Quieting Quincy

The Quincy dining hall has suddenly become easier to navigate and slightly more welcoming. Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) recently reorganized Quincy’s serving line, rearranged its salad bar, put Fair Trade coffee in its carafes everyday and improved its steam table displays. But HUDS admits that these changes came as tradeoffs for yet another delay of Quincy dining hall’s long-awaited renovation—formerly expected to come this summer and now slated for a year later, in the summer of 2004. Similarly, Dunster and Mather dining halls, also potentially facing long waits before overdue renovations, have received such extras as more frequent culinary display stations and new George Foreman grills to compensate for the delay.

Given financial constraints, these extras brought by HUDS come as favorable additions to those dining halls that desperately need renovations. But these investments are not the ultimate solution. It is clear that the Houses with more recently renovated dining halls are most coveted—substantial kitchen improvements and considerable spatial reorganization improve the taste of dining hall food and the ambiance of the dining area. As nice as rearrangements and fun food appliances are, the renovation of the three dilapidated and disfavored dining halls should remain HUDS’ primary goal.

Certainly the funding for capital improvements and short-term expenditures, such as extras grills and display stations, come from different places—allowing some improvements to be made more easily than others. And minor changes can make dining halls feel more welcoming. But despite the difficulties of securing necessary renovation funds, HUDS must recognize what makes the dining hall experience, for many, unsatisfactory: the lack of renovated dining halls, not a poorly arranged salad bar.