The last couple of weeks has brought some controversy to the Luther campus. Far and away the biggest story has been the proposal to get rid of caf trays. Student Senate and Community Assembly approved a two-week trial period - one week with trays and one without - to gauge the energy savings. Let's just say that students were not pleased.

The main story received 784 hits in the week it spent on the front page of the Web site, far and away the most popular story since we moved to the new Web site design at the beginning of the semester.

We also hosted a poll, asking how students would like to save energy in the caf. While the results are unscientific, removing the trays had the least support, with only nine votes out of 115 cast (8%). While doing nothing received the largest share of the votes (38%), voters were not opposed to taking action to save energy. When you combine the other three options (remove plates, bigger cups,smaller trays/plates), 54 percent of the voters were in favor of making a change other than removing the trays.

This week, we have two letters to the editor, Tray removal compromises active student discipline by Matthew Olson ('10), who is studying abroad this semester and Facebook group suggests alternatives to tray removal by David M. Behm ('08).

Chips will be writing a follow-up article during the week without trays. We'll also be sure to bring you the results of the trial period and the decisions made by Student Senate.

In the mean time, what do you think? Click the add a comment link below to voice your opinion. If you would like your opinion in print, consider writing a letter to the editor. Letters must be signed, 300-400 words and submitted by Sunday at 5 p.m. the week before publication. E-mail them as a Word document to chipsedt@luther.edu with the subject like "Letter to the Editor."

Mike Owens
News Editor