Students will have the option to eat 24 hours Monday through Friday in Patton Hall’s dining hall beginning in the Fall 2014 semester.
Lenore Musick, Director of Panther Dining, said that there were many factors that contributed to the idea of having a 24 hour dining hall such as the budget and cost for food and labor when it is operating throughout each semester.
“When we took a look at some of our numbers… and also talked with the Student Government Association (SGA) about the students needing more places to study [or] gather… we decided that that [a 24 hour dining hall] would be something to offer our meal-plan holders,” Musick said.
Cole Saremeock, a Patton Hall resident, said he likes the idea of a 24 hour dining hall.
“A lot of the times I will close [at work] and I get back at 12 a.m. and am usually pretty hungry and every time I get [back to campus] I am hungry,” he said.
He said this would give him a chance to eat after work and not have to come out of pocket for it.
Lenore Musick said the chefs in the Dining Hall have done a good job in staying within the budget which provides extra resources for the 24 hour dining hall to be possible.
Although the dining hall will be be open all day, only certain stations will be operating in the late night and early morning hours.
“We won’t have all of the lines open, but our plan is to
have the grill area open, the salad area open, the waffles and the cereal will
still be there. We plan on doing grill items such as hamburgers, quesadillas
until 2 a.m., and then we will switch over to breakfast items until 2 a.m. until we
open at 7 a.m. [At that time], all of the lines will be open,” Musick said.
She also said that this gives students the chance to have a little more
comradery, a little bit more study time, a place to go finish up homework and have a place to go late at night that has WiFi and other
resources while also having the chance the eat.
“I hope students really appreciate it,” Musick said.
