I have been hearing that we are now able to use our meal plans at Bruff Commons, Tulane University’s dining hall. I guess that should solve the problem.

Woo-Hoo! Now we can go over there and show them who is boss. I would personally like to thank those who pointed out that this will solve the O.R.’s overcrowding problem.
But there is something everyone forgot. Our food is better. Why would Tulane students bother to walk over here unless our food was somehow better?

Our ability to go over there solves nothing.  Animosity between Loyola and Tulane students still exists, and grows each time the lines are long or the O.R. is out of utensils.
Some will still attribute the overcrowding to the higher than expected enrollment of the freshman class, but from what I have seen, this is not true to the extent that people claim. 

Granted, freshman enrollment jumped up about 110 people; but keep in mind that the admissions team worked for these results, meaning that they knew the university could handle it, provided no unforeseen events clogged anything up, like, maybe, the O.R.
 We have 809 freshmen as of the October report on enrollment, a number fairly close to what the administration has been trying to achieve.

On the other hand, Tulane students account for about 1,000 extra people in the O.R. a week, which is about 50 people a meal.

That is also assuming that the people are spread equally over each meal, but I think we can agree breakfast is neither the most important, nor most problematic meal for most of us.

I have also heard that during the Town Hall meeting, the Student Government Association justified what is happening by citing that there is an even exchange of students.

I guess that means that Tulane is also overcrowded. Maybe they are running out of forks too. But that cannot be right, can it?

The student government may have forgotten one minor detail: Loyola is a smaller school. This should not come as a surprise to anyone.

When considering something like this, it would probably help to look at percentages instead of numbers. We have less students, so, extra students at Loyola are harder to handle than an equal number of extra students at Tulane.

I do not think it is a leap of faith to say that our food is better (Tulane students agree, just go to the Facebook page), or that the enrollment was not too far from what was expected.
With that being said, our ability to go to Bruff does not matter; it will not solve our problem.

No one will use Bruff.

If the Bruff gets better food — or if the O.R. gets worse food — that will solve our problem.
If Loyola wants to solve the problem, then Tulane students should not be allowed to use their meals here, or we should be able to use our meals somewhere else that makes good food.

Right now, if I see huge groups doing tours, I say to myself, “What am I going to do about lunch since the line will be backed up even more?”