On Monday, UR Dining Services stepped up to the plate, reinstating many of the services students were so upset to see taken away. As promised in the town hall meeting, breakfast options such as bagels and cereal have – while not during breakfast hours – returned to the Pit, drinks that are able to be clubbed are back to last year’s standard size and soup is again both a potential club entre and a side option, among other changes.
Although not everything was changed back – breakfast before 10:30 a.m. is still not offered in the Pit, which can prove to be a problem for many groups of students, including athletes with early-morning practices – what was done is truly substantial. Dining Services set an example by acknowledging that the changes they made just didn’t work for the student body and almost immediately rectifying a large number of the concerns put forth by students.
Surely there are still some kinks to work out. Students who do want a quick breakfast before 10:30 a.m. still have to choose between long lines at Starbucks, long lines at Hillside or an out-of-the-way trip to Pura Vida. And, seemingly all day long, the wait at Starbucks is a challenge. But, Dining Services has proved that they are responsive to student concerns and willing to make adjustments where they feel they can.
Other areas of the University, such as Parking Services, could stand to learn from such an example. If they would simply acknowledge that over the last year they repeatedly broke the law by ignoring city ordinance and booting cars – and then follow up by holding a town hall meeting to explain to students how to get their money back – it would put a serious student concern to rest and restore honesty and responsibility to UR’s public image.
