Dining halls are a staple of most college campuses, and UCF is no exception. The campus hosts two dining halls where students with meal plans can use their meal swipes: ’63 South and Knightro’s. The former is conveniently located by the academic village, where most freshman dorms are housed. Knightro’s is located in the Tower’s apartment complex. Between the four towers, the complex has around 2,000 residents, whereas the communities in the Academic Villages have 2,200.
At first glance, these numbers seem comparable, but two pieces of qualifying information are missing. The Academic Village houses a majority of freshmen, but Towers doesn’t. Those living in Towers have kitchens in their complexes, but those in the Academic Village do not. Therefore, ’63 South is a vital resource for new freshmen who don’t have the knowledge or resources to make their own meals. Access to healthy, sustainable food is necessary for everyone and can often only be found at ’63 South for freshmen living in the Academic Village.
I have the lowest level meal plan, allowing me 10 meal swipes a week at the dining hall and $450 in dining dollars that can be spent at most restaurants on campus like Chick-fil-A and Starbucks. Until recently, I used my meal swipes at ’63 South due to its convenient location. I quickly found that the food supplied by the dining hall was never satisfying, and it became a matter of what I could stomach — a couple of slices of cold pizza and french fries. The meals advertised to incoming freshmen were either not represented or represented poorly by the facility. After trying many, I realized the things that were both unhealthy and consistently provided were the only things I could eat a full meal of. So, the options for what to eat are slim, cheaply made, and of bad quality. The fries are soggy, the burgers burnt, the noodles hard, the chicken cold. The food is all around unappetizing.
The dining areas are also unclean and sometimes unusable. Dishes often pile up in the dish drop-off window. Many things are empty or don’t work. The ice cream and coffee machines are sometimes broken, and most kinds of milk and syrups are empty. The tables are rarely free of spills and crumbs. The chairs are sticky, and the trash is full. This makes sense, given the employee’s apparent lack of interest. Maybe they aren’t entirely to blame. Who knows how much the school pays them? Minimum wage workers can’t necessarily be expected to care.
So, all around, it is not good. But, those freshmen in the Academic Village keep coming back. Partly because UCF dining doesn’t let you cancel your meal plan; it’s a two-semester commitment that costs at least $2,000 a semester. Canceling without a note from a doctor is impossible, and even with one, it takes weeks.
But there is another dining option: Knightro’s.
After a semester of eating solely at ’63 South, I walked almost 20 minutes to Knightros, hoping it was better. And it was. What surprised me, though, was just how much better it was. I was welcomed by friendly employees and comforted by clean seats and tables. They had various options, from grilled chicken to noodle dishes and wraps. The food was hot and prepared quickly. I finished my whole plate, something that rarely happens at ’63 South. I went for seconds, thrilled to discover that everything I tried had the same high quality. The coffee machine worked, and when I needed help using it, someone was there to assist me. I was so happy with the experience I had there a week ago that I have been back three times even though it is across campus from where I live.
Why is there such a significant difference? Students pay the same amount for their meal plan, whether they live in Towers or the Academic Village. The most significant difference is their location on campus. Knightro’s was built next to the athletic facilities, Towers — the most expensive and newest housing on campus — and the “nicest” academic buildings like the Psychology and Classroom Buildings I and II. Money is being poured into this side of campus as the school expands. There is a focus on athletes, maybe because they have the highest hope of bringing publicity to the school. The school just changed athletic conferences, and there is a need to compete with those already well-established schools. Regardless, athletes and their side of campus are favored. So much so that they were given an athlete-only dining location, implying that the existing dining halls could not provide the nourishment they needed for such heavy exercise. But putting money into expanding takes resources away from what is already there. The older side of campus, where dorms such as Libra, Apollo, and the rest of the Academic Village are neglected, as is their dining hall.
The problem is that the freshmen in the Academic Village need a high-quality dining hall more than the upperclassmen with kitchens in towers. Similarly, the high costs of the meal plan should lend itself to high-quality food, regardless of location. Lastly, a dining hall in higher demand and higher value to students should be prioritized. Students pay the same amount of money and should have the same experience. All students at UCF should expect the same experience whether they are in newer or older areas of campus.