Students left empty handed at late night food options
Greg Jubert
NIAGARA UNIV. N.Y.- If one made a list of the things college students couldn’t get enough of, money and food would be near the top. When it comes to the latter of the two, students find themselves scavenging for food throughout the day, their busy schedules not allowing them to find the right time. For example, many students work hockey games at Dwyer, which are mostly on Friday and Saturday nights, or the basketball games in Gallagher Center that take place on the same days. However, if one walks around Niagara University after 8 p.m. on Friday or Saturday night, the odds of getting struck by lightning may be higher than the odds of finding food.
“On a few occasions I have wanted food late a couple of times,” said Marissa Schrimer, a freshman sport management major. “I feel it is very inconvenient that there is nothing open because you pay for a meal plan, but on the weekends if you want food at late times like the average college student, you are forced to go off campus and spend money. If they just opened something on campus you could use a swipe or Gally Gold instead.”
On those two nights of the week, everything located in the Gallagher Center and Dining Commons closes by 8 O’ Clock. In a well intentioned, but highly questionable move, the new addition to the Dining Commons is now open daily until 2 a.m., but is to be used as an extra study space with no food available to students during its late hour operation. With the library’s first floor open 24 hours and the lower part of Gally being open until the same hour, many students are perplexed by the move, as not only are the two locations more conveniently located, but there being no food drives many students away from the principal study area.
“I think it’s silly to have the dining hall open until 2 a.m. if they do not serve food,” said Schrimer.
While the situation can be described as disheartening, students do have solutions to the issue they would like to see implemented.
“ I think having The Grove open 24 hours would be nice,” said Amanda Brannan, a sophomore studying hospitality and tourism management. “For those students that work there, I’m sure they would love to have that as a possible way to make money, and living on campus could be the employees that stay overnight.”
For Schrimer, the idea of opening food options on campus late sounds enticing.
“I feel that the school should be able to offer food later on the weekends if they are able to do it on the weekdays,” said Schrimer. If people had a place on campus to get food at night, they would make good use of it. To me, this is a doable thing for the university.”
Niagara Wire 