Culinary Services has made numerous adjustments to avoid overcrowding in anticipation of an increase in dining-hall traffic after Ohio University closed Nelson Dining Hall for renovations.
Compared with Week 1 of Spring Quarter 2011, swipe counts at Shively are up 19 percent, with half the swipes originating during the new breakfast time slot.
Counts at Jefferson Dining Hall and Nelson Grab N Go are also up 6 percent and 7 percent, respectively.
Boyd Dining Hall’s counts, meanwhile, are down 6 percent.
Almost two weeks into Spring Quarter, university officials and students seem to have differing opinions on whether or not those adjustments
are working.
For starters, Shively Court, located on East Green, has extended its hours. In addition to its normal lunch and dinner hours, Shively has added a breakfast option beginning at 7:15 a.m. as well as lunch and dinner hours during the weekend.
In addition to extending its hours, Shively has also adopted Jefferson’s carryout option. For this, students swipe their card as a normal meal but are given takeout boxes they can fill and take back to their rooms.
Within the first week of Spring Quarter, 5 percent or 1,337 students eating at Shively, have taken advantage of the new carryout option. Last week, Nelson Grab N Go served 5,948 students compared with an average 7,500 served each week during Fall Quarter 2011. In the past, Nelson Grab N Go has served as many as 8,600 students in one week.
“We scheduled the closedown of Nelson during Spring Quarter because that is when the meal counts are the lowest,” said Rich Neumann, director of OU Dining Services. “By extending the hours and implementing the carryout option at Shively, the impact to students has been kept to a minimum.”
Neumann added that students have not experienced wait times any longer than during Fall or Winter quarters; however, not every student seems to share that sentiment.
“One day, the line (at Shively) went a little bit past the ATM at the bottom of Morton Hill. It was ridiculous,” freshman Maureen O’Leary said. “Yesterday, I didn’t eat at all until after all my classes were over because the Grab N Go line was out the door. You literally have to plan out the times you want to eat.”
Jefferson’s Sunday brunch is also a high traffic time for students, said one of the hall’s residential assistants, Sara Nealeigh.
“Sundays are lazy days, and no one wants to get up early, so brunch is really popular,” said Nealeigh, a sophomore studying broadcast journalism. “But since Nelson is closed, Jeff is the closest place for people on East and South greens, and it has been packed lately.”
In order to avoid lines, Culinary Services is encouraging students to eat on the half hour as there are shorter lines at those times.
“With new hires, new carryout options and more customers, things can get very overwhelming,” said junior Chelsea Molder, a student leader at Shively Court.
jb351009@ohiou.edu
