Jay’Mi Vazquez – News Editor
The Adanti Student Center will be staying open later hours for Tres Habaneros and The Grill.
From Monday through Thursday, the Adanti Student Center will be staying open until 10:00 p.m. Students will still be able to use Anywhere Meals, Food Loot, and meal exchanges during these new hours.
KiwiBots are still being used. The hours are now: Monday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. KiwiBots can be used to have food delivered to either dorm halls or buildings.
Director of Dining Services Tony DeLuca said overseeing dining services is the entirety of his job role. He feels the student center being open later hours is something that should have been in effect on campus.
“Students don’t eat at 6:30 at night for dinner or whatever the case may be. We saw through some of our programs that between eight and nine at night at Conn Hall we would get a huge influx of students coming through,” DeLuca said.
“We have to take a look at what are new campus population looks like and how we could better serve them overall,” DeLuca added.
DeLuca explained how extended hours for the student center were in effect pre-COVID-19. He feels it has been long overdue for a return to campus dining to make the overall experience better for everyone.
“It’s more beneficial for the students overall to have something open until 10 at night Monday through Thursday,” DeLuca said.
The Everyday app is available for students to use KiwiBots to get food delivered as well. DeLuca explained some of the advantages of having this contact-free delivery system.
“In the wintertime, it would be great. If you want something delivered through the student center through your meal plan, you can order through the Everyday app and have food delivered by KiwiBot and you barely have to get out of your pajamas,” DeLuca said.
Students could use the KiwiBots late-night delivery system to get food from Tres Habaneros and The Grill. Mobile Pickup will also be an option until 9:45 p.m. on Monday through Thursday.
“As the campus population changes throughout the next couple years or even later on this year, we’re consistently looking at ways to serve the population and their needs,” DeLuca said.
DeLuca recommends students attend Dining Services committee meetings; complete surveys when they are sent out and reach out through social media or walking into his office. These are the best ways to provide feedback for campus dining.
Senior Director of Conferences, Events, and Student Affairs Auxiliaries, Robert DeMezzo, said one of his primary roles is directly working with campus food services daily on the dining program.
“There is a desire to eat in the student center, even though Connecticut Hall is available,” DeMezzo said.
“With events and activities occurring in the student center, it made some sense to open the student center later and close Conn Hall an hour earlier,” DeMezzo added.
DeMezzo and other staff members were trying to devise a way to make the overall dining experience on campus better for students while practicing more cost-efficient methods.
However, DeMezzo and DeLuca both are interested in hearing more feedback from students about campus dining. Both believe that the students’ voices matter the most and are powerful enough to create change on campus.
Students living on campus and a food court employee expressed their opinions on these recent changes.
Music major Belle Dennehy, a senior, said she sees the advantages too to keeping the food court open later hours.
“For those who are still hungry and looking for areas open around campus to eat, this would be great for them,” Dennehy said.
Sociology major Kim Dudley, a sophomore employed at the food court, said even though she works in the food court, she is not looking forward to potentially working later hours.
“They ask me to work late a lot, I try not to because I don’t want to be exhausted for class,” Dudley said.
“Other students trying to work later hours now being able to do so with these new changes,” Dudley adds that this is one of the benefits for student workers.
Biology major Gary Parrino, a sophomore, said he is thrilled with the latest changes as a resident.
“As a resident on campus with Conn Hall closing at eight, it’s nice to know there is a place I can relax by myself and read or study something while I’m eating instead of going through the crazy bustling of the student center during lunch,” Parrino said.
Parrino said that having to pay for a meal plan felt useless during his first school year; but with these new hours, he is looking forward to being able to use them more frequently.
