Starting Monday Feb. 14, students will no longer be able to spend declining dollars on off-campus GrubHub purchases, and Grab & Go will reopen. The decision comes as the University continues to expand on-campus dining hours/options as dining staffing levels approach normal levels.
Many students who spoke with the Campus Times were disappointed about the closure of off-campus GrubHub purchases.
“The general population of students are not satisfied with the quality of food in the dining hall[s], so having the GrubHub really opened up the options that we have, and variety of cuisines and quality of food that we can get. So it was kind of disappointing to hear how GrubHub was being closed,” senior Joanne Lee told CT. “We are not totally back to where we were before, so there is some dissatisfaction in that.”
UR first allowed declining dollars to be spent at off-campus restaurants through GrubHub last semester after dining staffing levels plummeted to 65% of their normal rates. In response to the employment crisis, the University closed many dining options and consolidated employees to prioritize keeping the Pit and Douglass Dining Hall open. The University has always presented the GrubHub arrangement as a temporary solution.
The Sept. 23 announcement introduced the measure as “not meant to be a permanent part of the meal plan” only continuing “as long as necessary to supplement student options during this staffing crisis.”
The start of the spring semester welcomed the resumption of both dining halls operating in tandem again, but with altered service hours. Grab & Go, which was open during the fall semester, was closed for the first few weeks of this semester, which helped to justify the continuation of off-campus GrubHub benefits.
Despite many reopenings and expanded hours of service on campus, some students are still worried about the number of options available, especially to those with dietary restrictions.
“You can get the same food from Grab & Go that you can get at the Brew or […] at Connections, it’s the same shit just in a different place,” sophomore Meaghan Baker told CT. “So I don’t know what they think they are doing by magically opening Grab & Go.”
“If I’m being honest I think the hours are there. My bigger concern is personally I don’t eat beef or pork, [and] I feel like the dining halls just don’t have as many options [as] they make it seem,” senior Destine Baldonado told CT. “Like, the vegan station at Danforth, sometimes the options are just very limited [for] someone who has a more restricted diet. It’s not even the hours that’s concerning to me; it’s being able to eat literally anything.”
The current dining schedule with hours and updated openings can be found here.
