By
The Wildcat Opinions Board
OK, its no secret that the University of Arizona has a major problem with its lack of on-campus dining facilities. Students know this. The administration knows this. Everybody knows this.
Plans are already underway to correct this problem, as the new Memorial Student Union will feature many new eateries for students and faculty members to frequent. The undersized Fiddlee Fig will soon be replaced by a facility actually capable of better serving a community of more than 40,000 people.
Problem solved, right? Unfortunately not.
During the first week of classes, the options for grabbing a bite to eat were almost laughable. For lunch, the line at On Deck Deli stretched out into the main hallway in the union. Ditto for Domino's. One-hour breaks between classes were not enough time for students to eat lunch, and the same trend will likely continue throughout the year.
The problem here is not necessarily the long lines and limited selection, because the university has already addressed those and come up with a long-term solution. Rather, the disturbing thing is that nothing has been done to alleviate the short-term headache we're all going through.
In actuality, some minor changes have combined to create more of a predicament than existed last semester. McDonald's, the fast food alternative that offers the widest variety of entrees, closed at 5 p.m. everyday last week. At that time, a lot of students were just finishing up days and hadn't even thought about eating dinner. This wouldn't be as much of a problem if we had other late night options available to us. But early evening closures to the Fiddlee Fig (7 p.m.) and Park Student Center (8 p.m.) leave us hungry for a place that stays open later.
Whether or not this is an option is debatable, but why not provide students with a late-night cafeteria? Such facilities exist at many other colleges and universities throughout the country, including Arizona State and Northern Arizona universities. Now, certainly university officials can't be expected to build this overnight, and then tear it down upon completion of the new union. But why not keep the Fig or Park open until midnight? The Student Recreation Center and Main Library are very accessible to night owls, and as a result both stay fairly busy during the evening hours.
The UA caters to gym rats and book worms, so why not those who eat later at night? Perhaps its a business decision, but even that doesn't make sense. Look at the success of the diners that neighbor the UA. Many restaurants, including Taco Bell in Texaco, Subway and Jack in the Box, stay busy throughout the night. The UA could easily enjoy a greater profit than these smaller locations. Finding students to work at these hours would not be difficult. In fact, working at night would probably be welcomed by those with a full class load during the day.
At such a large educational institution, our administrators do a relatively good job in providing us with the resources to make our lives as easy as possible. But giving students and members of the campus community a late-night dining option is something the UA needs to address, at least until the new union opens in 2002. Until they do, we are forced to take our appetites - and wallets - elsewhere.
