ON CAMPUS — Nestled in a quaint corner of UCSD
Medical School
is a little-known culinary haven called Club Med. Located between the
Biomedical Library and the Cedar Clinical Research building, this cafe and
dining hall represents all that is good and pure in the gastronomic world. Open
only on weekdays during the morning and afternoon, Club Med offers a wide array
of food that is tastier, healthier and cheaper than anything else found on
campus. If that weren’t enough to attract UCSD students, the fact that Club Med
accepts dining dollars is.

It seems as though Club Med is the paragon of campus
eateries, yet for as much as it contributes to the school, the university
powers that be have decided its services are no longer required and thus it
will be destroyed.

According to the Dining Services Coordinator Ralph Dauphin,
the school has decided that the space that Club Med occupies could be better
used for the construction of another medical building or research institute.
UCSD has informed the dining facility that it will be shut down sometime before
the end of the 2008 academic year. The building will be leveled in preparation
for the new medical blueprints.

The fact that the majority of UCSD students immediately
connect the name Club Med to a rich tropical resort is indicative of the lack
of attention that the cafe has been given over its decade of existence. Club
Med has produced a very loyal, albeit small, group of followers who show up
every day at lunchtime to enjoy one of its exquisite salads, sandwiches,
burritos or burgers. Although the Club Med faithfuls frequent the establishment
with passionate consistency, university officials have decided that the cafe
does not produce enough revenue to warrant its survival.

Club Med is a simple one-story building that consists of a
handful of outdoor tables surrounding a space no larger than Canyonview Pool.
Considering that towering science buildings surrounding it dwarf Club Med, UCSD
has decided that a building so small and insignificant should be bulldozed to
make room for new science buildings. Never mind that Club Med offers phenomenal
street tacos for $1.25 or a salad bar that routinely boasts fresh mango, jicama
and bell peppers — all that UCSD sees is a new high-rise pumping out
award-winning scientific breakthroughs.

It would be one thing if no land were available on the Medical
School campus, forcing the
university to choose between maintaining the small cafe and its proposed
science building, but spread out directly in front of the zone in question is a
huge, open entrance lawn. It would seem simple enough, if the school truly
wanted to displace Club Med in favor of a new medical building, to simply
relocate the dining facility to another open area or move it into an already
vacant spot on campus. UCSD has considered none of these alternatives, choosing
to ignore the significance that Club Med has for the school as a whole.

Club Med is one of the few dining halls with a specific
theme: healthy eating. All of its dishes are made fresh daily and consist of
healthy ingredients low in fat and high in yummy goodness. The prices are
always low, with the most expensive meal — an entree, salad and drink special —
coming in at just over six bucks. For penny-pinching college students, a cheap,
revitalizing meal is the perfect cure for a Monday morning hangover or an
all-night study session.

Since Club Med — as it name implies — is situated on the Medical
School campus, many research
scientists mix with students while enjoying a quality meal. This presents an
environment in which undergraduates can intermingle with professionals in a
friendly, nonacademic setting.

The average student might have difficulties approaching a
professor or administrator to ask a science-related question, but a piping-hot
bowl of minestrone or a Brooklyn-style grilled Reuben can unite all walks of
life.

Club Med’s destruction will eliminate a beneficial outlet
for science majors, and add to the tensions and stresses felt by those pursuing
a career in the medical field.

While understandably disappointed with UCSD’s decision to
close Club Med, Dauphin was content to know that the bureaucracy responsible
for deciding its fate is inherently very
slow moving; previous deadlines set by the school regarding past dining-hall
closures were usually never met on time.

Hopefully Dauphin’s prediction holds true and Club Med will
be able to stay open as long as possible, making sure to dish up a few more
Indian curry rice bowls and antipasti salads before falling victim to the
bulldozers of bad taste buds.