Sylvia Holsen, Staff Writer

Last week, Augsburg students moved back onto campus, and with their return, dining services opened across the campus to satisfy their ravenous hunger. However, when they tried to swipe their student IDs at the register, some students discovered that the system wasn’t accepting their cards. In fact, according to the system, they didn’t have a meal plan at all.

    On  Jan. 14, students received an email from the Department of Residence Life, informing them of the problem. “We understand that residential flex point meal plans have not been working and we have been working with A’viands to resolve this issue,” said Emma Blom. “We believe everything is corrected so your meal plans should be up and running.”

   According to A’viands spokeswoman Deb Albert, the problem arose because of a standard-issue system restart. “At the beginning of each new semester, our systems are updated and re-activated,” said Albert in an exclusive statement to “The Echo.” “This month, we experienced unforeseen technical issues, all of which have now been resolved.”

   During the situation, A’viands ensured that the students of Augsburg would not starve. Paper-and-pen systems were put in place to allow students to gain access to the food that room and board dollars pay for, and A’viands management even made sure that students would be able to use their flex points at Einstein’s and Nabo.

   This situation may seem familiar to veterans of Augsburg’s food service: previous disruptions have forced A’viands to shut down their register and allow all students cafeteria access, and there have been many times in the past that student meal plans had similar glitches that resulted in similar solutions needing to be implemented.

   According to Albert, however, A’viands is taking steps to ensure that student meal plans function as normal at the start of each new semester. “Moving forward, we are putting processes in place to ensure a seamless start to each new semester,” says Albert. “We appreciate your patience this past week.”

   As of press time, the meal plan issues appear to be resolved.

This article was originally published in the Jan. 25, 2019 issue.