Tamara Webb
Darien, Ill.
As a BYU freshman, I’ve found that “room and board” is better than I expected; the rooms are spacious, and the Morris Center food is actually pretty good. My only complaint is inconvenient cafeteria hours. For example, the cafeteria is closed from 10 a.m. to 1l a.m., which is the one of the few hours that I have a break between classes. Of course I realize that getting up earlier to make it to breakfast, or planning my schedule so that I’m at the cafeteria when its open–would be solutions. I’m a student here, though, so planning my academic schedule should be more important than planning my meals.
Additionally, I paid housing/meal plan fees, which should entitle me to food service that is convenient and easily accessible, according to customer service “rules.” I am currently eating in the cafeteria about seven times a week, which in no way takes full advantage of my fourteen meal-a-week plan. Before coming here, I had the opportunity to visit many other schools, and found that most of them only close their cafeterias for a few hours at night. One example, chosen from many similar examples, is that at the University of Illinois, the cafeterias are open from 7 a.m. to ll p.m. So, assuming that BYU wants to keep company with other top schools, providing for the needs of the students should be a top priority.
I don’t think a 24 hour service seven days-a-week is necessary, but it would be nice to be able to obtain food with a meal card all day long. I understand that it’s important to close down during devotionals, and that Sunday hours are shorter so that the staff isn’t working so long; other than these special cases, though, why can’t students have access to food when they are hungry? I consider this a basic service and a simple request.
