BYU cafeterias may open early after Christmas holiday

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    By MEAGAN BRUNSON

    BYU cafeterias will open earlier after the Christmas holiday this year if enough students living in on-campus housing come back to school sooner than usual to avoid Y2K chaos.

    Dean Wright, director of BYU dining services, said after on-campus housing students return from Thanksgiving break, they will be polled to determine how many will actually return to school earlier than normal.

    Wright said if more than about 100 students will return early, either the Helaman Halls Cannon Center or the Deseret Towers Morris Center will open for breakfast, lunch and dinner as early as December 27, five days before schedule, to accommodate students.

    “At this point, the Cannon and Morris Centers will be closed during the regular Christmas break, beginning December 18,” Wright said. “As of now, they will open for lunch on January 1.”

    He said if only a few students return early they can eat breakfast and lunch in the Wilkinson Student Center, which is already scheduled to be open until 5 p.m. every day, except for university holidays — Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Some other facilities, such as Cougar Cove in the Morris Center, will open in that case for students needing a night meal.

    Wright said if dining services are needed for students early, a BYU cooking staff is prepared to work during those days.

    “In actuality, the dining services never close,” he said.

    Wright said BYU dining services’ goal is to meet its residents’ needs.

    The Morris Center will serve a full Thanksgiving meal, as in years past, and anyone is invited to eat there, Wright said. He said he expects about 125 students will eat Thanksgiving dinner there.

    Bart Stoddard, BYU housing business office manager, said on-campus housing students moving in for the 2000 Winter Semester were told in the moving guide sent to them before school started they would have no extra charge for moving into the dorms as early as Dec. 28.

    Stoddard said he will be available to deal with any on-campus housing Y2K-related problems. A BYU Y2K committee has been addressing problems the university as a whole might have, he said.

    BYU housing has an emergency plan in place containing solutions for Y2K-related disasters that could occur, said Julie Franklin, director of BYU housing services.

    “We haven’t really done anything special, though,” Franklin said.

    BYU health center administration said the health center is always open during Christmas break for students still at BYU, except for the four standard university holidays. This year it will be open as usual.

    Ron Bybee, BYU academic scheduling officer, said BYU’s 2000 Winter Semester will start January 4th, one day later than it normally would. The push-back makes the break between New Year’s Day celebrations and school starting a little longer and gives students dealing with possible Y2K problems one extra day to fly back to school.

    Bybee said BYU’s academic calendar is usually packed full because BYU holds special things like a Pioneer Day holiday in the summer and Education Week after Winter Semester. So BYU doesn’t have the luxury of pushing the semester back more than one day, even though other schools might, he said.

    BYU has to have a certain number of class days for accreditation, Bybee said.

    Bybee said BYU realizes some students may come into Winter Semester classes a little late because of millennial problems and he anticipates faculty will be sensitive and work with students as much as possible.

    Bybee said each year BYU reviews its calendar from the past year, listens to family and student feedback and adjusts things like reading days and the now-extended Thanksgiving holiday according to needs. Administration then approves those changes.

    Bybee said this year’s calendar was actually planned five years ago, but confirmed as official when reviewed and discussed this past year.

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