As a student, I eat. A lot. When there’s nothing to do, my go-to is to just head to the dining hall to grab a bite or even just sit around and waste time with friends. That may not be the healthiest thing, but it is what it is. When rumors started surfacing that McCormick dining hall may be open 24 hours every day of the week, I felt like I had scored big-time. No longer would I have to return to my room and scavenge through the remnants of my parent’s latest care package or shell out eight bucks to satiate my late night cravings.
The possibility of a 24 hour dining hall has some flaws that may present themselves initially, but will hopefully be fixed along the way. It will take the cafeteria staff time to figure out how many students are going to show up, when the biggest rush would be and what students are going to be craving. I also have concerns about food quality and menu variety. Cranking out food all day may cause the quality to decrease, and it seems unlikely that anything fancier than pizza and fries will be served at 4 am. While this may seem beneficial for most of you, I’m just out here looking for a salad and a piece of fruit. As of right now, McCormick dining hall will be open for 24 hours on Sundays, which will help to avoid many of these problems as well as give the staff a week to make improvements.
I know this new system would lead to fewer complaints from late night studiers and early morning sports stars. There is nothing worse than finishing an early morning practice only to not have access to food, or to be struggling through Philosophy needing that last brownie for motivation. It’s hard to stop and get food before class when you have an 8 a.m. and the dining hall does not open until 7:30 a.m. Since Marquette requires first and second-year students to buy the dining plan, the purchase feels more worthwhile when you have extended access to food.
Another problem I encountered freshman year was the clock striking 2 a.m. and not having anywhere to hang out because of the visitation policies. If McCormick were to be open 24 hours that would provide a safe place for students who don’t live in the same dorm to hang out later at night.
As students who have to pay tuition, this new possibility of 24-hour dining shows nothing but benefits. There would be no time during the day when I would be forced to spend money on food. It’s easier to rationalize that $8 sandwich when nothing free is available, but it’ll be harder to justify when free food is only two blocks away. Overall, I think my wallet would be very thankful if Marquette were to put this system into place.
