burger, associate director of dining services.

A new vegetarian option line is being offered exclusively in the Oak-Elm Dining Center.

This line includes a wider variety of food on the salad bar, increased vegetarian protein options, new spices and seasonings and several new vegetarian recipes.

Dining Services Systems Coordinator Marty Severson said the new options offered in Oak-Elm is a result of increased requests from vegetarians for different meals.

“We’ve always tried to address their issues,” she said. “Each year, we see a few more vegetarians coming to us.”

She reviewed the current menu to see what was needed to give vegetarians more variety.

“Many vegetarians want something different than what most students want,” Severson said.

“We tried to go through and see where the menu might be weak for the vegetarians,” she said.

Currently, Oak-Elm Dining Center is the only hall to have the increased vegetarian options because the demand is greatest there.

“If we offered it in each dining hall, it would be hard to justify the expense,” Burger said.

“You also do a better job of serving that population of students if you have it in one dining hall,” he said.

Severson said attempts to offer vegetarian entrees in all dining centers have been unsuccessful.

She said not enough people took the vegetarian options to make it worthwhile.

Having the increased vegetarian options only in Oak-Elm will work better, she said.

“If students really want it, they will go there,” Severson said.

However, the vegetarian options in Oak-Elm might still affect menus in other dining halls.

“If they seem to be items that are popular, we will try them in other dining centers,” Severson said.

A new computer system also will be added to dining centers this fall.

The system will control access to the dining hall and will be Y2K compliant. The old software dates back to 1983.

Burger said the new computer system eventually could allow students to have different types of meal plans or to link purchases to the residence hall convenience stores.

“We’re not 100 percent sure how these options will take place,” he said. “We’re working with students. We don’t want to say the computer won’t let us do it.”