New campus food options are coming our way for the Fall Semester.
Many changes have been made to the L.A. Pittenger Student Center Tally dining area. These are nice, but it's not really the "center" of campus.
The real center of campus is probably the Art and Journalism Building and Bracken Library. Having more options available near the center of campus can only help Ball State University, whether it's through recruitment, donations or marketing.
Firstly, the Student Recreation and Wellness Facility signed a contract with Quiznos on Thursday, adding another brand-name eatery to Ball State's available dining areas. The Quiznos will have an abbreviated menu and grab-and-go snack items. The new recreation center will have a smaller convenience store as well.
Second, the Barnes and Noble Café will become a Jamba Juice, after the Ball State Bookstore asked Dining Services to take over the facility. The healthier option of smoothies will be a welcome contrast from some of the greasier options, like pizza and fried food, available elsewhere.
And third, once Kinghorn Hall is completed, it too will be home to a dining location. The facility will have a Tom John Food Shop, a sandwich bar and convenience store decorated in a vintage surfing motif.
It's nice to have more places to eat around campus. Yet, losing the Barnes and Noble Café is sad; art students and journalists sure will miss it, as will anyone else that's caffeine-dependent.
Students hope, wish and complain for more diverse food on campus because, if you eat all of your meals on campus, boredom sets in quickly. Anything that Dining Services does to offer options is welcomed by students and faculty and will likely generate more money for Dining as students spend money on meals on campus rather than order food from off campus.
This is a step in the right direction. Let's keep it up, Ball State.
If you build it, they will come.