For residential students, like myself in Ethel Moore, Founders Commons is a daily go to for energy and nutrition. However, with the average five and a half hours Founders is open each day, students become stuck to the establishment’s schedule.
I’ve noticed very few students attend breakfast, possibly only 100 on weekdays, as it closes at 9 a.m. Many wish it could last longer. I’ve heard students say that they wish it was open all day.
Few students adhere to the same schedule, and many students have experienced a semester where they could barely afford time for lunch. This speaks to the accessibility to Founders. Anybody living in Ethel Moore or Mary Morse can attest to the fact that walking to Founders is a drag. As a hilltop resident, I often times find myself wondering if the 15 minute one-way walk is worth it. The answer is easily “no” when I only have a thirty minute period for lunch in between my classes.
A full-course dinner follows lunch by a mere four hours, operating from 5-7:30pm on Mondays through Thursdays. For students studying late into the evening this early dinner leaves them feeling hungry later on. The work load at Mills keeps me and other friends busy most nights until at least midnight. This forces me to eat at Founders as late as possible, because around midnight I get the tummy rumbles. And I am not alone!
Because we pay for Founders, and are required to have a meal plan, it is our main source of food. Many students can’t afford the luxury of buying meals out or at the Tea Shop when they miss a meal due to their schedule. I often can’t even afford the time it takes to leave campus to buy snacks for studying energy. The only substitute, the Tea Shop, has prices that are as absurd as their grill schedule, which closes for an hour during the middle of the evening – really?
Weekends at Mills are even less accommodating to residential students’ sustenance. Founders only serves four meals over the two day period. Some students I know leave campus early on the weekends without their “healthiest meal of the day.”
With weeks of never-ending classes the weekends are my prime time for studying; yet, it is hard to come by the food I need to focus. The Tea Shop is closed all day on Saturdays and only open on Sundays for six hours.
If Founders wishes to continue its strict meal schedule, the Tea Shop should be open longer on weekdays (past the current 10pm) and more on weekends. Another solution could be to allow students to use their excess meal points at the Tea Shop. Also, each residential hall has a beautiful and underutilized dinning hall. I know that there once was a time when light meals were offered in such common areas. I wonder why they’re not offered anymore, because walking to Founders to eat and go to class thirty minutes before 9 a.m. for breakfast is getting to be too much for me!
Students then could get the food they pay for at the time they want to eat it. Bon Appetit!
