Vice President of Internal Affairs at Collins Stephón Gilder said Residential Programs and Services recently voted to terminate the lunch buffet hours.
He said Edmondson Dining Hall has been operating in the red for the past ?15 years.
“We’re buying healthier food, and healthier food tends to be more expensive,” Gilder said.
Food waste and salaries are other contributing factors. Gilder said a large part of their dining staff is comprised of full-time employees whose pay tends to be larger than student staff.
As far as budgeting, Collins dining spends about 40 percent of their budget on buying food when they should be spending 30 percent, and about 50 ?percent of their budget on salaries when they should be spending 40 percent, ?Gilder said.
The meeting was called because residents felt underrepresented by the decision made by RPS, Gilder said, and was used to propose alternative solutions.
“It sort of determined that for the next few years we will be working closely with them to monitor the financial state of the Edmondson Dining Hall just to make sure that we aren’t sort of in this situation again,” Gilder said.
A team is being assembled to draft five proposals that will be presented to RPS, Gilder said.
He said residents felt a lack of communication between Collins and RPS and that he hopes to maintain more continuous communication with RPS about ?this issue.
Marcy Simpson, director of finance for RPS, said the meal plan committee that made the decision had representatives from Collins but understands why most residents might feel partial toward keeping the hours.
Collins is a special ?community, and the dining program only adds to it, Simpson said. She said it’s a program RPS is proud to support.
She said cutting back on hours and food waste will be the beginning of stabilizing the financial state of Edmondson Dining Hall, which is something RPS has done through the years with other dining facilities on campus.
“We still have work to do,” Simpson said. “By changing the setup for lunch and offering a different food option, it will cut back on waste.”
Although the buffet hours may be cut, Gilder said, there will still be lunch options at Collins.
Gilder said he hopes to come to a conclusion with RPS that will keep Edmondson Dining Hall sustainable.
“For residents at Collins, it is more than just an eating facility,” he said. “It’s part of our culture; it’s part of how we build community here.”
Collins resident assistant Megan Day, a junior, said she agrees. As a previous resident of Foster Quad, she said she feels a sense of community in Collins that a student cannot find in other residence halls.
Day said the dining hall only enhances that ?experience.
“It is essential to create that sense of community,” she said. “It’s the last traditional dining on campus. If we start taking away hours, it makes me wonder where that’s headed.”
Simpson said the decision regarding Edmondson Dining Hall hours should be made by fall 2015.
According to the RPS website, the buffet currently operates 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday through Friday for lunch and 5-7 p.m. Monday through Thursday for ?dinner.
