Mealtime madness: Congestion, limited seating cause delays

It’s noon on a Wednesday and students are heading by the dozens to the Muenster University Center for a bite to eat between classes. As they enter through the bustling Marketplace entrance, there are students seated everywhere in the eating area, with few spare tables in sight.

The line for nearly every food station is at least 10 people deep. When it’s time to check out, there is only one cashier open and available. What used to be a 10-minute dining experience has become a 20-minute waiting game.

These are some of the issues that have surfaced after several weeks of the fall semester. In short, lunchtime in the MUC has become a time-consuming experience, highlighted by long waits for food and payment, and many times a lack of seating.

While such traffic is usually only at a peak for about 30 minutes, many students rely on the MUC as a quick stopover for food. The entire purpose of student dining, especially the MUC, is to provide a conveniently located meal for students to enjoy with their peers during their work day. If the wait is too long or there is a lack of seating, the entire purpose of student dining is diminished.

For those in between classes, there aren’t many alternative options for lunch. A trip back to the dorm to make something may not be viable, and those who pay for meal plans want to use their money instead of making an unnecessary stop at a fast food restaurant.

Some of these problems will be alleviated with the completion of the MUC expansion project. With booth plans and extended seating options, this may fix some of the current issues, such as the lack of booths in the atrium connecting the MUC to the library.

However, until more dining options come available, it makes sense for the Aramark staff to be covering all shifts with adequate workers, especially at the checkout lines. Too often there is only one line open, and with 50-plus students and faculty pouring through the MUC at lunchtime, it doesn’t make sense to leave the responsibility of meal payments up to one employee — who undoubtedly will be stalled by some computer error.

There needs to be coherent organization in the MUC at times of peak traffic. Sometimes, there is no semblance of order to the lines for dining options. With dozens of people spilling out of one area and into another, its difficult to know where one line begins and whether or not the people four feet to the left of it are in line or not.

Aramark generally does a quality job providing campus-dining options for students. This is by no means a criticism of these individual workers. However, students are paying decent money for meal plans and they deserve to get a quality, not to mention hot, meal with the option of sitting in the MUC in return for their cash.