After 10:30 at night this summer, students will not be able to find a bite to eat on campus.
All dining facilities are open this summer except Home Plate, and some of Home Plate's health food alternatives have been incorporated into Food Court. But hours have been reduced at Food Court, Full Fare, the Courtyard Cafe, Topside and Byrne Hall, a cafeteria on Tuck Drive which caters mostly towards graduate students.
The late night option that Food Court offered during the regular school year is not available, and the hours of the Courtyard Cafe in the Hopkins Center have been limited. Even Topside will close early, shutting its doors at 7:30 p.m.
Although students pay the same amount of tuition during all four terms, many of the services the College offers for the 10 weeks of Summer term are diminished because of the decreased number of students on campus.
While different options within each cafeteria are only scheduled for certain hours, Food Court will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the Courtyard Cafe from 7:30 a.m. weekdays, 9 a.m. weekends, to 10:30 p.m. Full Fare's hours are on and off throughout the day, revolving around typical mealtimes. Byrne Hall will also serve breakfast and dinner this term.
"Even though we only have one-third of the students doesn't mean we only have one-third of the needs," Beth Wilson '95 said.
Although she commended DDS for its incorporation of healthier selections into the Food Court menu, she criticised the reduced hours. "I think it's ridiculous that the only late night food option for the summer is Harry's which is very unsafe to drive to when people have been drinking," she said.
Courtney Mottinger '95 agreed. "The hours are going to be more inconvenient and I'll have to plan more when I eat, but I do understand why they have to adjust the hours with fewer people here."
While fewer customers provide less need for all the eating areas, Assistant DDS Director R. Tucker Rossiter also pointed out the decreased number of students available to work during Summer term as well as the tendency for full-time employees to take vacations during the summer, making it difficult to completely staff the kitchen and dining areas.
In developing the summer schedule, Tucker contacted Hosea Harvey '95, the sophomore class liaison to College Dining Services Director Pete Napolitano and DDS, to gather student opinion. Harvey, who said he received the dining plan during finals period of Spring term, contacted several members of Sophomore Class Council who gave the go ahead for the schedule.
Harvey said Tucker told him the plan was "mostly set in stone" but that he could bring it up in a Council meeting at the beginning of Summer term, after students had had a chance to experience the changes. Harvey said he did suggest exchanging morning hours for staying open later, but Napolitano history shows more business is done early on than after dinner.
According to Harvey, Tucker "said during the summer students usually come in late for dinner and then don't need to come in again because they're out socializing."
Harvey said he also suggested bringing the baked goods that used to be sold at Collis Cafe to Food Court, but was told by DDS that the expert cooking skills and facilities needed would be unavailable until Collis reopened in the spring.
While DDS has brought together Home Plate and the old A La Carte into one dining area in past summers, Collis has usually stayed open part time as a healthy alternative. But, because construction plans keep Collis closed until next spring, students who usually dine on the lighter side will have to make due on unfamiliar eating turf.
Light selections such as a fruit and yogurt bar, garden burgers and vegetarian entrees typically found in Home Plate will be offered along with Food Court's usual salad bar for students interested in healthy meals. Napolitano said despite keeping its old name for the summer, Food Court will actually become a mixture between the two cafeterias.
"It's pretty obvious that it's not really Food Court. It's the best of Home Plate and the best of Food Court combining into one menu," Napolitano said. He added that several brand name selections will or have already come to the cafeteria, including I Can't Believe It's Yogurt frozen yogurt and Minute Maid juices.
In addition to fewer food choices, the temporary elimination of Home Plate will also cause a reduction in eating space for this term. Although only about one-third of the number students who are on campus during the normal school year attend classes in the summer, the College hosts many camps and programs that bring outsiders to campus for meals.
Both children and adults who attend sports camps, debate camps and language programs at the College are provided with meal plans that allow them to eat at particular cafeterias. While most are limited to Full Fare, some are given liberty to dine anywhere on campus with the equivalent of a declining balance and others are served only in Byrne Hall.
