For students with meal plans, weekends spent dining in Pentagon and Highland Dining Units no longer will be a normality.
Until now, both dining units opened on the weekends for student usage.
However, beginning Spring 2002, any person with a meal plan will find weekend meals available only in the Union. Students can eat Friday dinner and Saturday lunch in the Union Tiger Lair. The Union Magnolia Room will serve Saturday dinner and Sunday lunch and dinner.
Students can choose select menu items to count as one meal, a change from the Fall semester, in which students only could use Paw Points to purchase meals in the Union.
“Students complained because they were not using all their meals,” said David Heidke, LSU Dining director. “Now, they have the opportunity to use the meals, something they couldn’t do before. We’re expecting a good response from students.”
LSU Dining is changing its policy to enhance students’ choices for their meals, Heidke said.
Mark Kraner, director of Contracted Auxiliary Services, worked with LSU Dining during the Fall semester to host “‘Whine’ and Cheese” programs with students living in residence halls.
“We talked to students about how to improve the campus dining service,” he said. “We wanted to know what we could do to improve our service to students.”
Kraner said students had valuable feedback.
“We found out students wanted flexibility of when and where they eat,” he said. “The weekends were of the most concern to those who ate in the dining halls.”
CAS and LSU Dining conducted a survey in which more than 85 percent of respondents favored changing to weekend meals in the Union.
“We were going to wait to implement the program until later, but because of the strong support, we wanted to do it this spring,” Kraner said.
Heidke said the Union is a more central location on campus.
“More students go to the Union, and [weekend meals offered in the Union] open up more opportunities for weekend programming there,” he said.
Kraner said the meal plan change is the first of multiple steps Chartwells will take to improve the campus dining program. Other possible changes through the next 18 to 24 months include later hours for dining halls and food outlets in campus convenience stores.
“I think students will utilize [their weekend meal plans in the Union] and want more from it than what we’re offering,” Kraner said. “Our intent is to expand this program. It has been extremely well-received at other schools.”
Some meal plan recipients said they favored the change.
“I think it’s a lot better,” said Victoria Williams, a secondary education freshman. “It was hard to get to the Pentagon on Sunday. By the time you walked all the way there and back [to the dorm], you’re hungry again.”
Williams said she attended a “‘Whine’ and Cheese” program in the fall and liked the idea of Union weekend dining.
“They really listened to us,” she said. “They were really open to everyone’s opinion. It was good to see this change done in a timely fashion.”
However, other students said they did not support the shift to weekend dining.
“Most of the residents are local, and they need a place that’s convenient,” said Kevin Paul, a residential assistant in West Laville Hall. “They will have more limited options than the cafeteria. The meal in the Union is not going to fill me up.”
Paul said the cafeteria always offers pizza, Mexican food, hamburgers, salads, ice cream and unlimited soft drinks. He said the Union does not offer free seconds.
“It’s not going to save me any money,” he said.
Friday dinner hours are 4:15 p.m. through 7 p.m. Saturday lunch hours are 11 a.m. through 4 p.m. Saturday dinner hours are 4:30 p.m. through 6:30 p.m. Sunday brunch hours are 10:30 a.m. through 1:30 p.m., and Sunday dinner hours are 4:30 p.m. through 6:30 p.m.