By Meghan Sullivan | Staff Writer
“At noon time, the line is out the door at Miley,” Emma Gruber, a junior at Salve stated. “I rather go to Wakehurst.”
According to Gruber, overcrowding starts at noon and carries on till 1:00 p.m. at Miley cafeteria and goes from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Global Café located in Wakehurst. Around dinner time both dining halls are busy between 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Many salve students enjoy Miley cafeteria because it offers a variety of food selections such as deli, entree, pasta, salad, and stir fry stations as well as a gluten free room. Although Miley cafeteria has great food choices, offers might be limited depending on how long lines take. In Gruber’s experience, she tries to get to Miley by noon before the overcrowding begins. She said that when it is busy it is hard to find a table with her friends and that she has to walk around for at least five minutes until a table becomes available.
While some students prefer Miley cafeteria, if they want food to-go Global Café is more convenient. Since Global Café started its new system lines have become longer and more time consuming. “It’s definitely different, slower. You have your chips handed to you and the sandwich and salad line is cramped with the paying line,” Gruber said.
Gruber also thinks the new system and arrangement of utensils is unorganized for students. She stated some ways for improving the dining hall will be to take away the tables in the center and switch the paying and food line. Since Global Café is so small and gets crowded easily, Gruber thinks a new transition is what the dining hall needs.
Malcom Smith, Dean of Students, stated that more groups, especially freshmen, seem to go to Miley around noontime on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. “I guess freshmen haven’t figured it out yet, they always come in packs and upperclassmen are more scattered,” Malcom Smith said. In his opinion, he thinks that Miley is crowded on certain days of the week because afternoon classes are more common to take.
“Hunger is a human habit,” Smith said. “ In our circumstance it is truly more art than science.” Smith stated in past, Salve’s administration has worked on improving the dining halls for students by adding on an edition in Miley and changing Wakehurst system to have better control over students meal selections. He said he hopes the new changes have been effective and possible shifts in classes schedule can help reduce overcrowding in the dining halls.
