Starting Fall Semester 110.5 hours will be added to various Dining locations around campus.
Director of Dining Jon Lewis said Dining had considered increasing the number of hours for a few years with the goal of providing Ball State University students as many hours as possible. Because L.A. Pittenger Student Center renovations will begin this summer, he said, Dining thought it would be the right year to expand.
The decision to start this year also came because Student Government Association members approached him with the idea, he said.
Lewis said 23 of the added hours would be in Woodworth Complex by opening it on the weekends this summer. Woodworth is opening during the summer because of the Student Center renovations, he said.
The other hour increases are mostly in the grocery areas of Noyer Complex and Woodworth, he said.
Lewis said those locations were chosen more than LaFollette Complex and the Atrium because of the hours the two locations already had and the amount of people who use them at certain times.
"LaFollette was open later and during the week already," he said. "The thing with the Atrium is that once classes are done, it's pretty much a ghost town except for the journalism area so for the most part we see the number of transactions tapering off dramatically. We just felt it was more important in the residence hall areas where students are heading back for the evening."
Lewis said Dining also took into consideration recommendations SGA had.
"We pretty much took theirs unless we knew it wouldn't work, and they didn't say anything about the Atrium," he said. "They said Noyer and Woodworth. The Atrium wasn't on their list, and that was the check and balances to help us get the locations."
Extending Dining hours was part of U.N.I.T.E.D. Initiative's platform.
SGA Press Secretary Jennifer Regnier said she and the other members of last year's SGA slate, met with Lewis to develop an ideal set of Dining hours for all locations.
She said their primary concern was extending the Marketplace of Noyer until midnight Monday through Thursday, which is the same as what Out of Bounds is in LaFollette. She said Woodworth's Riverside Emporium also would stay open until midnight Monday through Thursday.
Regnier said they also wanted to have MicroCafe open on Saturday, and that location now would be open from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday.
"Two reasons why we chose to pursue the extension of Dining hours are the safety of students and convenience," she said.
Beth Sharpe, a junior elementary education major who lives in Noyer, said she used Noyer's grocery area everyday and probably would use it later in the evening now that, that option would be available. Although the hours are increasing, she said, she would rather see more hours in the hot food places.
"They might as well increase [hot] food places if you're doing it cause it's only the junky stuff you can get late at night," Sharpe said. "Chips and gummy worms are great midnight snacks, but I still wish they'd do Mom's service later."
Mom's is a Dining option in Noyer that serves hot food such as cooked vegetables, pasta, meatloaf and other home-cooked items.
Erica Jackson, a sophomore theatre arts major who lives in Woodworth, said she also would rather have the hot food locations open longer. She said she did not tend to go to the grocery late at night because she planned her schedule so she did not have to do that.
"It'd be better if the cafeteria was open," she said. "Groceries are great, but after being here for years and seeing the same things you want variety."
Jackson said students who have class schedules where they get out of class later might want to eat at 9 p.m. instead of 6 p.m., and the hot food locations in Woodworth close at 7:30 p.m.
Lewis said it was less expensive to keep the grocery areas open longer than the hot food places, but he did not expect Dining's revenue to change much.
"We've asked managers to rearrange schedules instead of adding hours," he said. "We don't think that's an issue in this case for Noyer and Woodworth because it's really only two and one-half more hours for employees to work."
He said he thought the increase in hours would be a convenience for students and accommodate them because it was often difficult to get a late meal or snack
"I think it shows we are responding to student input and we do listen," Lewis said.
BSU Dining HoursNoyer Centre Mom's: 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. DailyMarketplace:7 a.m. - Midnight Monday - Thursday, 7 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. Friday - Sunday
Micro Cafe (Studebaker West)Micro Cafe: Noon - 4 p.m. Saturday
Woodworth CommonsPatisserie: 7 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. DailyWoody's Grille: 10:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. DailyEl Fire Dragon: 10:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. DailyComfort Zone: 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Monday - Friday, 5 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Monday - FridayDeli World: 10:30 a.m. - 9 p.m. DailyRiverside Emporium: 7 a.m. - Midnight Monday - Friday
Elliott DiningDinner: 4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Monday - ThursdayGrill: 11 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Monday - Friday, 4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Monday - Thursday
Student CenterTerrace Cafe: 7:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Monday - Friday
PricesOther than Dining hours, Lewis said, prices for meal price equivalencies also would increase. Breakfast will increase 35 cents to $3.95, lunch will increase 25 cents to $6.95 and dinner will increase 15 cents to $7.30. Lewis said the food prices also would increase.
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