Open dining halls for longer hours

UVM’s dining hall hours complicate students’ abilities to eat on campus.

UVM has four dining halls: Central Campus Dining on Central campus, Redstone Dining on Redstone campus, Harris-Millis Dining on Athletic campus and Northside Dining on Trinity Campus, according to UVM Dining.

Harris-Millis Dining stays open the latest, 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, while Central and Redstone close at 8 p.m. and Northside closes at 7:30 p.m., according to UVM Dining’s website.

These hours are not late enough for students to eat when they need to.

Some students have labs that end too late for them to be able to eat at the dining halls.

Students who live on Trinity have to walk to other dining halls after 7:30 p.m. if they want or need food.

On Wednesdays, I leave my dorm room at 8:15 a.m. for my classes and do not typically get back until around 7:30 p.m. when my classes end.

Fortunately, I live in Harris-Millis, which allows me to easily get dinner.

However, I had to attend a dance performance after my last class a few weeks ago, so I didn’t get back to my dorm until 9:30 p.m.

After a long and grueling day of classes and homework, all I wanted was some Grundle grub. However, all of the dining halls were closed before I got back to my dorm.

I felt tired and cranky, and my lack of food did not help.

The Unlimited Access Plan, which costs $2,284 per a semester, gives students unlimited entries into the dining halls in addition to 150 retail points and three guest swipes, according to UVM Dining.

Students pay a lot of money for bad hours.

These bad hours are due to staffing issues that arose during the pandemic, according to an Aug. 19, 2021 memo.

Before COVID-19, dining halls were open until midnight, according to an Aug. 14, 2020 Cynic article.

As the school opens up, dining hall hours should go back to their original times.

UMass Amherst has a total of four dining halls, with two always opened until midnight, according to UMass Dining’s website.

This allows students to get food when they need it at their convenience.

It is unfair to assume that all students have time to eat with these limited hours.

Not every student eats dinner before 9:30 p.m. and we should make sure all students feel included.

UVM should add additional hours to the dining halls to allow for students to get their adequate nutrition in a stress-free manner.