Students ‘stoked’ for new renovations

IU is hoping freshmen will gain more privacy, food options and cool air after a round of renovations to several residence halls this summer. \nLarry Isom, director of facilities for Residential Programs and Services, said the hiatus between the spring and fall semester is the ideal time to fix up the University’s dorms. And with a revamping of bathrooms in McNutt and Teter, replacing the McDonald’s in Read with the multi-choice food eatery, El Bistro, and installing air conditioning in Foster tower A, RPS has been busy getting everything ready. \nThere are now eight individual bathrooms \non each floor of the Elkin wing of Teter. Each room includes a shower, toilet and sink. The renovation of bathrooms in residence halls has \nbeen a request from students for quite some time, Isom said.\nFreshman Mary Mesteller said she was “stoked” when she realized the floor in her dorm had individual bathrooms.\n“I like the privacy and not sharing hot water,” Mesteller said.\nFreshman Lindsay Whisler said that though she is excited about the private bathrooms, she has one complaint.\n“The only thing is, I heard we’ll miss out on the social side of all the girls getting ready in the bathroom,” Whisler said. “But we all hang out anyway so I don’t feel like it’s that big of a loss at all.”\nEl Bistro isn’t scheduled to be completed until Oct. 1. McDonald’s closed because their contract was up and they weren’t willing to negotiate \nwith the administration for a more flexible contract, said junior Dan Sloat, the Meal Plan Committee chairman. \nIU paid costly overhead fees when \nMcDonald’s was on campus, Sloat said. \nThe Meal Plan Committee conducted several different surveys to determine a replacement for McDonald’s, said Sandra Fowler, director of dining services for RPS.\n“We did breakfast on the curry line upstairs to get a reaction from the students of what they would like to have downstairs,” Fowler said.\nThe committee tested breakfast, Mexican and pasta menus on students. The breakfast menu was the most popular, with Mexican coming in second and pasta coming in third, Fowler said. Fowler said they decided to incorporate the top two preferred menus into one restaurant.\nEl Bistro will serve breakfast all day and have a “build your own” burrito station and deli-style cuisine.\n“I think (students are) going to be excited and pleased with what is down there when we’re open,” Fowler said.