When it comes to regular hours of service, most University dining locations are open during decent hours. However, as soon as there is a break from classes that is longer than two days or it comes time for finals, everything closes early. Where is the “smart” in deciding to cut the hours at dining locations?
First of all, not every student goes home during long breaks. Not everyone lives in the next state or two over, where they can just drive on home. Although the campus seemed pretty empty during the President’s Day weekend, many students did stay on campus and like normal human beings, they were hungry at regular times.
From Saturday to Monday, Feb. 16 to 18, the only dining locations open were the Student Center, Dutch Treats, Pura Vida, Netherlands and the Axinn Library Cafe (though on Monday the library was closed). Both the Student Center and the Netherlands café closed at 7 p.m. At what point did 7 p.m. become an unacceptable time for dinner? Even though it is a break, college students usually don’t follow fantasy schedules that include a 6 p.m. dinner. So at 7 p.m. all that was left was Dutch Treats, and only until 11 p.m. at that. There is nothing wrong with Dutch Treats, but it gets to be a pain when for three days in a row there is a line going around the store at 7 p.m. because students want dinner and the only on-campus choice they have is Dutch Treats. Just because the University is closed doesn’t mean students aren’t around. This isn’t to say that dining service employees shouldn’t get a break either, but closing at 8 p.m. rather than 7 p.m. would be an improvement.
The same change in hours of operation occurs during finals week, too. Once again, Dutch Treats closes early. During finals week, most students are up late studying and tend to get hungry late into the night but have nowhere to go. Not everyone keeps a stock of food in their room or feels like cooking at 1 a.m. It would make more sense to keep Dutch Treats open 24 hours during finals week, the week students are up the latest, rather than having it close early. We’re still on campus and we still get hungry. Finals don’t make us lose our appetites, but when nothing is open, we might as well just stop being human and stop getting hungry.