Bryn Mawr College is home to a highly rated dining services department, receiving numerous accolades such as the 2022 Princeton Review for Great Campus Food. The rotating specialty bars at New Dorm offer cuisines from all over the world, and the brutalist architecture at Erdman fosters a unique atmosphere for sharing meals with friends. Furthermore, Haverford students can also swipe in at either of the dining halls for a change of pace.
That said, students have, on occasion, expressed grievances with the limited service hours. For instance, on Sunday, the earliest students can swipe into the dining hall is 10:30 a.m. In addition to that, the latest dining halls are open on a daily basis is 8:00 p.m. on weekdays, and 7:00 p.m. on weekends. These hours may not always align with the busy nature of students’ extracurricular and work schedules. In particular, student athletes who have early morning or evening practices might not be able to make it to the dining halls before they close.
As someone who has experience as a dining hall worker, I do recognize that the hours might present a significant inconvenience at times. That being said, extending the service hours would likely not be a feasible or ideal solution, especially for student workers in dining services.
Having worked as a Dining Hall employee for my first-year of college, I have some familiarity with the various shifts and their responsibilities. Students working closing shifts are tasked with cleaning out and disposing of all the food left in the bars at the end of the day, as well as making sure the seating areas are clean as well. Because dining hall workers have to wait until all patrons have left the dining hall to fully complete these procedures, some students might end up working after 9:00 p.m. Extending the dining hall hours puts more of a burden on student workers.
While Uncommon Grounds offers late night dining options, it is not included in the meal plan at Bryn Mawr, and the onus falls on students to pay. A potential solution might be to establish a food pantry that students can access after hours. Haverford College has implemented an initiative called The Nest that seeks to “provide a reliable source of food for LIFTFAR-eligible students who may struggle to obtain meals during breaks or those who have opted out of the meal plan.” The Student Coalition for Food Justice is a group at Bryn Mawr that is working to facilitate something similar, and this would provide a valuable resource for students who need to eat outside of dining hall hours, as long as it is used in an intentional and mindful way.
Projects such as a food pantry are evidence of Bi-Co students’ commitments to mutually support and cooperate with one another, but the College also does have an obligation to ensure that students needs are addressed and taken seriously. That being said, extending the dining hall workers and requiring student workers to clock in for later and longer shifts is not the road to take. Because of the stress that later hours would put on student workers, it is important to look into alternative solutions.
