This Fall, students have arrived to a very different school in terms of dining. The school has decided to close multiple Union staples: namely, West Dining, and the Market, which was in the corner of Reamer’s first floor. Additionally, adjustments have been made to other locations like Dutch, Rathskeller, and the convenience store. So far, the student reaction has been negative.
Over the past four years, the College has implemented several changes to West Dining, beginning with a decision made in 2023 to close West on weekends. This change essentially eliminated West Brunch on the weekends, a popular brunch option that many current seniors enjoyed. Following this change, West Dining held brunch on Thursdays during the 2023-24 academic year. The 2024-2025 year saw the discontinuation of brunch on Thursdays, among other changes to West, including the addition of a custom bowl stall, a halal stall, and a ramen bar. This year, the College has completely shuttered West Dining due to low attendance.
This year has also seen the closing of The Market, a grab-and-go dining option that has been replaced with the new “C-Store”. Students will miss seeing the Market’s beloved employees daily, Joyce and Suzhen. Although they are still employed at the college, the dissolution of the Market makes seeing them more of a rarity. With this change, Dining now controls the Convenience store on the first floor of Reamer, where meals and food have been added. The store side, however, currently has a reduced inventory compared to previous years. As of now, students can no longer put items from the convenience store on their bookstore account, eliminating an easy way for parents and guardians of students to pay for their children’s toiletries and other basic needs. This change has decisively curbed an easy income stream for the school, as students are less likely to ask their parents for money for these purchases and initiate the bank transfers to do so. Although parents and guardians can still add funds to a students GET account to increase their declining dollars, one still cannot purchase any non-food item with declining.
Rathskeller is supposed to be open in the mornings for breakfast sandwiches and “gourmet coffee” options, but has not yet initiated this option as of Wednesday, October 1st. Skeller will also not be open on weekends, nor will Dutch Hollow until 3 P.M., leaving only Upper dining hall and the “C-Store” open for breakfast on the weekends: meaning no Saturday or Sunday morning Dutch wraps or egg sandwiches. This weekend issue presents much turmoil for athletes: Garrick Godin ‘27 says, “I have nowhere to go to eat after my morning practices on the weekend… it’s either go back to sleep or get Dunkin.”
With the closure of West, Reamer dining hall is the only buffet style option on campus, creating the possibility that the issues the dining hall faced last year will worsen, including long lines, long refill times with dishes running out, and consistently empty soda fountains. The school has added an extension to Upper consistent with the design of the rest of the dining hall, improving capacity. However, people are still waiting for the ice machine to be fixed as of 10/2.
The Concordiensis could not find any upperclassmen who thought positively of the changes after speaking with upwards of thirty of them. Kate Mills ‘27 is not happy about Charger Bowls no longer being offered. She says that her and many other vegetarians are having a harder time feeding themselves this year compared to last year. “Tonight’s only vegetarian option at Upper was collard greens or the salad bar. The salad bar and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from the convenience store are not enough.” All of this being said, it is very early into the term and the year, and time may see kinks being worked out – but the start date of September sixth has been on the calendar for a while.
