Students call for more dining options

Freshman year, Morgan Fowler walked into the mess hall on campus after a strenuous day of classes expecting to swipe her meal card and sit down for an enjoyable pasta dinner.

After waiting behind a long line of other starving students, she went to sit down only to find there were a scarce few seats remaining to enjoy her appetizing dinner.

"It gets overwhelming when you are trying to get some food after a long day in class, the people all crowding for food and finding a place to sit is a pain sometimes," said Fowler, 21, a communications major.

The Rowley, Mass. native thinks Norwich needs another dining hall. Many other students agree.

Norwich has two places to eat on campus; both located in the Wise Campus Center. There is also a pub on campus, Partridge, which is located in Wise as well.

The 71,000 sq. ft. Wise Campus Center was a $25 million project. President Richard Schneider's reason for it was that by 2019 he wanted to have a 3 percent student increase. The center seats roughly 945 students.

John Taranto, 20, majoring in communications from New Britain, Conn., also said there should be another place to eat on campus.

"The mess hall is always crowded, (and there are) people standing in lines out of the mess," Taranto said.

According to Taranto, noon is not a good time to get lunch because of the crowds.

Devon McCurdy, a 21-year-old senior from Dallas, Texas, majoring in communications spoke on how over the years he has seen how crowded the mess hall can get at times.

 "Being here for four years now, when I was a freshman it was a lot easier to get through (the mess hall), there was not as many people waiting in line and now everyone is rushed in at the same time," McCurdy said. "If you end up going at the high traffic hours like 8 a.m., noon, or 5 o'clock, you are probably going to sit in line, it doesn't sound like a lot but when you are waiting in line for a while it is a hassle."

Norwich continues to grow. In 1992 when Schneider became president, the student undergraduate size was approximately 1,600 students. Now, it has increased to more than 2,000 students.

David Magida, Norwich's chief administrative officer, said, "The current crowding problems at the dining hall are largely confined to brief 15-minute intervals when a disproportionately large number of students show up. Outside of these times of peak demand, there are few if any lines or crowding."

Two years after the WCC opened, South Hall, a new civilian dorm, was built in 2009. Designed because of the planned increase in enrollment, South Hall was the first of the three phases to expand the housing to be completed.

With the increase of students every year, there needs to be expansion not only in housing but places to eat, said Robert Martin, 21, a senior mechanical engineer from Plainfield, N.J.

Magida said the university has prepared for expansion. "The present dining hall is designed to handle a student population well in excess of the university's stated long-term goal of 2,000 resident students," he said. "All equipment, serving locations and seating areas are designed for the planned larger population."

Martin, an off-campus commuter student, said he would eat on campus more if there was a wider variety of food options, maybe some form of a food court.

 "The area next to the upper parking lot near South Hall would be a great place to build another dining hall, I know their plan was to build another dorm, and maybe they could put a place where we (students) can grab a bite to eat," Martin said.

It would be beneficial for the campus to have another place to eat on campus since the school is growing, according to Fowler.

The only other places to eat around Northfield are in the town center or at Village Pizza, according to Martin.

"If you don't have a car and it is the middle of winter it can be hard to grab a snack, especially around finals time and the mill does not stay open later than 12 a.m., so you have to walk to Cumby's because it is open all night," Taranto said.

McCurdy suggested putting another dining facility on Disney Field where the basketball courts and beach volleyball courts are because they could be used for a better purpose, feeding the South Hall and UP dorms that are close to the area.

Magida said he is working on a way to make the cafeteria lines run smoother without having to build another dining facility.

"We have already made some menu changes so that students who do not want to wait in line can find more ‘express' menu items. We are reviewing the menu and serving options to improve upon our ‘express' offerings and plan to have these in place for next fall semester," Magida said.