As the new school year begins, so do many changes on Eastern’s campus. One of these changes is the new arrangements for the university dining halls.  

For years, there have been dining options at Taylor, Thomas, and Stevenson Hall, along with the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union offering restaurants like Chick-Fil-A and student-run restaurants.  

Thomas and Andrews have been fully consolidated into Taylor Hall which is now named South Quad Dining.  

According to the Executive Director of University Housing and Dining Services Mark Hudson, the change is a way to make dining more convenient for Eastern students.  

“It’s a much more efficient use of labor because we can offer more diverse things than we can in two centers,” Hudson said. “If you have two centers both running under capacity you just cover the basic needs. By putting them all into one and we can expand them out of the offerings we have.” 

The new times that South Quad Dining will be open is also designed to suit the need of students on an everyday basis. 

“When they come to that center to eat it’s also open longer hours, Hudson said. “And it’s open continuously throughout the course of the day from Monday through Thursday from 7:30 in the morning until 1:00 in the morning.”  

Hudson also said South Quad Dining will have more food options for students now that it is consolidated into one building.  

“There are additional survey stations in the front part of the center so like before you’d have two lines that go through now you have four as well as doing yourself things like waffles and things like that,” Hudson said. “There’s an area called the nook which is the area where all the breakfast items are served and make your own waffles, cereal, muffins, toast, and juices all of that all the time.” 

Students may wonder what will be done to the Thomas and Andrews dining hall now that it is no longer serving food.  

Hudson said that it will now be known as The South Quad Commons and act as a programmatic space for residents. The new space will be open a few weeks after school begins.  

Student workers in the dining halls will also not be affected by the change as the long hours and demands will keep them employed, according to Hudson. 

Besides the new South Quad dining, another change has been made to the food offered at EIU. 

A new Mexican-style restaurant, Qdoba, opened in the Union. It replaced the Panther Grill and opened at the start of the school year. 

Drew Coffey can be reached at 581-2812 or at akcoffey@eiu.edu.