Last Friday, I went to my second class of the day completely starved. This was not because I did not have a meal plan, though; rather, it was the result of the 12 pm to 1 pm dining restriction at Russell Sage Dining Hall.
In the past, when I have inquired about the policy, the explanation is always the same. Sage is the smallest of the resident dining halls, and as such, they need to be able to limit the number of people in the dining hall during peak times.
While this idea does make some sense, I have never fully understood the way Hospitality Services tries to implement this goal, and my experience last Friday only further made me question the policy. According to the Hospitality Services website, between the hours of 12 pm and 1 pm only residents of the Quad, E-Complex, and BARH are allowed into Sage. One might see some logic in such a plan; in that it does allow those closest to Sage and a few others entrance into the dining hall.
However, since most academic classes end ten minutes prior to the top of the hour, many students rush from a class to Sage to try reaching it before noon, effectively filling up the dining hall at noon. Having been in the dining hall last year around 12:30 pm, it was easy to see that there was plenty of room, as the dining hall was probably around half capacity at that point. Whenever I’ve been there at 12:50, however, there are usually less than 10 students in the entire dining hall.
Without the restriction, it’s definitely possible that the people rushing to get to the dining hall all at once would instead come during the entire hour interval, solving the problem of the dining hall being completely full at noon and empty by one.
Even with a restriction, though, there seems to be a more sensible implementation. For example, the system could allow entrance to people who do not live in the selected areas based on the current occupancy of the dining hall.
Another idea is to make exceptions for students based on their schedules. For example, students whose schedules only have a lunch break between 12 pm and 1 pm could apply to have the dining restriction waived based on their schedule.
Last Friday, I had a few errands to run, preventing me from reaching Sage before noon. Even with the most expensive, over $4,000, meal plan, I was denied access to the dining hall even though there were only a handful of people there.
One could say that the policy is fine as is—that only the people who live closest to the dining hall should be allowed in during the busiest hour. However, exceptions to this rule already exist. Resident Assistants and Resident Directors are allowed in during the restricted hour, regardless of which area they live in. If exceptions are made for the select few on a given staff, why can they not be made for those whose schedules only block out the 12-1 pm hour for lunch?
