College Provost Barry Scherr, College architect John Wilson and several other administrators met Wednesday with a group of students to discuss, in Scherr's words, "the future of dining at Dartmouth," and a number of other issues of campus expansion.
The central matter of the meeting, Scherr said, was to get student input about where Dartmouth's largest dining facility should be located when a physical overhaul of dining facilities begins as soon as a year and a half from now.
As of now, a new dining facility is being planned that will occupy the current parking lot north of Maynard Street, next to Dick's House. Moreover, a major renovation to Thayer Dining Hall will begin after construction starts on the north facility. But it remains to be decided which will be larger, feed more of the Dartmouth community, and play a dominant role in shaping campus activity in general.
Whether the revamped Thayer or the new northern cafeteria will be larger, the size of the future major facility will be about 500 seats, while the smaller will seat 200. Currently, Thayer Dining Hall seats about 600; the Hopkins Center's Courtyard Cafe, 170; Collis Cafe, 140; Novack Cafe, 100 and Caf North, 60.
The majority of students preferred that Thayer remain the dominant facility, expressing concern that a major dining hall in the north coupled with the new residential halls there might "divide" the campus geographically into north and south halves.
"It's obvious the big one should be Thayer," David Williams '03 said. After learning of the far-north location planned for the new dining hall, he called the issue one of simple "proximity," stating that the largest dining hall "should be closer to where everyone on campus is."
Administrators explained that the larger dining facility in the north is being considered because of construction plans in the north of campus, including a new upperclass residential cluster that will house 340 students. According to Scherr, because residential and academic buildings will continue to head north as Dartmouth grows, moving the major dining facility to the north site might be sound long-term planning and will not necessarily disrupt the geographic centrality and continuity so characteristic of Dartmouth.
A major dining facility in the north area of campus is necessary to meet the demands of such a large residential expansion to the north and the existing needs of faculty, staff and students in Dartmouth Medical School and Moore Hall. But, regardless of northern developments, Thayer Dining Hall, currently the largest dining facility by far, needs a serious renovation, Scherr said.
Asked about whether the College's recent financial difficulties would affect any of these ambitious building plans, Scherr responded that the money for these projects comes from fundraising independent of Dartmouth's budget.
Still, some of the students reiterated their initial concern. Betraying a little sentimentality, one student estimated that "on a sunny day, half the students" at Dartmouth can be found populating the Green and its periphery buildings.
Students also discussed the type of food that would be available. When asked which dining hall was their favorite, responses were mixed, although Home Plate and the Pavilion earned more praise overall than their alternatives. One student said that Thayer's tri-cafeteria area on the whole provided an excellent balance between a "central social location" at which to meet with friends and a decentralized variety of food options and eating spaces.
Several students cited the lack of dining options during early and late hours and weekends especially as frustrating. Collis and Food Court were repeatedly described as over-crowded and inefficient during lunch and dinner rush hours. According to College architect Wilson, research conducted has shown lunch to be the busiest period for Dartmouth dining, and the new facilities will be targeted to address this problem.
Palaeopitus member Stephanie Long '04 complained that although the various dining facilities purport to offer different food options, "all the food kind of tastes the same." None of the administrators had a solution to this.
Other students on campus echoed the opinions of the students at the meeting.
Wednesday's "future of dining at Dartmouth" lunch meeting was the second of its kind, following a dinner meeting last week.
