Time dieting

Ask any student about their favorite place on campus, and it’s likely their answer will be the dining hall. And it’s no surprise, seeing as The Princeton Review recently ranked Muhlenberg the sixteenth best dining hall food in the entire country. Between the Wood Dining Commons, with its nine different stations, the General’s Quarters (GQ), and Freshens, Muhlenberg students are never at a loss for dining options. However, the limited hours of the Wood Dining Commons, and the monetary constraints of the different meal plans often restrict students from developing healthy and consistent eating habits.

The dining hall serves as many students’ primary source of food. Closing at 8:00 p.m. on weekdays, and 7 p.m. on weekends, students must keep these hours available if they want to be able to have dinner. Between clubs, sports, homework and rehearsals, students are busy long after classes end. An average Muhlenberg student’s workload is heavy enough, without the added challenge of finding time to eat before that option is no longer available. “I was in a play that had really long rehearsal hours, Monday through Friday and Sunday,” says Rachel Norman ‘19, “and so I would have trouble eating dinner, either because it was too packed and I didn’t have time to wait on the long lines before rehearsal, or I would get out of rehearsal and I would be super hungry, and it would be closed.”

While it is true that GQ is open until 12 a.m. on weekdays and 3 a.m. on weekends, many students would prefer not to have to use up their dining dollars just to get dinner. “Personally, I have unlimited swipes and it’s just easier to spend swipes than it is to spend actual dining dollars or money at GQ,” says Leilani Myers ‘19. “And also it’s a place where people get together so it’s just more preferable than GQ.”

With more monetary leniency for the dining hall, but less hours, students face a daily dilemma of allocating time and having to choose between activities and work, or eating. “There definitely have been times where I’ve been in the library pretty late or it’s a weekend and I have to stop my studying early to go to the dining hall or just decide to not eat and hopefully find something in my room or something that’s not overly priced at GQ for the weekend,” says Brooke Goldstein ’19. “So [I’ve] definitely skipped some meals, dinner especially, because of the din- ing hall hours.” Students should not have to choose between academic responsibilities and basic bodily necessities.

After surveying fifty students, thirty-eight responded that they wished the dining hall were open later on the weekends. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said that when they are home they typically eat dinner after 7 p.m. on the weekends, whereas only 26 percent eat dinner after 7 p.m. on the weekends when they are at school. Four percent of respondents eat dinner between the hours of 4 and 5 p.m. on weekdays at school, but none of the respondents eat dinner at those hours when they are home. If given the choice, significantly more students would prefer the option to have dinner at a later hour. I personally would not ordinarily have dinner anywhere near 4 or 5 p.m., however between rehearsals and homework, I do not have unlimited amounts of time to make these decisions. I, and many others, are often hungry later on in the evening, having had dinner so much earlier in the day. While many dieticians have said that eating between 6 or 7 p.m. is optimal for fat and calorie burning, that often is not a feasible reality for many students. It can then be argued that having to eat dinner at an earlier hour is less healthy, for it can lead students to have a meal at dinnertime, and another meal late into the night.

In addition to being closed earlier on the weekend, the dining hall also opens later, leaving even less time for students to eat the recommended three meals per day. As a result, health concerns have the potential to become an issue. A respondent in the survey said that the later opening interferes with her medication schedule. Students seeking to maintain a healthier or even just a regulated diet while also saving money are consequently left in a compromising situation. “During the weekend I usually get out of bed later, I do things later, I’m up later,” says Norman. “Me and my friends will miss dinner hours at the dining hall and then it’ll close, and then again we have to go to GQ. So I wish that it was open until later. It would just be a lot more convenient.”

I believe it is necessary for our health and time management to adjust the hours of the dining hall. It is important that we recognize and appreciate the time of the staff involved, but I believe together we can locate an alternative solution to appease both students and staff. Whether that means keeping the dining hall open just one hour later, or opening it an hour earlier. The fact remains, that students currently feel the unnecessary pressure to jeopardize one need to satisfy another.