Chances are you’ve checked out the Suzanne Lemberg Usdan University Center sometime this week. If so, you’ve probably formed an intricate opinion of the place, likely while waiting in a very long line for a meal.
Dean Rick’s e-mail reminded us that long lines at lunchtime are not a “new challenge.” Fair enough. What is new, however, is the facility—which raises two important points.
To be fair, a new facility intended for use by thousands is bound to have some problems in its inaugural week. Staff is learning how to use new equipment and students are learning how to navigate the building. So let’s have some faith in Usdan’s great potential, and exhibit patience while Usdan’s staff tries to remedy its problems. After all, it’s only been a week.
But second, it has to be noted that Usdan was built, at least in part, to correct the wrongs of the facilities it replaced. “We’ve always had these problems!” isn’t really an answer, because we haven’t always had this building. The long lines and grumbling that have accompanied Usdan’s opening do raise some questions about the $47 million project’s design, functionality, and concept.
Replacing four dining locations—Mocon, Davenport, Montague’s Deli, and First Harvest Café—with a single “servery” always seemed a bit optimistic. All along, the message has been that Usdan would create a new center of campus. And by placing (nearly) all dining operations under one roof, the administration has furthered its stated goal of “centralizing the campus,” a goal that has been cited in past decisions to eliminate off-campus housing and to sell far-off woodframes and the In Town residences. Perhaps this would be a good time to reevaluate this emphasis on centralization at any cost, when the campus is, by most standards, a rather compact and tight-knit place. Furthermore, a building can’t become a center if students start avoiding it, as this week’s longer-than-typical lunchtime lines at WesWings and Weshop may indicate.
Some suggestions: more grab-and-go options, like sandwiches and packaged salads, are needed for students who don’t have a lot of time and don’t want to eat sushi at every meal. The food is by and large delicious, but vegetarian and vegan options pale in comparison to those offered in previous years. More cashiers would help alleviate lines (although where they would be placed remains a question). And if nothing else, anyone who has tried to balance a tray while pulling opening a hardwood door knows a doorstop is needed by the main seating areas.
But we know you have ideas we’ve missed. You’ve repeated them to all your friends, so it’s time to put them into an e-mail. We encourage you to send your ideas to University Center Director Rick Culliton (rculliton@wesleyan.edu) and Bon Appetit’s Director of Dining Delmar Crim (dcrim@wesleyan.edu). Administrators, you signed off on the plans, so we hold you responsible for making Usdan work.
Despite rumors to the contrary, Mocon is not going to reopen. A new spaceship—certainly shinier, more sterile, and yes, central—has landed. Usdan is here to serve us. Hopefully the first week was no sign of things to come.
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