Starting Fall 2023 semester, Taylor Hall will be the only south quad dining center.

According to a press release, with Taylor and Thomas halls open for lunch this semester, they each only serve an average of less than 200 people. For dinner, Thomas serves an average of 400 people with low waiting times.

New equipment will be placed in Taylor, which will help reduce costs of replacing equipment in both Taylor and Thomas.

There will be an addition of serving stations that will allow students more food options.

Executive Director of Housing and Dining Mark Hudson said due to the decrease in student population, the consolidation would make sense and thinks that it will help students have an easier time deciding what they want to eat with the new additions.

“We’ve had to be really flexible in what we’re serving, but we’re hopeful it’s going to get better,” Hudson said. “And as that gets better than also, you’ll reflect even more variety and what we’re offering.”

With new food being available, Hudson said students’ opinions will be taken into consideration.

“Next year, we’re going to implement a new sort of dining advisory committee with students on it, so they can sort of be more participative in the process of seeing how we do it and make suggestions and all that sort of thing,” Hudson said.

Serving hours will be extended from 7:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. from Monday to Thursday, and Friday serving hours will be from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

On weekends, additional serving hours will be extended to 5 p.m. for Taylor.

Starting next semester, the Thomas Convenience Center will have a grab-and-go meal option, which can be used with a meal swipe. Some of the options to be served are sandwiches and salads.

Thomas’ dining center will be used as a study space and as a cut-through between Thomas and Andrews Hall.

The west side of Stevenson Hall Dining will be open for dinner from Monday through Wednesday, and hours will be extended from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. with a “dinner after hours” option.

The area will be available for larger programs for residential students.

Student workers will not be laid off due to the consolidation.

Hudson thinks students are in support of the new changes and that the entire process will give staff a chance to “get better.”

For Fall 2022, Taylor Hall ceased to serve dinner and Thomas was the only available option to get dinner in the South Quad.

The Housing and Dining staff tried something new when closing down Taylor for dinner to see how things would work with the low serving rates.

If things had not worked out properly, Hudson said Taylor would have reopened, but he said things worked out great.

“Our proposal was let’s create one South Quad center so can redistribute the staff and allow us to even provide more services to the residents,” Hudson said.

Cam’ron Hardy can be reached at 581-2812 or at dennewsdesk@gmail.com.