Despite Crowds, Students Satisfied With Spring Break Dining

After the first spring break in which two dining halls remained open as part of a pilot program announced last month, many students who remained on campus complained about overcrowding, although they said they were satisfied overall with the program.

The two dining halls, in Dunster and Currier House, served lunch and dinner during normal mealtimes for the duration of the break.

John K. Langat '17, who stayed on campus because he wanted to get through a backlog of schoolwork, noted that having the dining halls open was “convenient,” but also commented on the crowds in Dunster in particular.

“It was packed, mostly at 1-2 p.m. and 6-7 p.m,” Langat said. “Sometimes there was literally no space to sit in the dining hall. The best strategy was to either to go really early or really late.”

Another student, Jessica Xu '17, said she mostly noticed the crowd in the dining area of Dunster, where they were students sitting sometimes for an hour or more, but that the lines for food “weren’t too bad.”

Oreoluwa O. Babarinsa '15 noted that while the lines in Dunster were “somewhat long,” the dining hall was “clean and orderly” and “standard HUDS."

Students said Currier dining hall, located in the Radcliffe Quad, did not face the same type of crowds.

“It wasn’t deserted, but it wasn’t crowded either,” Taehwan Shin ’15 said.

Despite the complaints about the crowds in Dunster, all the students interviewed agreed that the pilot program was, on the whole, beneficial and should be continued.

“If there was another River dining hall open, it would probably would be better,” Theresa C. Rizk '17 said. “But the way it is now is better than not having it all. Otherwise you would have to buy food and that is not feasible for some people."

“It was really helpful,” Shin said. “It was really nice for international students like me who can’t go home due to distance.”

—Staff writer Kamara A. Swaby can be reached at kamara.swaby@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @SwabyK.