Many students attending Eastern in the summer decide to start their July 4 activities early. With the holiday falling on a Friday this year, the university expects that most students will be leaving campus for fireworks and festivities.

Dining services in the residence halls and most of the University Food Court venues will be closed for the week of July 4, according to Mark Hudson. However, Subway and Market Place will remain open from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for students staying on campus.

Hudson, director of University Housing and Dining, said by looking at the number of students in past years who still were on campus during the week of July 4, it is more economical to close dining options. The Food Court will also undergo annual maintenance at the closure.

Dining halls are self funded, Hudson said, and leaving them open without consistent income is too costly to the university.

Keeping the entire Food Court open during this week would cause “expenses to be higher than the income,” Hudson said.

Dining services in the residence halls is primarily used for the numerous camps that attend Eastern throughout the summer, Hudson said. However, there are no camps held during the week of July 4.

Because there are so many reasonable options on the perimeter of campus for the remaining students to choose from, there is no concern about the closure negatively affecting students, Hudson said.

With the traffic through the Food Court lower during this week because of so many vacation opportunities for students, the decision was made to solely keep Subway and Market Place open.

The annual maintenance that is done to the Food Court will still be done on the other venues that will not be open, Hudson said.

“Now we can serve the students and get our service done too,” Hudson said.

Sandy Black, the manager of the Food Court, said that working around the maintenance schedule seemed like a better idea than closing down the entire facility.

“We just want to please the customers,” Black said.

A concern that arose was for the athletes staying on campus since there are still classes during that week.

However, there can be no structured practice over the summer because of NCAA regulations, said Rich Moser, director of sports information.

Jason Hall, assistance athletic director for academic compliance, said that a small number of athletes live on campus during the summer.

With many student athletes living off campus, it is assumed they eat off campus, Hall said. He therefore does not expect the closure to affect them in any way.

Ashlei Maltman can be reached at 581-7942 or at anmaltman@eiu.edu.

Students walk by an entrance of the food court in Martin Luther King, Jr. University Union. (Erin Matheny/The Daily Eastern News)

(more…)