CENTRALIZED DINING. What exactly is centralized dining and what will it entail? Centralized dining will eliminate the dining halls within the residence halls and create one massive dining hall within the new Blanchard Community Center. The other dining halls will become irrelevant, but hopefully if they aren’t used for eating they will be used for other events rather than just becoming vacant spaces.If the plan is approved it will function like the dining halls at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Their Hampshire Dining Hall is open continuously from 7 until 10 pm and has every food imaginable. The food is served buffet style and is unlimited. It is the Willy Wonka Factory of dining halls. However, according to the proposed floor plans on Pinterest, the new Blanchard Community Center dining area does not appear to be one giant eating area but a collective of smaller dining rooms. Here is the Pinterest page with the proposed plans: https://www.pinterest.com/cc_w_dining/.
I have compiled a list of some of the pros and cons of centralized dining. With everything there are always pros and cons, but these lists are to help you see how you can embrace the change. Making a pros and cons list always helps me put things into perspective so here are some of my thoughts on the matter.
PROS:
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Your friends will be forced to eat with you. No need to decide which dining hall is the best because there will only be one place to get food.
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The food choice and quality may be better because there will be more food choices readily available and when buying food in bulk there is more of a selection to get better products.
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It will become the hub of social activity and can act as a meeting place other than the library.
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If you are 21+ there appears to be a designated “pub” to which you can kick back and enjoy an alcoholic beverage with friends or faculty.
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If you have social anxiety, the eating spaces are divided into smaller themed areas, such as “Tranquil Dining Room” for a quiet space to clear your mind and eat in peace.
CONS:
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It will likely be overcrowded during busy hours because all students will have to eat there.
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Because all the food is located in one place, there may be more room for cross contamination, which could affect people with dietary restrictions and allergies.
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There may not be enough seats for you and your friends to sit comfortably in one particular designated dining room if it is full and you could be forced to eat separately.
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There may not be enough food variation to keep it interesting for everyone, but you will be forced to go there if you are eating on campus since it will be the only option.
Are you ready for the inevitable? For half of us, the new eating arrangement will not affect us because we will be gone before the new space is open, but that does not mean we do not want our input to go by the wayside. This is going to happen sooner or later regardless of what we say, so let’s embrace the change. Perhaps to prepare yourself, talk to friends that go to colleges that have centralized dining in place and see how it works and have them weigh in on the pros and cons. At my previous college, we had three dining halls and on the weekends only one was open, so coming here and having so many options at first was overwhelming, but now I have my usual place.
Why are people against centralized dining? People do not like change, and this is a huge proposition. Also, for people that keep kosher or have severe food allergies, a concern they may have is how the new dining hall will prevent cross contamination. I think once it’s in place the administration will work out the kinks but I think after a couple of years students will not even blink twice about centralized dining. For those that have been used to the current setup, however, it could be a transition that may be uncomfortable, but as with most things we will adapt and learn to like it. And who knows, maybe we will be able to host more parties because of the design and setup of the building!