Dear students,
As you are making your way to the College, you’re probably wondering what dining will look like for the first few weeks as we transition back to a full campus. You’ll be happy to know that we have been working to prepare a plan that gives you access to plenty of good healthy food whenever you need it, all while keeping health and safety at the forefront. As a reminder, this Dining email update describes the normal operating schedules for dining locations and details of the meal plan that begins when you arrive.
In order to reduce crowding at indoor dining locations once a majority of students have arrived, a large tent will be put up on Skinner Green for outdoor seating. The tent will seat 800 comfortably and will be ready for occupancy by Thursday, August 26 at dinner. In addition, a tent that will seat 80 will be put in place near Kendade. For the start of the semester we will have very limited indoor seating for dining and ask that students eat outside in one of the tents, at some other outdoor location or in their residence hall room during lunch and dinner. We encourage all faculty and staff to avoid coming to the Dining Commons during the lunch rush, between noon–1 p.m., Monday–Friday.
Timeline
For dinner on Thursday, August 26, we encourage everyone to get takeout from the Dining Common. Beginning on Friday, August 27, we will transition to mostly outdoor seating using compostable plates and utensils and will continue this until at least September 17. During this period, all food stations in the Dining Commons will be open. We will offer limited indoor seating during the breakfast period from 7:15 am - 10:00 am and late night which starts at 8:00 pm daily. Approximately 250 seats will be available in the Club, Oak, Skinner, Beacon and Tranquility Rooms during these periods. Seating within the Servery or outside of these designated rooms will not be allowed. We will be working to keep seating capacity below 250 students, so please plan to come in for your meal and then move along so that other students will be able to utilize the space. All other meal times will require take out.
Kendade Grab ‘n Go will open on Monday, August 30. Please use the tent located near Kendade, another outdoor location or your residence hall to eat meals from Kendade.
Important notes
In the case of dangerous weather, eating outside and under the tent will not be a possibility. In these cases, please plan to take your meal to your residence hall room to eat and, if possible, we will open the Dining Commons for limited seating.
For those in need of special support with this outdoor dining plan, please speak to a dining manager when you enter the dining commons who can direct you to an indoor eating location.
A key part of the outdoor dining plan is the proper disposal of waste to avoid bees, critters and a mess. Please clean up after yourself and utilize appropriate trash and compost bins after your meal, which will be located near the tents and inside all buildings.
Next steps
Once we determine that we can allow full use of the indoor seating in the Dining Commons, you will also be allowed to eat in public spaces in other buildings throughout the campus. However, throughout the semester eating will not be allowed in instructional spaces or other spaces that have signage stating that food is not allowed.
Thank you for your attention to this opening plan. We realize it will be bumpy at the start but are confident that this plan will support your successful and healthy transition to campus.
Sincerely,
Dining Team
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