I would like to respond to the editorial article published on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2004 titled “Televisions impractical in the dining commons”.

Since we installed four TVs one week ago, we received a lot of positive feedback from students on our initiative. The idea of having television installed at DCs was based on the past surveys when we asked the question, “What would you like to see to enhance your dining experience?” Having TV in the DC far outweighed soft music, or live bands and live plays, according to the students’ responses.

The students told us that they like to keep updated on the news, sports events and most of all, socially, they like to watch the TV with their friends, including the upcoming Red Sox baseball games.

Yesterday we conducted two surveys during the breakfast and lunch period and asked the question, “Do you like TV playing at the Worcester DC?” The result was that close to 90 percent said yes and only 10 percent said no based on 594 responses.

Dining Services continually interacts with its students and we will continue to seek their input in further improving our service to them. The TVs are just one of many initiatives which we have implemented because of our student feedback.

Ken Toong

Director of Dining Services