Editorial Cartoon: First Night on Campus
After setbacks caused by the rain, Stevenson Tower Dining will re-open Sept. 7.
Mark Hudson, the director of University Housing and Dining Services, said the poor weather in June pushed construction back by two weeks.
“As we tell them, it’ll be worth the wait,” Hudson said.
The remodeling of Stevenson Tower Dining will provide an updated look, including new seating and lighting, as well as a food court style layout.
“We reconfigured it so that it’s more of a scramble,” Hudson said.
Instead of people waiting in one line to obtain their meal, students will be able to split up and wait in separate lines for the food of their choice.
Along with the new layout, an addition was built onto the west side dining area of the facility to provide more space for students and dining staff.
The dining hall’s new lighting, square black plates, booths and high table top seating are all updates to enhance the general feel of the facility, Hudson said.
As of now, the yellow caution tape and plastic sheeting cover the construction site below Stevenson Tower’s lobby.
For some students like Anders Braaten, a junior political science major, and D.J. Bland, a freshman business management major, the construction has caused a small inconvenience at mealtime.
“It affected my eating,” Braaten said.
Since returning to Eastern, Bratten and Bland have had to travel across campus to obtain their meals.
“You have to travel a couple of blocks to eat nowadays,” Bland said.
Although walking to one of the other dining centers on campus may be seen as a minor inconvenience, the construction was not a problem during move-in.
Kayla Johner, a senior family and consumer science major, expected construction to have an impact on move-in.
“It wasn’t as bad as what I thought it’d be,” Johner said.
Rory Wallace, a junior kinesiology and physical education major, also had a smooth move-in during the construction.
“It was actually easy,” Wallace said. “(The workers) stayed out of the way.”
The construction on Stevenson Tower Dining is one of Eastern’s many summer projects.
Updates have also included new windows in Andrews Hall, Thomas Hall and Stevenson Tower; new flooring on three floors of Stevenson Tower; two new handicap accessible bathrooms in Stevenson Tower; new sprinklers in Lincoln and Thomas Halls and new private bathrooms in Lincoln Hall.
Hudson said the projects this summer totaled about $8 million.
“This is not money that comes from the state, it doesn’t come from tuition dollars, it doesn’t come from fees,” Hudson said. “It all comes from what students pay to live with us.”
Many of the updates are housing and dining’s responses to surveys students have taken in the past.
“The things we did this summer reflect the things that they prioritized,” Hudson said.
